Network Virtualization

ABSTRACT: Virtualization technologies have the capability to provide significant improvements in horizontal network scalability. There are significant challenges, however, when adapting these technologies to tactical networks, where bandwidth, latency, and connection reliability issues combine to foil network characteristics that many network protocols within a virtualized network rely on. In particular, providing secure communication with minimum reliance on bandwidth and latency is absolutely critical. We propose to develop a new protocol applicable to this problem, which can enable secure communication between virtual network nodes with minimal bandwidth and latency constraints. It will do so with an emphasis on security, maintaining the ability to provide access control to virtual nodes as desired without burdening the system with the need to pass large access control restriction lists around the system, a requirement already presenting a significant burden on our tactical networks even without the expanded issues presented by network virtualization. BENEFIT: The need for a small bandwidth footprint and low latency impact are self-evident. In addition to these requirements, tactical networks require the ability to execute in a secure, and in some cases anonymous manner. If unprivileged network observers were able to deduce elements of the data addressed there could be catastrophic repercussions in the field of operation. In some cases, even deducing the participants in a data exchange operation can be vital information to an enemy. A virtualized network, with the potential for non-static location identifiers has an above average ability to provide such anonymity, but only if the protocol providing secure communication does not compromise this by requiring static key exchanges or other stable patterns allowing for information extraction by a participant in the networking environment.