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The Technical Issues Working Group identifies what the connection requirements are, which

equipment is being used, and which functions and services should be provided. It maintains a

database of GLIF resources and documents best practices. The Working Group was chaired by

Erik-Jan Bos (SURFnet) and René Hatem (CANARIE).

Control Plane and Grid Integration Middleware Working Group19

3.

The Control Plane and Grid Integration Middleware Working Group agrees on the interfaces and

protocols for communication between the GLIF resources for automated set-up and tear-down of

lightpaths. The group determines which control information needs to be exchanged, and

investigates automation of the controlling mechanisms. The new model foresees automatic

delivery and on-demand provisioning over optimized network paths, made possible by optical

control plane technologies. The Working Group was led by Gigi Karmous-Edwards (MCNC).

Research & Applications Working Group20

4.

The Research & Applications Working Group identifies applications that can benefit from optical

networks and defines the services that the user communities need. The group also aims to train a

new generation of scientists on the use of "supernetworks". The Working Groups is led by

Maxine Brown (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Larry Smarr (Calit2, University of

California, San Diego).

During the January 2008 GLIF working group meetings, co-located with the Internet2/ESnet

Joint Techs Workshop and APAN 25 at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, HI, USA, the

working groups on Technical Issues and Control Plane and Grid Integration Middleware

discussed the idea of merging these two groups into one working group with a possible name of

"Technical Resource Management and Control Planes", chaired by Gigi Karmous-Edwards

(MCNC) and Erik-Jan Bos (SURFnet). The main motivation for this is due to the fact that multi-

domain dynamic lightpaths have arrived and are actively being demonstrated among two or more

continents and the areas of work of the two groups have more overlap than before. As of the

Hawaii meeting, six task forces are now active under the auspices of this working group, focusing

on areas such as lightpath naming schemas, GOLE service level specifications, hybrid network

monitoring, and the Generic Network Interface API development. Our aim is to have a small

proof of concept demo of the GNI API applied to GOLEs by the next GLIF meeting in October

2008.

GLIF Participants:

GLIF is open to any organization that shares the GLIF vision and is willing and able to make

resources (e.g., equipment and lambdas) available on an agreed upon basis when they are not

required for its own needs. GLIF is also open to organizations whose experts contribute actively

to the technical work in the GLIF Working Groups. Anyone who contributes to the goals of GLIF

is a participant. A list of GLIF participants who provided their logos to the GLIF secretariat is

available on the GLIF website21.

19

http://www.glif.is/working-groups/controlplane/

20

http://www.glif.is/working-groups/rap/

21

http://www.glif.is/participants/

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