22 PROJECT SPOTLIGHT SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING Information Technology Services T he Software Defined Networking (SDN) project addressed a widespread problem for research universities, that is, ever- growing demands for improved cyberinfrastructure to support data-intensive scientific research. The campus network architecture usesconventionalnon-SDNroutertechnologythatdoesnotdifferentiate between research traffic and non-research traffic. As a result, the same policy constraints applied to all forms of network traffic, forcing research traffic to pay the same overheads and pass through the same choke points as non-research traffic. This propelled ITS to integrate SDN technology into the campus network at strategic locations, to meet research requirements. Ultimately, this project will: • Enable scientific research not previously possible using conventional network designs. • Build new infrastructure tailored to the needs of researchers. • Extend beyond the campus network to provide end-to-end SDN connectivity to services in the Internet/Cloud. Specifically, ITS plans to utilize emerging SDN capabilities offered by regional and national backbones, such as the Kentucky Region Optical Network (KyRON) and Internet 2, which now offer limited support for SDN in the form of OpenFlow and/or GENI. • Provide end-to-end SDN support, allowing network administrators (and ultimately normal users/researchers) to be able to control the way their data is handled by the network. • Provide both increased capacity and SDN capabilities end-to-end. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SERVICES | RESEARCH COMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURE