MTA-BME Network Softwarization Research Group

MTA-BME Network Softwarization Research Group hosted by Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) was established in the framework of MTA "Targeted" Momentum (Célzott Lendület) Programme in 2017 in order to foster theoretical and applied research on network softwarization. It is jointly funded by MTA from the academia and by Ericsson from the industry.

Short description of the research programme

Future network services and applications pose serious challenges on the underlying networks and cloud infrastructures.  For example, Tactile Internet will require extremely low latency (1ms!) in combination with ultra-high availability, reliability and security in order to enable remote driving, remote surgery or wireless controlled exoskeletons, just to mention a few applications which could reshape our society.  As the speed of light is a given constraint, we need novel approaches, for example to dynamically move network "capabilities'' close to the users.  In order to fulfill the new requirements, we need to add more intelligence, automation, adaptability, and novel capabilities to networks at different levels and operation planes (data, control and management planes as well). The key enabler of this process is the softwarization of the whole networking architecture. The main goal of this proposal is to establish a research group that is competent and capable of creating the main components of this architecture.  More exactly, we are going to identify currently missing pieces, and seek for appropriate solutions based on our theoretical background.  Besides theoretical works, our main focus is going to be on realization.  To achieve this goal, we implement working prototypes, establish laboratory testbeds based on cutting edge network and cloud technologies, and conduct experiments.  By these means, we combine theoretical and applied research while building on the continuous feedback from our industry partner, Ericsson.