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Bell Labs’ Networking and Network Management research center conducts
research in the underlying technologies for next-generation global information
infrastructure. Innovations from this center have resulted in
technological breakthroughs and innovations that enable superior
next-generation wireless, optical, and data networking systems for network
service providers.
Current research encompasses a broad spectrum of activities, including
protocols, routers, control, signaling, software and hardware, for both
wireless and wireline networks, network management, and networking platforms.
Many projects involve close partnering with Lucent's product units. The
center’s research programs also extend the state-of-the-art in networking
research.
The center’s researchers also are active in projects with both industry and
universities and play a major role in defining the architecture and protocols
of next generation networks and network management systems, along with tools
and technologies that improve developer productivity and software quality for
networking systems. For example:
- The team comprises a wide range of acknowledged experts in many areas of
networking, including IP routing, multicast, network management, optical and
wireless technologies.
- Several of the center’s researchers serve as Principal Investigators in
DARPA and NSF grants. Some lab members serve as adjunct faculty in nearby
universities and teach graduate-level courses.
- Recent prestigious awards received by members of the lab include the 2005
IEEE Eric E. Sumner Award and the 2004 ACM Software Systems
Award.
Sample areas of focus for this center include:
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Wireless network elements,
which includes
research on next generation wireless network architectures, mobility
management, security in wireless networks, and the associated algorithms,
protocols, and services in those networks. The department conducts primarily
systems-based research and the work in the department often results in an
innovative prototype.
- Basic research and development of novel software systems to deploy
and manage high-speed, highly reliable wireline and wireless networks.
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Networking software research, which includes work on inventing,
analyzing, and prototyping novel concepts related to the protocols and systems
for wireless and mobile networking, IP services, network and service
management, and content delivery and distribution. This area of work also
encompasses research into designing scalable architectures for enabling novel
services for wireless service providers and in building hardware/software
components that can enable Lucent to offer solutions to service providers for
the creation, provisioning, deployment and monitoring of IP services and
content delivery services.
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Mobile networking research, which focuses on designing, analyzing and
implementing software systems to control communications networks with the goal
of building future communication networks that can efficiently support voice,
data and multimedia applications. Another goal in our mobile network work
is to evolve cellular access networks into more secure, all-IP mobile networks
and to enhance the networking infrastructure and protocols of today's
best-effort Internet.
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High speed mobile data networking which focuses on creating the next
generation wireless network architectures, mobility management, security in
wireless networks, and services that will run over these networks. Particular
focus areas involve 802.11/3G integration, network subscriber databases,
MobileIP, AAA, and wireless/wireline convergence.
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Internet management research into developing the technologies
necessary for building the key software innovations for managing
next-generation converged networks. Enabling these IP networks to carry
data, voice and video traffic, and deliver them over diverse technologies
including IP, ATM/FR, SONET/SDH, as well as access technologies such as xDSL,
cable, PON, and wireless requires innovations into how to keep track of network
inventory and topology, how to monitor network performance such as link
bandwidth, latency and loss, load balancing techniques, storing, analyzing and
reporting network performance data, and automating and simplifying network
management tasks.
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Data-over-optical research that focuses on scaling today’s wireline
networks to support emerging applications such as IPTV (Internet Protocol
television). One key technology being developed is next-generation Ethernet
that will serve as the convergence layer supporting triple-play applications.
Bell Labs is pioneering breakthrough technologies that will allow the Ethernet
to be scaled to 100Gb/s line rate. In addition, Bell Labs is working closely
with Lucent’s business units to enable wireline products with next generation
Ethernet capability such as resilient packet rings (RPR) and is working with
the U.S. government on technologies that will allow packet routers to be scaled
beyond 100Tb/s of throughput capacity.
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