PROPHET project: increasing network reliability in our interconnected society

22 July 2013

As computing resources start to become abundant, it seems prudent to invest some of them in making the key network communications infrastructure more reliable.  For the purpose of finding viable solutions to cope with this challenge, Dr. Dejan Kostić, European Research Council Starting Grant awardee and Research Associate Professor at the Madrid research institute IMDEA Networks, is leading the ERC project PROPHET*. 

PROPHET explores new paths for increasing network reliability in our interconnected society. We rely on networked systems to provide pervasive, ubiquitous communications; but, in recent years, we have seen examples of how software and configuration faults can impact network dependability. 

In this context, PROPHET aims at simplifying the development and deployment of high-performance, reliable distributed systems. The project explores how to leverage increases in computational power and bandwidth to make distributed systems and networks more reliable and easier to develop and manage. One of the major focus areas of this project is in Software-Defined Networking (SDN). In this new and important domain, the potential for incorrect network behavior due to software errors is particularly large. Dr. Kostić’s research applies techniques from the software verification field to increase the reliability of OpenFlow networks, a popular embodiment of the SDN paradigm. 

Taking distributed systems as a conceptual center point, Dr. Kostić’s research likewise attempts to build distributed systems and networks that mimic the energy-proportionality of biological systems. This parallel research towards energy-proportional networked distributed systems and networks undertakes the growing need to reduce energy consumption in ICT equipment and networks, which has been fuelled by the Internet's unparalleled success.

*PROPHET: Simplifying Development and Deployment of High-Performance, Reliable Distributed Systems