BBN Technologies has been awarded $5.7 million in funding by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Dynamic Multi-Terabit Core Optical Networks: Architecture, Protocols, Control and Management (CORONET) program. The researchers aim to revolutionize the operation, performance, survivability, and security of the United States’ global IP-based inter-networking infrastructure through improved network architecture, protocols, and control and management software. As envisioned, the target CORONET optical network will enable ultra-fast service set-up/tear-down and very fast and efficient recovery from multiple network failures. An important goal of the program is to transition the CORONET technology to commercial telecommunications carriers, as well as to Department of Defense and other US government global networks.
During the 20-months of Phase 1 of the CORONET program, BBN Technologies will develop the architecture, protocols and algorithms necessary to enable a shift from today’s slow-setup-time, static-topology, over-provisioned optical core networks to on-demand, adaptable, high-utilization networks, that are scalable to high capacity at a reasonable cost.
BBN said it is working on innovations in IP/optical cross-layer traffic processing and capacity management, fast signaling to enable rapid recovery from multiple failures, and a novel open-network-operations stack that will lead to simplified network operation. BBN is also designing up-front for security and survivability requirements in both the data and the management planes.
Under the project, BBN will lead a team that includes RTI International; RENCI; Verizon Federal Network Systems; Photon Futures, LLC; Optoelectronic Consulting, LLC; University of California, Davis; and LabN.http://www.bbn.comhttp://www.darpa.mil/STO/strategic/coronet.html
- BBN was founded in 1948 by MIT professors Richard Bolt and Leo Beranek, along with Robert Newman, with a vision of starting a small, acoustical consulting firm. The company is best know for its pioneering work with the ARPANET (the forerunner of today’s Internet) in 1969. It is also credited with the first implementation of packet switching (1969), the first router (1976), and the first network e-mail (1971), which established the @ sign as an icon for the digital age. BBN is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- In 2004, two prominent venture capital firms (General Catalyst Partners and Accel Partners) acquired the legendary BBN development labs from Verizon. Financial terms were not disclosed.