Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Thomas Karagiannis

Christos Gkantsidis

Hitesh Ballani

Antony Rowstron

Bozidar Radunovic

Peter Bernard Key

Paolo Costa

Ming Zhang

Guobin Shen

Sandeep Singhal

Milan Vojnovic

Matthew John Balkwill

Binh Quang Nguyen

Ayalvadi Jagannathan Ganesh

Parisa Jalili Marandi

Christopher Wilson

Richard Malcolm Banks

Richard John Black

Antony Ian Taylor Rowstron

Dinan Srilal Gunawardena

Abigail Jane Sellen

Richard Harper

Dushyanth Narayanan

Gregory O'Shea

Thomas M Talpey

Eno Thereska

Alexandre Proutiere

Dan Alistarh

Virajith Jalaparti

Timothy Regan

Varun Gupta

Ilias Raftopoulos

Dharmaiah Manjunath

Elias Athanasopoulos

David Naylor

Richard Li

Ghufran Baig

In various examples there is a telecommunications network access point of a telecommunications network in which the control plane is implemented using a data center comprising a plurality of interconnected computation nodes. The access point comprises a memory holding a log of encapsulated control messages the control messages being messages of a control protocol of the telecommunications network. The access point has a processor configured, for a control message to be sent by the access point to a node in the data center, to: generate a message identifier; encapsulate the control message in a packet of a communications protocol of the data center, add the message identifier to a header of the encapsulated control message; send the encapsulated control message to the node of the data center; and store a record of the encapsulated control message and node of the control plane in the log.

Telecommunications network with data centre deployment

A method of communicating over a network between first and second endpoints, one being and the other being a server. The method comprises: establishing a first secure transport layer channel between the first and second endpoints, establishing a second secure transport layer channel between the first endpoint and a middlebox to which the first endpoint is to delegate processing of the traffic sent over the first secure transport layer channel; the first endpoint validating the middlebox via the respective second secure transport layer channel, and on condition of said validation sharing the encryption key of the first channel with the middlebox via the second secure transport layer channel; and causing the traffic sent over the channel to be routed via the middlebox. The method thereby enables the middlebox to process, in the clear, content of the traffic sent over the first channel.

Introducing middleboxes into secure communications between a client and a server

Techniques for distributed selection of white space channels are described. According to one or more embodiments, techniques described herein enable fair allocation of available white spaces among entities seeking access to the white spaces, such as base stations and client devices in a particular geographical region. According to one or more embodiments, techniques for distributed selection of white space channels enable individual network components to detect white space network attributes and distribute white space channels based on the detected attributes. Alternatively or additionally, multiple base stations can collaborate to share information about white spaces in a particular region.

Distributed selection of white space channels

Methods of predicting datacenter performance to improve provisioning are described. In an embodiment, a resource manager element receives a request from a tenant which describes an application that the tenant wants executed by a multi-resource, multi-tenant datacenter. The request that has been received is mapped to a set of different candidate resource combinations within the datacenter, where each candidate resource combination can be used to execute the application in a manner which satisfies a high level constraint specified within the request. This mapping may, for example, be performed using a combination of benchmarking and an analytical model. In some examples, each resource combination may comprise a number of virtual machines and a bandwidth between those machines. Data relating to at least a subset (and in some examples, two or more) of the candidate resource combinations is then presented to the tenant.

Predicting datacenter performance to improve provisioning

Methods of offering network performance guarantees in multi-tenant datacenters are described. In an embodiment, a request for resources received at a datacenter from a tenant comprises a number of virtual machines and a performance requirement, such as a bandwidth requirement, specified by the tenant. A network manager within the datacenter maps the request onto the datacenter topology and allocates virtual machines within the datacenter based on the available slots for virtual machines within the topology and such that the performance requirement is satisfied. Following allocation, stored residual capacity values for elements within the topology are updated according to the new allocation and this updated stored data is used in mapping subsequent requests onto the datacenter. The allocated virtual machines form part of a virtual network within the datacenter which is allocated in response to the request and two virtual network abstractions are described: virtual clusters and virtual oversubscribed clusters.

Offering network performance guarantees in multi-tenant datacenters

A deadline-aware network protocol is described. In an example, data transfer at a transport layer entity of a packet-based communication network is controlled by receiving a request for network resources for a data flow from a network element and allocating network resources to the data flow. The data flow comprises a number of data packets associated with an application, and the request comprises a factor relating to a time deadline associated with the application. The network resources allocated depend on the factor relating to the time deadline. In examples, the network resource can be a bandwidth or data rate allocated to the data flow, and the factor can be a data rate sufficient to complete the data flow within the time deadline. In examples, the network resources are allocated greedily, such that requests are fully satisfied whenever possible, and the network resources are fully utilized.

Deadline-aware network protocol

Using location-independent names to identify content, a service for mapping endpoint requests to requested content. Content requested by an endpoint of the network is mapped to a dynamic 'swarm' of server, peer, or other endpoints capable of supporting the content download. Content names are mapped to a dynamically generated content swarm, presenting a current set of hosts, which can provide the requested content. Optionally, varying degrees of explicit visibility into routing paths and the performance tradeoffs between those routing paths is supported. Based on a set of class of service parameters for a given request for content, a host can initiate route selection based on class of service parameters, predicated on routing metrics maintained by the network by cooperating endpoints and/or network routers.

Network routing of endpoints to content based on content swarms

Controlling data storage input/output requests is described, for example, to apply a policy to an end-to-end flow of data input/output requests between at least one computing entity and at least one store. In various examples a plurality of queues are configured at one or more stages of the end-to-end flow and controlled to adhere to a policy. In examples, each stage has a control interface enabling it to receive and execute control instructions from a controller which may be centralized or distributed. For example, the control instructions comprise queuing rules and/or queue configurations. In various examples queues and queuing rules are dynamically created and revised according to feedback about any of: flow behavior, changes in policy, changes in infrastructure or other factors. In examples, high level identifiers of the flow endpoints are resolved, on a per stage basis, to low level identifiers suitable for use by the stage.

Systems and methods based on policy criteria for controlling the flow of data storage input/output requests between endpoints

A decentralized relaying algorithm for mobile devices is described. In an embodiment, a mobile device acts as a relay within a network of mobile devices and on contact with a source device downloads messages from the source according to a locally stored relaying probability for each channel of information within the network. These messages are subsequently downloaded to another device which is the end user of the message. Where the relay does not download the message from the source as a result of the decision made based on the relaying probability, a virtual message is downloaded which comprises metadata only and not the payload of the message. The relay updates the stored relaying probabilities for each channel based on locally observable information which includes feedback received from mobile devices to which the relay has downloaded messages. The feedback identifies unique paths for the payload of messages through the network.

Decentralized relaying algorithm for mobile devices

Resource optimization for online services is described. In one example, objects (such as mailboxes or other data associated with an online service) are assigned to network elements (such as servers) by inferring a relationship graph from log data relating to usage of the online service. The graph has a node for each object, and connections between each pair of objects having data items in common. Each connection has a weight relating to the number of common data items. The graph is partitioned into a set of clusters, such that each cluster has nodes joined by connections with a high weight relative to the weight of connections between nodes in different clusters. The objects are then distributed to the network elements such that objects corresponding to nodes in the same cluster are located on the same network element.

Resource optimization for online services

A resource allocation framework for wireless/wired networks is described. In an embodiment, methods of end host based traffic management are described which operate separately from the underlying access control protocol within the network (e.g. wireless MAC protocol or TCP). The rate limits for each flow are set based on per-flow weights, which may be user specified, and based on an estimate of the utilization of the shared resource and the rate limits are adjusted periodically so that the resource is not underutilized or saturated. Some embodiments compute a virtual capacity of the resource which is adjusted to optimize the value of the utilization and then the virtual capacity is shared between flows according to the per-flow weights. Methods for estimating the utilization of a wireless network and the capacity of a broadband access link are also described.

Resource allocation framework for wireless/wired networks

A service for facilitating a determination of path quality between a first endpoint node and a second endpoint node in a network of nodes is provided. Path quality information is aggregated from across network internet service providers (ISPs), giving authorized endpoints access to path quality information for specified path segments of a path to another endpoint. Path quality information includes one or more metrics that measure available bandwidth, loss rate and/or latency.

Characterization of network path quality for network applications and services

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Thomas Karagiannis