COST 279 Final Seminar – Lisbon 29-Jun-2005 1 FP6 IST “Broadband for all” Network of Excellence Project 001933 e-Photon/ONe “Optical Networks: Towards.

COST 279 Final Seminar – Lisbon 29-Jun-20051

FP6 IST “Broadband for all”Network of Excellence

Project 001933

e-Photon/ONe “Optical Networks: Towards Bandwidth

Manageability and Cost Efficiency”

COST 279 Final SeminarLisbon, June 29th, 2005


FP6 Instruments

• Generation, demonstration and validation of new knowledge through research and development– Integrated Projects (IPs; ~10M€)– Specific Tergeted Research Projects (STRePs; ~2M€)

• Durable integration of the participants’ activities and capacities– Networks of Excellence (NoEs; ~7M€)

• Support to collaboration and coordination, and to other activities– Coordination Actions (CAs; ~1M€)– Specific Support Actions (SSAs; ~0.5M€)


6FP First IST Call

• Costly paperwork and proposal preparation• Relatively little funding to ICT• Strong competition among several NoEs and

IPs for strategic objective “Broadband for All”• The ranking of e-Photon/ONe was 22/25 (best

in “Broadband for all” among NoEs and IPs)• The EC proposed (and final) grant was 2.9 MЄ

for 2 years …


Consortium composition - I• Politecnico di Torino, Italy• Università di Bologna, Italy• Politecnico di Milano, Italy• Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Rome, Italy• Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy• INTEC - Ghent University - IMEC, Gent, Belgium• Technical University of Eindhoven, The Netherlands • Faculté Polytechnique de Mons, Mons, Belgium• COM - Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark• Kista Photonics Research Centre, Kista, Sweden• Fraunhofer Gesellschaft - Heinrich Hertz Institute, Germany• Duisburg University, Germany• University of Stuttgart - Institute of Communication Networks and Computer

Engineering, Germany• Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany• Vienna University of Technology, Austria• Groupe des Ecoles de Telecommunications, France


Consortium composition - II• University of Essex, UK• University College London (UCL), London, UK• University of Cambridge, UK• University of Southampton, UK• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain• Universdad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain• Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain• Polytecnic of Valencia, Spain• Instituto de Telecomunicações, Aveiro, Portugal• National Technical University of Athens, Greece• University of Athens, Greece• University of Patras, Greece• Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary• Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey• University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia• University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH), Poland


Consortium composition - III[Industrial partners]• Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo, Spain• T-Systems Nova GmbH, Germany• Siemens, Germany• Telenor R&D, Oslo, Norway• France Telecom, France• Alcatel R&I, France

38 partner institutions:– 32 academic institutions– 4 telecom operators– 2 manufacturers

with broad European coverage (from Portugal to Turkey)~400 researchers actively involved in the NoECoordinator: Fabio Neri (Politecnico di Torino)


Some comments

• A large number of partners raises project management issues– The EC grant must be efficiently utilized– A strong and well-defined project structure is required

• Hierarchy of responsibilities• Several committees and boards to steer and promote activities

– Efficient project office

• NoEs bring new and “unusual” goals– EC grant not for funding individual research– Partners must learn to work towards “integration”

• Results should come in the medium to long term– But the e-Photon/ONe duration was cut from 5 to 2 years

• raising issues on effectiveness of the activities• downsizing of final objectives


Funding limited to two years

• Same for all IPs and NoEs in Broadband for All• Two years is too short; several activities require

a longer time span (e.g., PhD students should be financed for three years)

• The project will have to stop its activities at the end of the initial warm-up transient

• Limiting NoEs to two years appears as a symptom of little trust from the Commission in this new instrument

• A significant part of the 2nd year was devoted to writing a new proposal


Objectives of e-Photon/ONe

• e-Photon/ONe is focused on optical networks• Its main goals are:

– integrate and focus the rich technical know-how available in Europe on optical networking

– favour a consensus on the engineering choices towards the deployment of optical networks

– understand how to exploit the unique characteristics of the optical domain for networking applications

– promote and organize activities to disseminate knowledge on optical networks


Joint Program of Activities (JPA)

• The JPA provides a description of the broad scope of the NoE

• For e-Photon/ONe it was planned for a 5-years time span, and it is articulated into 15 WorkPackages (WPs)

• JPA activities are classified into four categories:– Integrating activities– Joint research activities– Spreading of excellence activities– Management activities


Activities in the JPA• Integrating activities

– A1.1 Coordination of research– A1.2 Researcher and student mobility– A1.3 Knowledge and innovation management– A1.4 Integrated dissemination– A1.5 Sharing research facilities– A1.6 Educational programs

• Joint research activities– A2.1 Virtual Department 1: “Core networks: technologies, architectures and protocols”– A2.2 Virtual Department 2: “Metro and access networks: technologies, architectures and protocols”– A2.3 Virtual Department 3: “Home networks and other short-reach networks”– A2.4 Virtual Department 4: “Optical switching systems”– A2.5 Virtual Department 5: “Transmission techniques for broadband networks”

• Spreading of excellence activities– A3.1 On-line dissemination– A3.2 Publications and conferences– A3.3 External relations– A3.4 Schools and continuing education– A3.5 Hosting students and researchers

• Management activities– A4.1 Management of the technical bodies– A4.2 Management of governing bodies


Integration goals

• Strengthen contacts between partners

• Focus research on optical networking

• Stimulate exchanges of researchers and lecturers

• Support knowledge management and circulation of information

• Sharing of research topics and activities

• Sharing of lab infrastructures

• Develop common educational programs

• Support innovation management


Virtual Departments

• Integration activities were organized in thematic structures called Virtual Departments (VDs)

• Viewing e-Photon/ONe as a large virtual European research structure (e.g. a university), it is possible to envisage different departments to which people affiliate according to topics. Departments have chairpersons who decide on the activities and the internal organization. People of a department do research, but also organize projects, interact with people external to the departments, have teaching activities etc.


Major technical areas in optical networks

• Wavelength routing (core) networks– Exploit large bandwidth on fiber links– Reduce time-domain operations, buffering requirements, and information

processing

• Innovative architectures for metro and access– Broadcast-and-select networks– WDM rings– PONs

• Home and short-reach networks– Low cost– Easy deployment

• Optics in switching and optical switching– Large switching fabrics– Lower footprint and power requirements

• Optical transmission– Improving the best– Higher manageability


Virtual Departments

• VD1 (F. Callegati): “Core Networks: Technologies, Architectures, and Protocols”

• VD2 (E. Zouganeli): “Metro and Access Networks: Technologies, Architectures, and Protocols”

• VD3 (D. Jäger): “Home Networks and Other Short-Reach Networks”

• VD4 (L. Dittman): “Optical Switching Systems”

• VD5 (P. Poggiolini): “Transmission Techniques for Broadband Networks”


Joint Projects

• Although it is stated that funding research is not a primary goal of a NoE (!), four joint research projects (JPs) have been defined, so that the different partners can work together towards a few common goals

• JPs are specific, short-term research activities, that may involve people from a single or multiple departments, just like the many research projects in which university staff people are often involved

• JPs are serving as an important step toward integration inside the NoE, providing to a large number of partners an opportunity for interaction and accomplishment of common goals

• Research activities in JPs are decided and coordinated by WP leaders


Joint Projects• JP1 (A. Stavdas): “New designs for optical packet switching

nodes”. It aims both at designing optical switching devices (OXCs, optical packet switches), and at identifying the role of optics in traditional packet/circuit switches (e.g., switching fabrics in IP routers, or optical backplanes)

• JP2 (T. Koonen): “Flexible broadband fiber in the loop networks and in home networks”, including fiber in the access and FTTH, hybrid fiber-wireless and fiber-coax, very-low-cost optics, plastic fibers, wireless optics

• JP3 (M. Pickavet): “Protocols for the control plane in WDM core networks” (ASONs, G-MPLS, etc.)

• JP4 (R. Killey): “Robust transmission techniques for core and metro networks”


Spreading excellence activities

• Dissemination activities: it is important to convert the international reputation of individual partners in a quality label for the network

• Training activities must help improve the skills and knowledge of the future young workforce and indirectly help to establish a competitive and knowledge economy


Training

• The NoE aims to establish a significant influence on the training in the area of optical communication

• Initiatives will be taken to complement the currently on-going uniformisation of the university degrees within Europe, in the framework of the Sorbonne-Bologna declarations, and specific attention will be paid to improvements of the quality

• Specific objectives:– improve and uniformize the undergraduate and graduate programs in

the domain of optical communication throughout Europe

– draw guidelines for the curricula and, in particular for degrees in electrical and/or telecommunications engineering, as well as photonics

– to improve the PhD training, a.o. by including hands-on training in a broader field

– to organize specialized post-graduate programs for PhD students, post-docs and industrial researchers and technicians


15 WorkPackages• WP1 (VD on Core Networks): F. Callegati – DEIS-UniBo• WP2 (VD on Metro and Access Networks): E. Zouganeli – Telenor• WP3 (VD on Home and Other Short-Reach Networks): D. Jaeger - UniDu• WP4 (VD on Optical Switching Systems): L. Dittman – DTU• WP5 (VD on Transmission): P. Poggiolini – PoliTO• WP6 (NoE Management): L. Fulci – PoliTO • WP7 (JP on Optical Switches): A. Stavdas – NTUA• WP8 (JP on Reconfigurable Access): T. Koonen – Tu/E• WP9 (JP on Protocols for WDM Network): M. Pickavet – UGent • WP10 (JP on Robust Transmission): R. Killey – UCL• WP11 (Mobility): G. Morthier – UGent• WP12 (Teaching Activities): B. Mikac – TELFER• WP13 (Joint Laboratories): A. Seeds – UCL• WP14 (Dissemination): M. O’Mahony – UEssex• WP15 (International Collaborations): S. Tomic – TUW


e-Photon/ONe organization

MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATIVE

BOARD

JPA COMMITTEE

Integrating Activities

Board

Joint Research

Project Board

Dissemination & TrainingBoard

STEERING COMMITTEE

Local Administrative Dpt. JPA Dpt.

PROJECT COORDINATOR

Gender issue panel

Socio-economic panel

Innovation & IPR panel

QualityAssurance Committee

Ethical issues Panel

NETWORK PARTNERS (38)

Exchange & Mobility Board

VD1 VD5……..

Joint Project 1

Joint Project 4

……..……Joint

projects

Virtual Departments

Admin.LeaderArea 3

Admin. LeaderArea 1

Admin. LeaderArea 2

Admin. LeaderArea 4

Admin. LeaderArea 5 Admin.

LeaderArea 6

Admin. LeaderArea 7 Admin.

LeaderArea 8

Admin. LeaderArea 9

Project Office


Project management and administration

• The Project Office was established at Politecnico di Torino to deal with project management and administrative issues (two full-time persons)

• The Consortium Agreement was negotiated and signed

• Difficult integration of diffrent rules in different countries for cost eligibility

• Quarterly (!) Management Reports were prepared and submitted to the European Commission

• The role of Collaborating Institutions, participating to e-Photon/One with no budget allocation, was established, and several application were received (this is a recognition of the project quality)


Some achievements• e-Photon/ONe web site: http://www.e-photon-one.org

• Support to the organization of conferences, including ONDM, and ECOC

• Workshop presenting e-Photon/ONe to the international community at ECOC in Stockholm (Sweden) on September 7th, 2004

• Events and workshops at NOC (Holland), OECC (Japan), WOBS/Broadnets (USA), Broadband Summit (Belgium), and others

• Links with the IEEE Optical Networks Technical Committee (ONTC); joint organization with NSF and COST of workshop on research directions Europe-USA technical collaboration (June 2005 n Brussels)

• Several members of e-Photon/ONe are in the editorial board of the new Elsevier journal “Optical Switching and Networking (OSN)

• Interactions with Global Grid Forum on Optical Burst Switching standards

• Two technical schools (one in Mons in September 2004, and one in Aveiro in February 2005); next school in Summer 2005 in Cesenatico

• Several personnel exchanges took place in the framework of mobility actions. Around 25 such events involved mainly PhD students for extended periods

• An effort towards integration of lab activities and sharing of lab infrastructures lead to an inventory of existing labs and to a plan for coordinated lab experiments


Research directions and challanges

• More packets in networks, more circuits in the optical domain• (Dynamic) connection-oriented operation; lot of work on control plane

functionalities• Large attention to (new architectures for) the access segment; G-PONs,

E-PONs• More optics in traditional switching devices• New design criteria:

– bandwidth cost no longer an issue – cost of switching more important– QoS requirements do not scale with packet duration: no need for

reconfiguration in the ns scale

• Consider non-traditional application domains:– Home networks– Vehicle networks

• Unclear evolution towards higher data rates (40 and 100 Gb/s): 2.5 Gb/s best transmission compromise


Uneven partner involvement

• Limited involvement of industrial partners• Also limited initial involvement of some academic

partners• WP leaders monitor the involvement of partners in their

WP• The Technical Annex assumes full transfer of EC funds

only upon verification of active participation: EC contribution may be reduced in proportion to the costs claimed and accepted for the first annual report

• Adjusting the budget subdivision to actual activities and involvement in the integration process proved to be effective, but increases management costs


Collaborating Institutions

• At the kickoff meeting it was decided not to enlarge the consortium, but to establish the role of “Collaborating Institution”, with– no budget allocation – full participation to the project

• It is an interesting approach to have a consortium “evolving” with time and a recognition of the quality of e-Photon/ONe

• Current Collaborating Institutions:– Intel Cambridge, UK (Madeleine Glick)– Multitel, Mons, Belgium (Augustin Grillet)– Athens Information and Technology Center, Greece (Ioannis Tomkos)– Beijing University of Posts & Telegraphs, China (Jian Wu)– Fujitsu Labs Europe, UK (Michael Parker)– Campinas State University, Brazil (Helio Waldman)


Comments after one project year

Advantages of NoEs:• Research and personal integration in the European

scientific community• International visibility • Cooperation with the European international leadership

in specific technical areas (optical networks for e-Photon/ONe), and with Japan, USA, Canada,

China, Korea• Possible alliances for setting up consortia towards other

forms of research funding



• Consortium size:– Difficult to build small consortia

– Large consortia difficult to coordinate (~5K emails in my mailbox; response times with very large variance; meetings become conferences; etc.)

– Intellectual Property Right issues difficult to handle (in particular for industrial partners, but also between different projects)

• The allocated budget is too small for industries to participate: the involvement of industries and SMEs in FP6 has been limited (industries participation in IST reduced from 55% to 29%)

• The funding period was really too short for an NoE: will we have durable integration effects?



• Project management:– Large management effort– Difficult interaction with the EC

• Sixth Framework Programme rules not clear from the beginning (and unknown or obscure to participating institutions)

• Large paperwork overhead (61 deliverables, quarterly reports, and heavy annual reports and reviews)

• No real administrative autonomy: very detailed reporting to the Commission still requested

• The AC model (used by most universities) is not appropriate for NoEs

• Co-existence of AC and FC models leads to administrative problems


Conclusions (1)

• Exploiting the NoE instrument is not trivial• Consortium size

– Small consortium likely misses significant players and has no consensus in the research community

– Big consortium raises management issues

• The project management architecture is a cornerstone to achieve tangible results– The Virtual Department concept is the e-Photon/ONe

answer to the coordination of research issue

• Budget and funding period must be adequate– New proposal e-Photon/ONe+ to overcome the 2-

years limit


Conclusions (2)

VDs had a slow start After one year, results are beginning to emerge

– Partners have got to know one another a lot better:• Mutual knowledge of fields of expertise and areas of excellence

• Mutual knowledge of group layouts and major laboratory infrastructure

– Integration is truly taking place• Formal and informal collaborations have actually started among

several partners

• Actions towards the 4th FP6 calls coordinated

• Consensus on key issues being formed common papers being written and plans for building common teaching material

The pace towards integration is still uneven among VDs


More in www.e-photon-one.org

QuickTime™ e undecompressore TIFF (LZW)

sono necessari per visualizzare quest'immagine.Register (on web site) to Newsletter!

Come to e-Photon/ONe booth at ECOC 2005!

Visit our web site!


Different views …

How the project leader views e-Photon/One

How the Commission views project leaders

How partners interpret European projects

How the project office views e-Photon/One


Q?

COST 279 Final Seminar – Lisbon 29-Jun-2005 1 FP6 IST “Broadband for all” Network of Excellence Project 001933 e-Photon/ONe “Optical Networks: Towards.

Documents

final seminar lisbon

university of essex

cost efficiency cost

germany duisburg university

uk university of southampton

uk university of cambridge

final grant

italy politecnico