Planning, deploying, and engineering the networks that make up the Internet infrastructure involves complex problems that we will refer to generically as "network design" problems. Effective and efficient solutions to network design problems are crucial to the operation and economics of the Internet and its ability to support critical and reliable communication services. With this research project we aim to make contributions that will lead to new approaches for tackling network design problems in a scalable manner. In particular, we will develop parallel solutions that are applicable to a wide range of problems by exploiting a feature common to all, namely, that the optimization process incorporates both a routing aspect and a resource allocation aspect.

NCSU through the Genworth GA will provide research and analysis to Genworth as set forth in this Agreement. Such research and analysis shall include, but is not limited to, research, generation, testing, and documentation of risk modeling software. Genworth GA will provide such services for Genworth's offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, at such times as have been mutually agreed upon by the parties.

NCSU through the Genworth GA will provide research and analysis to Genworth as set forth in this Agreement. Such research and analysis shall include, but is not limited to, research, generation, testing, and documentation of risk modeling software. Genworth GA will provide such services for Genworth's offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, at such times as have been mutually agreed upon by the parties.

NCSU through the Genworth GA will provide research and analysis to Genworth as set forth in this Agreement. Such research and analysis shall include, but is not limited to, research, generation, testing, and documentation of risk modeling software. Genworth GA will provide such services for Genworth's offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, at such times as have been mutually agreed upon by the parties.

NCSU through the RENCI GA will provide research and analysis to RENCI as set forth in this Agreement. Such research and analysis shall include, but is not limited to, research, generation, testing, and documentation of software and tools for the NIH Data Commons. RENCI GA will provide such services at the direction of RENCI staff at RENCI������������������s offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at such times as have been mutually agreed upon by the parties.

NCSU through the SAS GA will provide research and analysis to SAS as set forth in this Agreement. Such research and analysis shall include, but is not limited to, research, generation, testing, and documentation of operations research software. SAS GA will provide such services for SAS' offices in Cary, North Carolina, at such times as have been mutually agreed upon by the parties.

This project builds on the SILO project that started in 2006 to design a new architecture for the Internet. In this new project, we will collaborate with teams of researchers from the University of Kentucky, the University of Massachusetts, and RENCI, to design critical parts of a new architecture for the Internet that will support the flexible use of widely applicable information transport and transformation modules to create good solutions for specific communication applications. The key idea is to allow a network to offer information transformation services at the edge or in the core transparently to the application, and creating a framework in which application can issue a request not only for communication but for specific reusable services. We also propose research tasks that will enable network virtualization and isolation seamlessly at many levels, currently a difficult but highly relevant problem in practical networking.

Optical networking forms the foundation of the global network infrastructure, hence the planning and design of optical networks is crucial to the operation and economics of the Internet and its ability to support critical and reliable communication services. With this research project we aim to make contributions that will lead to a quantum leap in the ability to solve optimally a range of optical design problems. In particular, we will develop compact formulations and solution approaches that can be applied efficiently to instances encountered in Internet-scale environments. Our goal is to lower the barrier to entry in fully exploring the solution space and in implementing and deploying innovative designs. The solutions we will develop are "future-proof" with respect to advances in DWDM transmission technology, as the size of the corresponding problem formulations is independent of the number of wavelengths.

This is a pilot internship program between NCSU and Cisco for 4 undergraduate students to learn through working part-time on real life problems for Cisco with the hope that this pilot program can grow and develop into a long term working relationship. Specifically, NCSU students will participate in Cisco Software Application Support plus Upgrades (SASU) projects and/or conduct research for SASU. This will be done with an understanding that the interns are students, and as such are learning and being trained with the training coming from both the Cisco (for SASU-specific skills), and NCSU (through the undergraduate program they are enrolled in) in general relevant skills.

NCSU through the SAS GA will provide research and analysis to SAS as set forth in this Agreement. Such research and analysis shall include, but is not limited to, research, generation, testing, and documentation of operations research software. SAS GA will provide such services for SAS' offices in Cary, North Carolina, at such times as have been mutually agreed upon by the parties.