Integrating Complex Legacy Systems under OpenFlow Control: The DOCSIS Use Case

The possibility to deploy telecommunication services based on the availability of a fully flow-aware network is an appealing possibility. Concepts like Network Service Chaining and Network Function Virtualization expect the information to be manageable at the flow level. But, for this concept to be available for the development of user-centric applications, the access network should also be made flow-aware. In this paper we present the integration of a legacy DOCSIS based access network under an OpenFlow Control Framework by using the Hardware Abstraction Layer designed in the FP7 ALIEN project. The result is a dynamic wide area OpenFlow switch that spawns from the aggregation switch to the home equipment and hides all the complexity (including the provisioning) of the access technology to an unmodified and standard OpenFlow controller. As a result, the access network can react not only to any kind of user traffic but also to the connection of CPE to the network. The approach used is technology independent, and the results have been successfully demonstrated over a Cisco based DOCSIS access network.