Federating heterogeneous network virtualization platforms by slice exchange point

An architecture called the slice-exchange-point (SEP) has been designed for federating heterogeneous net-work-virtualization platforms by creating and managing slices (virtual networks). SEP enables whole inter-domain resources to be managed by the network manager of any single domain. Slice-operation commands are propagated to other domains through SEP by using a common API. SEP introduces the following four features: infrastructure neutrality, single interface federation, abstract and clean federation, and extensibility of capabilities. SEP´s functions to achieve these features are discussed. SEP was partially implemented on two VNode domains and one ProtoGENI domain and was verified to function effectively.