image: A team of Princeton researchers, including Erik Nordström (left), a research scholar, and Michael Freedman, an assistant professor of computer science, is developing a system to address the problems involved with the Internet's growing pains. Called Serval, the system makes a small change to the way programs download and manage data that could have a big impact on the future development of the Web. view more
Credit: Frank Wojciechowski
A team of researchers at Princeton University has created a new approach to Internet architecture that provides mobility for users and flexibility for datacenters while not requiring any major changes to the current structure of the Internet.
Called Serval, the new system adds a novel element to the network stack called the Service Access Layer. The Service Access Layer provides a new naming system based on services, rather than the current network stack, which is designed for fixed hosts with addresses based on physical location.
By making naming dependent on services rather than location, Serval allows mobile users to seamlessly transit between Wifi and 3G, or for devices to use both simultaneously. At the other end, applications can run on multiple servers at different locations or migrate to other servers without the need for costly and complex load balancing. In a cloud setting, Serval allows webservers to run in virtual machines that can migrate between hosts to distribute load.
(Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Serval.)
The Serval team has already constructed a proof-of-service network to demonstrate the system's abilities. Michael Freedman, a computer science professor at Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science, said the team is in discussions with organizations to arrange a wider distribution of the system.
Freedman, the Serval team leader, said the system can be deployed incrementally and does not interfere with the current network stack. Users can operate Serval without degrading performance in dealing with parts of the Internet that are not using the system.
Serval is an open-source project. Its development was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research and Cisco Systems.
A copy of the most recent conference paper on Serval can be found here, and a copy of the news story that ran on the Princeton University website can be found here. Researchers are available for interviews.