Integrating a next-generation optical access network testbed into a large-scale virtual research testbed

Several experimental research networks have been created in the laboratories of prominent universities and research centres to assess new optical communication technologies. A greater value and research impact can be obtained from these testbeds by making them available to other researchers through research infrastructure federations such as GENI and/or FIRE. This is a challenging task due to the limitations of programmability of resource management and virtualisation software in most experimental optical networks. Fed4FIRE is an EU research project that makes it possible to create complex testbed scenarios that interconnect heterogeneous testbeds distributed physically all over the world. In this paper, we present a practical approach for the federation of a next-generation optical access testbed created at Stanford University called UltraFlow Access. That testbed offers its users both packet-switched and circuit-switched services while remaining compatible with conventional PONs. Our approach facilitates experimentation on the UltraFlow Access testbed in the context of large virtual testbeds using Fed4FIRE protocols.The research of this paper was partially financed by the European Union’s FP7 grant agreement no. 318389 Fed4FIRE Project, the National Science Foundation (grant no. 111174), NSERC, the Spanish projects CRAMnet (grant no. TEC2012-38362-C03- 01) and TIGRE5-CM (grant no. S2013/ICE-2919). The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of the Chair of Excellence of Bank of Santander at UC3M.European Community's Seventh Framework Progra