Self-Serve
Bandwidth
On Demand

For Internet Exchanges (IXPs) and ISPs, self-provisioning bandwidth under SDN control is a new bandwidth sales model that lets operators or users set up bandwidth in minutes rather than months.

Of the list above, the open programming interfaces deserve further explanation. Different customers require open programming interfaces for the network at different layers, depending on their requirements and comfort level. Open programmability is at the core of Corsa devices, and why we enable programmable interfaces at all layers—from the hardware layer to the network application layer. Network operators have the choice to use open source software or Corsa supplied software. By providing all the additional functionality for higher abstraction layers, RESTful APIs for all levels of configuration as well as built in network protocol stacks for most common services, Corsa significantly reduces the cost of software development that network operators have to incur to either adapt existing open source software to their needs, or to write complete software systems from scratch for network applications where open-source software does not exist. Most importantly, network operators avoid vendor lock-in.

SDN network architects can easily control network bandwidth allocation for each flow through their SDN controller’s southbound OpenFlow interface, and signal changes directly to the hardware forwarding the traffic. In turn, this type of network control can be presented via northbound APIs to provisioning, orchestration or other policy systems to enable on-demand bandwidth reservation or near real-time QoS policy changes. Potentially these APIs can even be exposed to the user applications directly in the form of new services, such as application admission control or dynamic bandwidth reservation. This level of programmatic control leads not only to reduced transfer times for large flows, but also gives users visibility and predictability for the performance of their applications.