The Network Services Framework defines several key architectural
elements required to define and build services within the Network Service Plane.
The framework describes an environment within which network objects are defined
as manageable resources. Within
the framework, these network resources can be selected, allocated,
interrogated, and manipulated by software agents on behalf of requesting users.
A suite of standards documents will define the NSI protocol. Those documents will implement the NSI
Framework as described here. In addition, each Network Service, like a
Conection Service, will be defined in its own recommendation document.
Federated Network Services are delivered by combining the
capabilities of participating providers.
To manage federated services, a range of network related functional
capabilities such as topology sharing, path finding, resource reservation,
hardware provisioning, and other ancillary services and functions are required. These may be formalized in future
versions of the NSI protocol.