Subject: [Actn] Introduction to ACTN mailing list

From: Leeyoung <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2013 19:34:50 +0000

Dear all,

This is to introduce the ACTN mailing list. ACTN stands for "Abstraction and Control of Transport Networks" and it reads like "Action."
This mailing list is created as a result of a Bar BOF held in IETF 88 @ Vancouver. The original Bar BOF was called "Network Control Function Virtualization (NCFV)".

The purpose of the list:

Transport networks have a variety of mechanisms to facilitate separation of data plane and control plane including distributed signaling for path setup and protection, centralized path computation for planning and traffic engineering, and a range of management and provisioning protocols to configure and activate network resources. These mechanisms represent key technologies for enabling flexible and dynamic networking.

As transport networks evolve, the need to provide network abstraction has emerged as key requirement for operators; this is in effect virtualization of network resources so that the network is "sliced" for different uses, applications, services, and clients each being given a different partial view of the total topology and each considering that it is operating with or on a single, stand-alone and consistent network.

This virtualization is known as Abstraction and Control of Transport Network (ACTN) and facilitates:

- Abstraction of underlying network resources to higher-layer applications and users (clients);

- Slicing of network resources, to meet specific application and users requirements;

- A computation scheme and virtual control capability, via an information model, to clients who request network connectivity and bandwidth;

- Coordination of underlying transport layers and presentation as an abstracted topology to the client;

This mailing list is intended to enable discussion of the architecture, use-cases/applicability, and requirements that provide abstraction and virtual control of transport networks to various applications/clients.

You can subscribe to the list at: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/actn.

Wiki is created to keep track of the latest development and provide some background and useful information at: https://sites.google.com/site/actnbof/.

To post a message to all the list members, send email to [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>.

Best Regards,
Young & Dan