Subject: [Nfvrg] CFP - IEEE Globecom 2018 Workshop: Advanced Control Planes for Software Networks

From: "Bless, Roland (TM)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2018 16:59:15 +0200

[Please accept our apologies if you have received multiple copies]

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Call For Papers
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1st International Workshop on
Advanced Control Planes for Software Networks (ACPSN 2018)
- Toward Plug ’n Play Software-Defined Infrastructures -
https://tm.kit.edu/events/gc2018-ws-acpsn

at IEEE Globecom 2018, December 13th
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
http://globecom2018.ieee-globecom.org/workshop/ws-20-acpsn-international-workshop-advanced-control-planes-software-networks
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Workshop Dates

* 2018-07-02 Registration Deadline
* 2018-07-09 Submission Deadline
* 2018-09-17 Acceptance Notification
* 2018-10-15 Final Workshop Papers Deadline
* 2018-12-13 Workshop (Morning)

Papers will be published in the GLOBECOM 2018 Workshops Proceedings and
submitted to IEEE Xplore.
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CFP PDF: https://tm.kit.edu/events/gc2018-ws-acpsn/gc2018-ws-acpsn-cfp.pdf
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Workshop Description

In networking research and development there is a clear trend toward
the creation and provisioning of more flexible network
infrastructures. Emerging enabling technologies such as
Software-defined Networking, Network Function Virtualization, Service
Function Chaining, and the envisioned Network Slicing in 5G networks
are evidence for future software-based infrastructures offering such
flexibility. By introducing software and IT principles in networking,
these technologies promise an easier, faster and better adaptability
to changing needs of future network services as well as overall cost
savings. Despite the strong recent research interest for these areas,
there are still challenges ahead to unfold the full potential of
software-based network infrastructures. One aspect is the higher
dynamics of such software-defined infrastructures directly related to
the promise of flexibility: instead of a rather static and detailed
pre-planning of the (mostly) virtual network infrastructure, the
infrastructure should be elastic, i.e., enlarge or shrink as needed
on-demand. Thus, one can expect that scaling happens on much shorter
timescales than considered before (e.g., minutes rather than
days). This could ease the development of network services: starting
from an initial network configuration, a so-called slice could be
adapted to the current needs without strict and conservative
pre-planning. Network providers could offer cost-effective solutions
due to the potential statistical multiplex gain on the actual
resources.

We currently witness a concrete demand for this coming from the 5G
core network modularization and virtualization. If, for example, many
5G control plane components are realized as virtual network functions
(VNF), one can assume that these are scaled up horizontally, when the
load in the network grows. Similarly, in SDN-based networks the SDN
control plane must be able to scale with a growing demand from the
data plane. In contrast, current SDN and NFV solutions assume the
existence of a separate fixed control infrastructure. This is a
serious scaling limitation in the architecture for virtual components
(e.g., if the SDN-controlled switches are also virtual) that could be
overcome by using virtual control channels and virtual control
end-points. Therefore, we envision a flexible network infrastructure
that is not only able to provide scalability at different service
levels (e.g., data plane, SDN/NFV control plane, 5G control plane),
but also to adapt and self-organize itself, i.e. its own control
plane. For example, if the SDN control channels are sharing the
infrastructure with the data plane channels (“in-band control”), the
control must be resilient to self-inflicted node and link failures
caused by SDN control actions (e.g., cutting of an SDN-controlled
switch from SDN controller(s) by closing down a port or redirecting
control flows in a loop).

Prior network virtualization research addressed the problem of virtual
network embedding, i.e. efficient or optimized mapping of the virtual
resources onto the physical network infrastructure
resources. Similarly, the current approach of network slicing in 5G
considers that slice instances are made from so-called “network slice
blueprints”, which define the layout and requirements of the virtual
5G network. However, since adaptivity on shorter timescales is
desirable to reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO), it will result
in a shift from a more static mapping of virtual resources onto
physical resources toward virtual resource scheduling within the
physical infrastructure. This is a complex task, since it requires
consideration of dependencies between computational resources (VNFs),
network resources (virtual switches/routers and links) as well as
storage resources (file storage, data bases, etc.). Similar approaches
from the orchestration area are unfortunately positioned on the
management plane, and cannot cope with the events occurring in
runtime.

In summary, the current approaches toward software-based network
infrastructures are not yet ready to unleash the full power of the
software-based paradigm, as it is already used within data
centers. Higher adaptivity and elasticity requirements challenge not
only control plane mechanisms, but also the achievable quality of
control and finally the attainable quality of service. More research
is needed in these directions.

In this context, several challenges can be identified:

* Moving away from infrastructure pre-planning toward really elastic
  network slices that can handle high dynamics
* Elasticity of control and management to support elasticity of network
slicing
* Achieving consistent control of all involved slice resources across
different
  resource domains (wireless access, aggregation, core, compute,
network, and storage resources)
* Assessing flexible control plane design alternatives,
  e.g., in-band control versus separate data plane and control slices
* Handling aspects of nested SDN control and network virtualization
  (e.g., running SDN and NFV inside a network slice)
* Providing reliable tenant access to control plane functions
  for the virtualized network infrastructure

The workshop will provide a frame to discuss challenges and first
research works along this problem space. The workshop chairs and TPC
chairs solicit original, unpublished technical papers in the area of
(but not limited to):

* Distributed, autonomous, and self-organizing SDN control and
management planes
* Scaling concepts for elastic network slices
* Elasticity of control and management to support elasticity of network
slicing
* Virtual network resource scheduling (rather than virtual network
embedding schemes)
* Robust SDN in-band control channels
* Out-of-VNet-control Interfaces: how to request
  instantiation, deletion, and runtime changes of a network slice
* Partitioning and aggregation concepts for control plane resources
  (e.g., SDN controller, virtualized infrastructure manager, etc.)

The workshop also explicitly welcomes research work in early stages,
presenting problem statements and first concepts, e.g., without
comprehensive evaluation but preliminary results. Such contributions
can be submitted as short papers (3 pages maximum).

The Author and Submission Guidelines
http://globecom2018.ieee-globecom.org/authors/call-symposium-papers#asg
apply. All submissions should be written in English with a maximum
paper length of six (6) printed pages for full papers (10-point font)
including figures without incurring additional page charges (maximum 1
additional page with over length page charge of USD 100 if
accepted). The maximum paper length for short papers is three (3)
printed pages including figures. Papers must be submitted via
EDAS. Papers exceeding 7 pages will not be accepted at EDAS.

Standard IEEE conference templates for LaTeX formats are found at
http://www.ieee.org/conferences_events/conferences/publishing/templates.html
You may also use one of the following templates for Microsoft Word:
A4, US letter. Only PDF files will be accepted for the review process,
and all submissions must be done through EDAS. Accepted Papers will be
published in the GLOBECOM 2018 Workshops Proceedings and submitted to
IEEE Xplore.

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Workshop Co-Chairs

* Artur Hecker, Huawei
* Martina Zitterbart, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Technical Program Committee

* Rui L. Aguiar (ITAV)
* Katherine Barabash (IBM)
* Roland Bless (KIT)
* Franco Davoli (University of Genoa / CNIT)
* Zoran Despotovic (Huawei)
* Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez (UC3M)
* Artur Hecker (Huawei)
* James Hu (AT&T)
* Wolfgang Kellerer (TUM)
* James Kempf (Ericsson)
* Petr Kuznetsov (Telecom ParisTech)
* Thierry Lejkin (Orange)
* Diego Lopez (Telefonica I+D)
* Elad Schiller (Chalmers)
* Stefan Schmid (TU Berlin/TU Wien)
* Dirk Trossen (InterDigital)
* Martina Zitterbart (KIT)
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