Tuesday, May 9th 2023

13:30-15:00

PS 1: Networking industry quo vadis? Paving the ground for new networking business models for the future Moderator: Toerless Eckert, Futurewei, USA Panelists: Jeff Tantsura, Nvidia, USA Nikos Anerousis, Kyndryl, USA

Abstract:

The Internet has transformed society and enabled the digital economy. High-tech companies that build their business models on top of the Internet are among the most valuable on the planet, benefitting from a myriad of transformative business models that have emerged. However, the same development does not seem to have benefitted much the providers of networking services and networking vendors that enable the Internet itself, as networking services and their associated infrastructure are becoming commoditized in a market that seems to be stagnating.

This raises a number of important questions: Is this perception correct? If so, what types of impulses and advanced are needed to reinvigorate the industry? Are there ways in which the networking industry itself can benefit better itself from the value creation on top that it helps enable? In recent years, much has been made of the arrival of Software-Defined Networking, of network programmability, of compute and microservices inside the network, of placing increasing amounts of intelligence at the network edge. Can these technical advances be translated into new business models? What is missing - how can new business models be enabled that can in turn stimulate new growth and that can help pave the way to the next innovation cycle in networking? What technological advances are needed and what role does management technology play in their creation? What opportunities does this create for researchers? These and other questions will be discussed on the panel, which aims to put some of the more academic topics that are discussed at the conference into a practical perspective that may also help frame some of their business relevance.

Wednesday, May 10th 2023

9:00-10:30

PS 2: Towards more sustainable networking Moderator: Alexander Clemm, Futurewei, USA Panelists: Eve Schooler, Intel, USA Michael Welzl, University of Oslo, Norway Carlos Pignataro, NCSU, USA

Abstract:

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero is one of humankind's grand challenges of our time. Communication networks play an important role in addressing that challenge, as they reduce the need for physical travel and enable solutions that optimize effiency of resource and energy usage from smarter agriculture to more efficient factory floors. At the same time, the networking industry itself has a significant global carbon footprint on the order of around 1%, a similar magnitude as entire economies of major countries.

This raises the question of what steps the networking industry itself can take to become more sustainable. Many of the considerable gains that have been made so far are based on reaping the benefits of better transmission technology as well as hardware advances that have led to greater efficiency, but this may no longer be enough, in particular as Moore's law is ending. Other aspects above the physical layers may need to be increasingly looked into, including dataplane transport and control protocols. Just as importantly, there should be a role for management technology to play, from allowing sustainability considerations to factor into improved network planning to the facilitation of carbon-aware control loops. However, many questions abound, many not without controversy: Where are the specific opportunities? Should we focus on gains to be made in network technology itself or should efforts better be spent elewhere - on optimizing network deployments, on overlays, on adjacent areas such as data centers? Which tradeoffs need to be considered; would making such tradeoffs in favor of sustainability even acceptable to user of communication services? What role can standardization play? What items are actionable today with the promise of reaping immediate gains and which are the areas where more research is needed? These and other aspects will be discussed on this panel of distinguished international experts.

13:30-15:00

PS 3: Cybersecurity as Central Factor towards Resilient Networks and Services Moderator: Marc-Oliver Pahl, IMT AtlantiqueFrance, Panelists: Gabi Dreo, University of Federal Armed Forces, Germany Nur Zincir-Heywood, Dalhousie University, Canada Burkhard Stiller, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract:

Following the successful panel at NOMS 2022, this panel wants to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity for our community, and deepen the discussion around the topics we identified in the last edition. These include the use of blockchain, security-by-design and the difference between security and resilience. Ideally the participants will be more interested in cybersecurity after the panel. Ideally, they will care more about considering cybersecurity in their research, resulting in more security by-design. Today, our virtual and physical ambiances often consist of distributed networked systems. Managing networks and services therefore affects not only computer and communication systems but also Cyber-Physical Systems such as IoT devices orchestrating private, public, and commercial spaces such as industry 4.0 sites.

While the underlying softwarization and connectivity bring lots of opportunities, security is today’s central challenge. Cyberattacks such as the Colonial Pipeline incident, solarwinds, or continuous attacks with ransomware to hospitals and other critical infrastructures illustrate this.

In this panel, starting from the network and service management methodology, we will discuss cybersecurity implications, challenges, and solutions. We will cover different aspects, applications, points of views and solution methodologies. Central questions will include if we have enough cybersecurity awareness, methodologies, and security-by-design in the network and service management community, and how our community with its rich methodology and experience can support the cybersecurity community.

Thursday, May 11th 2023

13:30-15:00

PS 4: Artificial Intelligence for Network Operation and Management: Can it meet the requirements of tomorrow’s networks Moderator: Roch H. Glitho, Concordia University, Canada Panelists: Raouf Boutaba, University of Waterloo, Canada Filip De Turck, University of Ghent, Belgium Alberto Leon-Garcia, University of Toronto, Canada

Abstract:

New services that put more and more stringent requirements on networks are constantly emerging. Tactile Internet services and holographic services are recent examples. Networking technologies are also evolving at a very fast pace. In-Network-Computing (INC) is now emerging and softwarization is now reaching all the layers of protocols stacks. This makes network operation and management more and more complex. Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods such as Machine Learning (ML) are now somehow put forward as panacea. However, these methods do have their limitations. The goal of this panel is to lay out the pros and cons of AI methods for network operation and management.

The suitability of specific AI techniques (e.g. deep learning) for network operation and management will be discussed. The panelists will also give their views on the pros and cons of AI methods for specific management functional areas such as fault and configuration management. Some operation and management tasks have very strict scalability requirements. Other tasks need to be carried out in (near) real time. An interesting issue which will also be debated during this panel session is whether AI based network operation and management can meet severe scalability and (near) real-time challenges.