Programmable, Controllable Networks

Building on process management and service climate theories, this paper investigates the pertinent issues of whether firms that implement ITIL best practices for IT service management will also experience growth in their process management activities and IT service climate. First, ITIL practices imply that processes in the IT department should be managed on a daily basis; without process management, ITIL will fail beyond its initial implementation. Second, two of the main reasons for adopting ITIL are to become a service-oriented organisation and to deliver IT services that meet business needs. Thus, we hypothesise that as the implementation status of ITIL increases, process management and IT service climate will be enhanced. Using data from 161 Nordic IT functions, we found empirical support for the hypotheses, indicating that ITIL is a management tool for influencing behaviour in service production that strengthens the IT service climate directly and indirectly through process management. As such, ITIL represents both an alternative and a complement to service management initiatives focusing on IT service climate. We discuss implications and suggest avenues for further research.

A Literature Review on Challenges and Effects of Software Defined Networking

Large-scale IT infrastructures are highly energy-intensive systems. To mitigate the environmental impact of networks, it is crucial to design energy-aware traffic engineering strategies that make the best use of a network’s redundancy in order to maximize energy savings. The Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm is a powerful tool that eases network management by decoupling the control and data planes. Because of its flexibility and controllability, SDN is nowadays widely adopted in data centers and enterprise networks. In this paper, we provide energy-aware traffic solutions for SDNs. We conducted extensive experiments on real switches for a thorough power consumption characterisation. Thanks to this preliminary study, we could fully characterize the solution space of a performance-constrained energy optimization problem. We formulate two optimization problems for the selective activation of switches and ports under hard constraints on traffic demand, considering both a static and dynamic traffic scenario. We show that the proposed problems are NP-hard and provide two polynomial-time heuristics for the static and dynamic case, respectively. Through simulations, we show that our solution outperforms previous approaches in all the considered settings.

This chapter describes cloud, virtualization, software-defined networking (SDN), and self-managed concepts, architectures, and their building blocks, as possible future directions for multiple-system operator (MSO) networks and services. Cloud computing technologies are emerging as infrastructure services for provisioning computing and storage resources on demand in a simple and uniform way. Cloud-based virtualization allows for easy upgrade and migration of enterprise application, including also the whole IT infrastructure segments, which brings significant cost saving compared to traditional infrastructure development and management requiring good amount of manual work. SDN is defined by open networking foundation (ONF) as an emerging architecture that is dynamic, manageable, cost-effective, and adaptable. The chapter explains self-managed network concept, network element (NE) and network management system (NMS) architectures, and fault management communication mechanisms for centrally and distributedly self-managed networks. The concept is applied to virtual networks (VNs) and SDN.

With ubiquitous presence and perpetual growth of software applications and computing devices connected to the Internet, organizations and businesses are faced with increasing challenges in operating and maintaining technologies that support their IT infrastructure. Among the goals of technology management are cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency, and secure management of information technologies, which are expected to produce maximum utility value. Virtualization has been proposed as a promising solution to the challenges facing today's IT managers. From virtualized servers to virtualized networks to virtual data centers, various virtualized systems have been explored as means of easing IT operation challenges. One of the major benefits of virtualization is the possibility of building a network of virtual machines and storage infrastructure between the virtual data center and external physical networks. A data center involves a large number of networking devices such as switches, routers, and firewalls. With traditional networking, managing networks in data centers is a complex task due to the closed architecture and vertical integration among the networking devices. Software-defined networking (SDN) is a new architectural paradigm, enabling flexible and dynamic management of networks and associated services. This paper presents the benefits of virtualization in general, the advantages of adopting virtualization in data centers, a practical implementation of virtual data centers on OpenStack, and implementing SDN to manage networks in the virtual data center.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the vision of a global network that connects various physical world objects to the IT infrastructure through a wireless medium. Despite the availability of a number of mature radio access technologies such as GSM, Long‐Term Evolution, Wi‐Fi, and due to the current progress made in developing 5G technology, more and more IoT operators are opting to use low‐power wide‐area (LPWA) technologies due to their low cost and easy deployment. However, recent studies show that the radio resource allocation used in these technologies is not scalable. This limitation often results in packet collisions, retransmission and unnecessary waste of scarce energy resources. In this paper, we propose a radio resource management framework, based on software‐defined network (SDN), to overcome the inefficient radio resource allocation of LPWA technologies. This is possible through the centralized nature of SDN, which allows collecting network monitoring information to analyze and calculate the optimal channel assignment configuration across the IoT network. We perform software‐defined radio‐based spectrum monitoring within the real IoT network platform in 868 MHz bands in which the latest IoT technologies, ie, LoRa and SigFox, operate. We demonstrate, through extensive simulations, that the proposed approach provides a better radio resource allocation for LPWA, reduces the number of packet collisions, and significantly improves the energy efficiency of the IoT communications.

Virtualisation and software-defined networking (SDN) have transformed the IT infrastructure landscape over the past decade. As organisations look to minimise their hardware footprint, improve network flexibility and decouple applications from the infrastructure to gain agility and flexibility, the era of dedicated hardware-based solutions is over.

Metropolitan networks are undergoing a major technological breakthrough leveraging the capabilities of software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). NFV permits the deployment of virtualized network functions (VNFs) on commodity hardware appliances which can be combined with SDN flexibility and programmability of the network infrastructure. SDN/NFV-enabled networks require decision-making in two time scales: short-term online resource allocation and mid-to-long term offline planning. In this paper, we first tackle the dimensioning of SDN/NFV-enabled metropolitan networks paying special attention to the role that latency plays in the capacity planning. We focus on a specific use-case: the metropolitan network that covers the Murcia - Alicante Spanish regions. Then, we propose a latency-aware multilayer service-chain allocation (LA-ML-SCA) algorithm to explore a range of maximum latency requirements and their impact on the resources for dimensioning the metropolitan network. We observe that design costs increase for low latency requirements as more data center facilities need to be spread to get closer to the network edge, reducing the economies of scale on the IT infrastructure. Subsequently, we review our recent joint computation of multi-site VNF placement and multilayer resource allocation in the deployment of a network service in a metro network. Specifically, a set of subroutines contained in LA-ML-SCA are experimentally validated in a network optimization-as-a-service architecture that assists an Open-Source MANO instance, virtual infrastructure managers and WAN controllers in a metro network test-bed.

textabstractIntroduction. The UK is embarking on a major national programme for IT implemented through an agency called Connecting for Health (CfH). Generally, this programme is following a strategy which has been welcomed but whose implementation has been much criticised. One of the components of the CfH programme is the summary care record, which will enable key patient information to be accessed by authorised clinicians across the NHS. The idea of sharing information to improve patient safety and make health services more efficient is sound, and reflects an international agenda set out in landmark reports. The initial implementation of the UK’s national programme focused on providing the IT infrastructure rather than improving patient safety. ...

In the 21st century, e-government has become of prime importance in every country. This has prompted many governments, whether developed or developing, to plan and develop digital technology through which government services could be provided. The growing importance of application of e-government stems from the fact that ICT has the capability of promoting transparency, improving public service delivery, removing corruption, and providing better governance. This chapter is based on a literature review of the data, information, and papers relating to e-government in Central Africa and looks into the issues and challenges to the successful implementation of e-government initiatives in these countries on a wider perspective. The results show that ICT policies, ICT infrastructure, Internet access, connectivity, and the digital divide are among the most common issues in the successful implementation of e-government initiatives in Central African countries.

BackgroundWales introduced a soft opt-out organ donation system on 1st December 2015 with the aim of improving consent rates. In the first 18 months consent rates improved but the difference could not solely be attributed to the soft opt-out system when compared with similar improvements in consent rates in other UK nations.MethodsWe conducted an 18 month post-intervention qualitative process evaluation involving 88 family members of 60/211 potential organ donor cases, and 19 professionals. Views and experiences of Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation who implemented the new system and family members who were involved in decision making were collected to see how their respective behaviours impacted on implementation. Data collection included interviews, focus groups and qualitative questionnaire data.ResultsImplementation was considered a success by Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation. The bespoke retraining programme and responsive approach to addressing initial implementation issues were identified as examples of best practice. Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation were valued by family members. Six implementation issues had an impact on consent rates – the media campaign had gaps, the system was more complex, challenges in changing professional behaviours, inability to obtain the required standard of evidence from family members to overturn a donation decision, increased complexity of consent processes, and additional health systems issues.ConclusionThis is the first comprehensive process evaluation of implementing a soft opt-out system of organ donation. Specific elements of good implementation practice (such as investment in the retraining programme and the responsiveness of Specialist Nurses in Organ Donation and managers to feedback) were identified. The key message is that despite retraining, nursing practice did not radically change overnight to accommodate the new soft opt-out system. Policy makers and health service managers should not assume that nurses simply need more time to implement the soft-out as intended. Additional responsive modification of processes, ongoing training and support is required to help with implementation as originally intended. Scotland, England and the Netherlands are introducing soft opt-out systems. There is an opportunity to learn from initial implementation in Wales, by acknowledging gaps, good practice and opportunities to further improve processes and nursing practices.

As a potentially very powerful business strategy that can deliver significant economic benefits for organisations, the subject of CRM has attracted growing attention throughout the 1990s to date. There has, however, been increasing criticism recently of the approach, because it does not appear to be delivering the expected results in practice. The concept of relationship marketing has also been criticised for being difficult to implement in practice, with many organisations failing to implement the approach according to the advocated principles. Based on data collected from financial services organisations in Surrey and Hampshire, this research study was conducted to address these two issues. The research findings show that the actual results being measured and achieved in organisations are consistently and significantly falling short of expectations, supporting the criticisms that CRM is only producing disappointing results in practice. Based on an analysis of these results in the context of the theoretical work, it is highlighted that practitioners need to ensure that the measurement systems in place are adequate and specific to CRM to measure the full benefits of the approach; that they are setting realistic, long-term time scales over which to measure the effects; and that realistic objectives and expectations are being set. Comparing how CRM is currently being implemented in organisations to the recommendations for the adoption of the approach, some clear areas are identified where organisations are falling short in practice. It is recommended that organisations concentrate on implementation issues very carefully, ensuring that their adoption of CRM, both at the organisational level and for the implementation of specific CRM initiatives, is well executed and therefore successful in terms of delivering real results.

TheparadigmofNextGenerationServiceOverlayNetworks(NGSON)strives to provide a unified and standardized framework of IP-based service overlay networks, creating an ecosystem of context-aware, dynamically adaptive, and self-organizing networking capabilities, including advanced routing and forwarding schemes. Service composition, i.e. the facility to combine certain atomic services into an aggregated service is considered a vital part of NGSON. As a future directed, next generation oriented paradigm NGSON must enable an intelligent, automated service composition platform. In order to also meet the objectives of being context-aware, dynamically adaptive, and self-organizing this platform needs to know and understand the semantics of its underlying functional entities. Furthermore, to be accepted by users, enterprises and service developers existing, proven, but likewise extendable standards need to be utilized as much as possible. The W3C consortium has released OWL2 for building ontologies that serve to provide machine-understandable semantics. In order to be feasible for NGSON a service composition ontology also needs to include concepts from deontic logic, i.e. needs to be able to differentiate between omissible and permissible classes, or -in finer granularity- prohibited, obligatory and optional components when composing a service from atoms. This paper aims to underline the need for an OWL2 ontology, make suggestions on its structure and required interfaces to other network entities as e.g. Software Defined Networks and Network Virtualization Functions.

Optical networking technologies are very attractive for intra-DataCenter (DC) interconnectivity due to their intrinsic high-bandwidth and low-latency characteristics. As the bandwidth demand grows, quantity and size of IT and network infrastructure grows, which puts pressure on power, cost, and space consumption. Therefore, programmable optical networking solutions, which are highly controllable and provide granularity and scalability in services, can greatly enhance operations and resource efficiency for DC interconnects. This paper proposes and reports on a novel function-programmable and application-aware intra-DC technology. The hardware platform uses FPGA implementation of top-of-rack (ToR) switch which supports two main software-defined network functions of a) Ethernet over WDM and b) Ethernet over TDM sub-WDM. Each switch can be programmed to virtually operate as an optical Ethernet or subwavelength transport system. The TDM function further supports a range of additional programmable features in time-slice and frames. The system can be controlled to switch between the functions on-demand and on a hitless manner. This platform with unique flexibility in functions and features is configured to operate with various processing times, throughput, and delays, enables on-demand quality of service (QoS) definition to match diverse cloud application requirements. Optical fast switches enable all-optical transport between the ToRs, further supporting low-latency and resource efficiency. A multistage software-defined controller is built which at the first stage uses application requirements to virtually create function programmable subnetworks by repurposing the data plane functions as well as control plane (algorithms) features. In the second stage, it allows dynamic allocation of resources of the subnetwork for the duration of the application. This platform is characterised to operate with different QoS metrics and evaluated for DC use cases.

: The benefits of Software-Defined Networking (SDN), when fully realized, offer many improvements over the current rigid and complex networking paradigm. By virtue of separating the control plane from the forwarding devices and handing its control over to a centralized external device, SDN removes many obstacles to networking innovation and research. OpenFlow protocol is a key enabler of SDN and provides a centralized control channel for effective state management. Simplified and centralized state management using SDN is highly desirable for rapid and secure network deployment in the battlefield. As the open-source community continues to progress with more stable software, the vendor support and implementation are leading the way in network innovation. Cisco has recently joined the list of SDN vendor supporters with the debut of its Open Network Environment (ONE) controller in 2013. Cisco ONE is built to OpenFlow 1.0 specifications and is said to be fully compliant with standard OpenFlow. In addition to the standard OpenFlow implementation, Cisco has also introduced a control plane in their switches as backup for the situation in which the external controller becomes unavailable. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory has obtained a privileged copy of the Cisco ONE controller from Cisco. As part of a summer project, the Cisco ONE controller has been analyzed and compared with the standard OpenFlow Floodlight controller for features and functionalities like handshake, connection setup, switch management, and security.