CALL FOR PAPER

Autonomic Networking and Self-Management is a new networking and management paradigm aimed at reducing OPEX by reducing as much as possible human effort involvement in network and service provisioning, and easing network operation. The access network is one of the network segments that require advanced system behavior and intelligence such as the so-called self-* functions associated with autonomic networking and self-management, like self-configuration, self-healing, self-optimization and self-organization, etc. For a self-managing network, the nodes/devices are designed/engineered in such a way as to effect autonomicity i.e. Control-Loops that bind the diverse functions of the node/device in such a way as to enable reactions in individual diverse functions of the network and of individual nodes/devices in response to goal changes, changes to context of operation and incidents. This enables the diverse functions to achieve and strive to maintain some well defined goals of the network (goals defined by the human e.g. an administrator and goals intrinsically embedded by design into the functions of the network). The FCAPS management functions become diffused within node/device architectures, apart from implementing the Management-Plane of the overall network architecture. In the broad picture of self-management, it is desi red to have an end-to-end perspective that looks at end-system autonomic behavior through to the access network, the edge and core network behaviors i.e. self-* functio ns than span beyond what has been achieved in SON (Self-Organizing Networks) which offers a limited set of self-* functions only for the Radio Access Network (RAN). The access network (for either wired/fixed network environment or wireless environment) has special characteristics that call for self-* functions and collaborations of th e functions across nodes/devices so as to achieve the goals required of the self-* functions. To mention a few requirements: the need for auto-discovery and self-config uration of the nodes/devices, self-healing, need for dynamic allocation of resources, optimization and opportunistic resource utilization, need for advanced security ma nagement mechanisms such as self-protection, trust establishments and exchange of trust models among nodes/devices, and other security related features. On the other si de of the access network, moving from the access network to the edge and core networks (and backwards), there are special types of dynamics and configuration contexts i nvolved: ranging from traffic engineering, traffic aggregation and splitting, and enforcement of administrative policies in the case of multiple administrative domains being involved. All these aspects require autonomic mechanisms that enable self-management to best handle complexity in operation and maintenance.

The topics of the workshop include but are not limited to the following: