[nvrg-bof] Updated charter proposal

["Martin Stiemerling" <Stiemerling at nw.neclab.eu>]

Hi all,

Here is the updated charter proposal. Let me know your comments.

  Martin

Draft charter for the Virtual Networks Research Group VNRG) proposal

VERSION: 2009-05-22 0800 UCT

Recent developments in networking are aiming at better utilizing infrastructure
in terms of reusing a single physical or logical resource for multiple other
network instances, or to aggregate multiple these resources to obtain more
"functionality". These resource can be network components, such as, for
example, routers, switches or hosts, and also services, such as, for example,
name mapping systems. Typically, this is referred to as Virtual Networks, where
a resource is either re-used for multiple networks or multiple resources are
aggregated for virtual resource.
Important properties of Virtual Networks are i) the level of participation
of each resource and ii) the clear separation of any virtual network to all
others. Each resource can be sliced so that it can be part of multiple 
Virtual Networks, but on the other hand does virtualization guarentee the
clear separation of each network, so that actions in one network do not affect
the operation of any other network. 

However, in the network community, Virtual Networks is a very  
broad term, ranging from running multiple wave lengths over a fiber,  
MPLS, virtual routers, to overlay systems. This leads to deployment of  
single technologies in parts of the Internet or other IP-based  
networks, but lacks a common understanding of what virtualized networks
is causing to IP-based networks, or how Virtual Networks is applied
in favorable way.  This leads to the introduction of virtualization in an
uncoordinated way between the various players, such as network operators,
vendors, service providers and testbed providers (e.g. GENI, FEDERICA, etc)
without considerations about the overall impact on the system level. 

The Virtual Networks Research Group (VNRG)  provides a forum for  
interchange of ideas among a group of network researchers with an  
interest in network virtualization in the context of the Interent and  
also beyond the current Internet.

The RG works on a set of principles of virtual networks that a single
physical resource can be re-used by multiple entities with a clear separation
between the actions taken by the single entities. Virtualization delivers an
abstraction to the user (i.e., not necessarily a human but a service or
whatever) referring to the decoupling from the physical resource, i.e., 
the abstraction is not bound to a single resource but can be relocated
but is a logical structure. Virtualization also offers recursion, i.e., an
already virtualized network can again include virtual networks.


The group will address the following research challenges:
- Consider a whole system for virtualized networks and not only single
  components or a limited set of components;
- Identifying architectural challenges resulting from virtual networks;  
- Recursive network management of virtual networks;
- Emerging technological and implementation issues.


Web site: http://user.informatik.uni-goettingen.de/~stiemer/nvrg/

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stiemerling at nw.neclab.eu

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