Call for Papers

The softwarization of networks is enabled by the SDN (Software Defined Networking), NV (Network Virtualization), and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) paradigms, and offers many advantages for network operators, service providers and datacenter providers. Given the strong interest in both industry and academia in the softwarization of telecommunication networks and cloud computing infrastructures, this special issue aims at the timely publication of recent innovative research results on this important topic.

In three earlier special issues on this topic in IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, published in March/June 2015, September 2016 and December 2017, respectively, a total of 51 papers were published. In 2017, the main contributions were: management of softwarized data center networks, VNF management, performance characterization and optimization of NFV-based networks, novel techniques for SDN, advanced softwarized wireless networks, security and verification in softwarized networks, resource management for edge computing, and management of softwarized content distribution networks.

There are many more interesting challenges currently being addressed by the research community, which aim at efficient management of softwarized networks and the ability to use the technologies and their enabling paradigms in any combination to their full potential, including network and service dynamics, slicing, resilience and security as well as techniques for optimization in wired and wireless networks.

We welcome submissions addressing the important challenges (see the non-exhaustive list of topics below) and presenting novel research or experimentation results. Survey papers that offer a perspective on related work and identify key challenges for future research will be considered as well. We look forward to your submissions!

About the Special Issue

Topics of interest for this special issue, include, but are not limited to the following:

• Design of architectural building blocks for managing virtualized software-defined systems
• Management of SDIs (Software-Defined Infrastructures)
• APIs and management protocols for software programmable networks
• Virtualization of resources, services and functions in SDN and NFV
• Management of software-defined datacenters
• Efficient management of cloud computing infrastructures
• Security management for SDN- and NFV-based systems
• Resource management for SDN- or NFV-based systems
• Network slicing for softwarized infrastructures
• SDN control plane optimizations
• Network softwarization for 5G
• Softwarized edge cloud infrastructures
• Network management at the edge for the Tactile Internet
• Life cycle management of virtual network functions
• Service Function Chains (SFCs) modeling and representation
• Composition algorithms and automated deployment for SFC
• Algorithms for efficient orchestration
• Analytics for intelligent orchestration of softwarized infrastructures
• Dynamic migration of network functions in NFV-based systems
• Efficient network and service monitoring for SDN or NFV
• Automated configuration and repair of virtualized software-defined systems
• Algorithms for diagnosis and correlation of events in SDN- or NFV-based systems
•  Availability and resilience of virtualized software-defined systems
• Supporting adaptation and flexibility in softwarized networks
• Dynamic resource scaling based on user mobility in SDN- and NFV-based systems
• Policy based management in SDN or NFV systems
• QoS/QoE management and control in softwarized networks
• Debugging and introspection of software-defined virtualized systems
• Management of federated SDN/NFV infrastructures
• Detailed experience reports from experimental testbeds
• Transition strategies from existing networks to SDN/NFV
• Applying Blockchain technologies for softwarized networks

Submission Format

Papers will be evaluated based on their originality, presentation, relevance and contribution to the field of management of software-defined virtualized systems, as well as their overall quality and suitability for the special issue. The submitted papers must be written in a good English and describe original research which has not been published nor currently under review by other journals or conferences. Previously published conference papers should be clearly identified by the authors at the initial submission stage and an explanation should be provided of how such papers have been extended in order to be considered for this special issue.

View the Author Guidelines for preparation of your manuscript.

For more information, please contact Wolfgang Kellerer.

Submission Guidelines

All manuscripts and any supplementary material should be submitted through the IEEE Manuscript Central service.

Authors must indicate in the submission cover letter that their manuscript is intended for the “Advances in Management of Softwarized Networks” special issue.

Important Dates

Paper submission date (extended by two weeks): April 15, 2018
Notification of acceptance: June 15, 2018
Publication date*: December 1, 2018

Guest Editors

Wolfgang Kellerer
Technical University of Munich, Germany

Raouf Boutaba
University of Waterloo, Canada

Prosper Chemouil
Orange Labs, France

Rafael Pasquini
Federal University of Uberlandia, Brazil

Stefan Schmid
University of Vienna, Austria

Giovanni Schembra
University of Catania, Italy

Kohei Shiomoto
Tokyo City University, Japan

Sandra Scott-Hayward
Queen's University Belfast, UK

(* online published version will be available in IEEE Xplore after the camera ready version has been submitted with final DOI)