Network-Embedded Management and Applications

This book refers to applications that run inside the network itself as "network-embedded applications." An important category of such applications that is already emerging constitutes management applications, supplementing traditional management operations support infrastructure with network-embedded management. As a result, elements in a network have the potential to become a lot more intelligent and versatile. The rise of these technologies raises a number of questions: What are the opportunities - what types of applications can be expected to utilize those new capabilities?Are new classes of decentralized algorithms about to emerge?What are the inherent advantages of programming inside the network, as opposed to outside (and merely connecting to) the network?Are there special implications and considerations for the network-embedded software development process?What implications do network-embedded-applications create for traditional centralized NMS/OSS applications and concepts?How can I get started - what capabilities exist today?This book aims to address these questions. It will provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in programmable network infrastructure. As the topic itself is still in an emerging state, it will also present a cross-section of the research that is occurring in this area. The book will be based on a conference workshop that the authors will conduct on the same subject. The portion of the book that presents a cross-section on research will be based on a selection of papers that are presented at the workshop. The papers will be edited; the book will not double as conference proceedings. This part will be complemented by chapters from outside the conference that provide a general introduction into the subject area and present some of the state-of-the-art today.