Section: Application Domains

Management of telecommunication networks and of data centers

Telecommunication-network management is a rich provider of research topics for the team, and some members of SUMO have a long background of contacts and transfer with industry in this domain. Networks are typical examples of large distributed dynamic systems, and their management raises numerous problems ranging from diagnosis (or root-cause analysis), to optimization, reconfiguration, provisioning, planning, verification, etc. They also bring new challenges to the community, for example on the modeling side: building or learning a network model is a complex task, specifically because these models should reflect features like the layering, the multi-resolution view of components, the description of both functions, protocols and configuration, and they should also reflect dynamically-changing architectures. Besides modeling, management algorithms are also challenged by features like the size of systems, the need to work on abstractions, on partial models, on open systems, etc. The networking technology is now evolving toward software-defined networks, virtualized-network functions, multi-tenant systems, etc., which reinforces the need for more automation in the management of such systems.

Data centers are another example of large-scale modular dynamic and reconfigurable systems: they are composed of thousands of servers, on which virtual machines are activated, migrated, resized, etc. Their management covers issues like troubleshooting, reconfiguration, optimal control, in a setting where failures are frequent and mitigated by the performance of the management plane. We have a solid background in the coordination of the various autonomic managers that supervise the different functions/layers of such systems (hardware, middleware, web services, ...) Virtualization technologies now reach the domain of networking, and telecommunication operators/vendors evolve towards providers of distributed open clouds. This convergence of IT and networking strongly calls for new management paradigms, which is an opportunity for the team.

This application domain will be revived in the team by a collaboration with Orange Labs (1 Cifre PhD in the common lab Orange/Inria) and a collaboration with Nokia Bell Labs (1 Cifre PhD, and participation to the joint research team “Softwarization of Everything” of the common lab Nokia Bell Labs/Inria).