Wenyu Shen

MORSA: A Multi-objective Resource Scheduling Algorithm for NFV Infrastructure

Capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenses (OPEX) have been practical concerns for telecommunication companies, and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) has attracted significant attention in recent years. However, the NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) includes a wide variety of resource types and stakeholders. Hence, there is still a need for the existing resource scheduling approaches, but they are no longer sufficient. In this paper, we propose a Multi-objective Resource Scheduling Algorithm (MORSA) to optimize the NFVI resources. In the development of the MORSA, we designed a plug-in architecture to satisfy various requirements related to NFVI resources and stakeholder policies. The MORSA allows the NFVI Resource Scheduler to optimize simultaneously the combination of possibly conflicting objectives with multifaceted constraints in complex real world situations. Evaluation results show that the MORSA obtains approximate solutions among conflicting objectives in a reasonable computation time.

vConductor: An NFV management solution for realizing end-to-end virtual network services

NFV, being discussed and standardized in ETSI, is regarded as a promising candidate technology for Future Networks. Although many advantages are expected, the introduction of NFV will greatly challenge current management systems. In this paper, we summarize some of the carriers requirements for the management of NFV, based on which we propose vConductor as an NFV management solution. We say vConductor is innovative due to its characteristics of automatic service provisioning, end-to-end inventory management, and generic system design. To achieve these goals, we design a completely modular-based system structure and refine the process of provisioning a virtual network service. Furthermore, we propose a general data model, specifically for NFV, starting from the TM Forum SID. We believe that vConductor will be a catalyst for accelerating the industrialization of NFV.

vConductor: An enabler for achieving virtual network integration as a service

Network function virtualization is regarded as a promising candidate for future networks. Although many advantages are expected, there is still a lack of services that directly link to increased revenue for telecom operators. Therefore, we propose a new NFV-based service, virtual network integration as a service (VNIaaS). The service allows enterprise network administrators to construct and monitor virtual enterprise networks as necessary. As a key enabler, we further propose vConductor, an innovative technology due to its automatic network provisioning, multi-objective resource scheduling, and NFV-oriented inventory management characteristics. Finally, we show the feasibility through implementation of a prototype system. We believe that this contribution will be a catalyst to accelerate the industrialization of NFV.

Power-efficient multi-layer networking: design and evaluation

With the exponential growth in the amount of Internet traffic, power consumption in the networking field has become a paramount issue. This paper focuses on the design of power-efficient multi-layer networks that comprise both the optical layer and the Internet Protocol (IP) layer, and analyzes several approaches such as power-efficient routing of lightpaths and power-efficient configuration of network devices. Based on practical network equipment and network architecture, this paper proposes a set of complete mathematical formulations to model comparatively complicated multi-layer networks, and utilizes Integer Linear Programming (ILP) to investigate the power-conservation effect through optimization. Simulation results indicate that significant power can be conserved with the power-efficient network design.

EAS+: A unified event processing framework for component-based network management system

OSGi, regarded as the de facto standard framework for constructing component-based systems, has recently been extended to cover server applications, especially network management systems. Since it lacks event processing functions such as a function to prevent mass event cascades in component-based network management systems, this paper proposes and prototypes a unified event processing framework, named EAS+, based on OSGi EAS, which is system agnostic and can be customized freely by simple and well-structured rule definition files. In order to validate our proposal, we evaluate its performance by conducting several experiments and confirm its feasibility by applying it to the development of a management system for the 3GPP LTE mobile service. We believe that EAS+ is a useful development assistance tool and has the potential to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of developing component-based network management systems.

Power-aware traffic engineering for multi-layer networks with partial deployment of TDM-XCs

This paper investigates power-aware traffic engineering for multi-layer networks utilizing ILP, and proposes a heuristic approach. Simulation results illustrate that partial deployment of TDM-XCs in multi-layer networks with smart traffic engineering contributes to power conservation.

Implementation model for end hosts to achieve power-efficient data transmission

With the wide proliferation of high-performance Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices, power consumption in the networking field has become a paramount issue. This paper focuses on data transmission between two end hosts and proposes a novel implementation model from the viewpoint of power efficiency during data transmission. Through inter-component coordination and traffic-driven control of power-efficient components, significant power saving is anticipated without any influence on the data transmission throughput. Experimental results verify the feasibility of the implementation model, and show that by using this implementation model, more power can be saved than in traditional approaches, which are based solely on individual components.