Project Overview
Today’s network architectures are stifling innovation, restricting it mostly to the application level while the need for structural change is increasingly evident. The absence of adequate facilities to design, optimize and interoperate new networks currently forces a convergence to an architecture that is suboptimal for many applications and that cannot support innovations within itself, the Internet.
4WARD overcomes this impasse through a set of radical architectural approaches built on our strong mobile and wireless background. 4WARD will improve the ability to design inter-operable and complementary families of network architectures. 4WARD enables the co-existence of multiple networks on common platforms through carrier-grade virtualization for networking resources. 4WARD will enhance the utility of networks by making them self-managing. 4WARD will increase their robustness and efficiency by leveraging diversity. Finally 4WARD will improve application support by a new information-centric paradigm in place of the old host-centric approach. These solutions will embrace the full range of technologies, from fibre backbones to wireless and sensor networks.
In this project the TSSG is working on two specific research themes. One is towards the architecture where the TSSG is developing an integrated framework to represent, design, implement and operate network architectures that all belong to a common family of interoperable network instances.
The second is towards in-network management were we are devising an embedded "default-on" management capability which is an inseparable part of the network itself. This capability will generate extra value in terms of guaranteed performance in a cost effective way, and will enable the networks to adjust themselves to different sizes, configurations and external conditions.
Project Implementation
In the ICT 4WARD project the TSSG is working on two specific research themes. One is towards the architecture where the TSSG is developing an integrated framework to represent, design, implement and operate network architectures that all belong to a common family of interoperable network instances.
The second is towards in-network management were we are devising an embedded "default-on" management capability which is an inseparable part of the network itself. This capability will generate extra value in terms of guaranteed performance in a cost effective way, and will enable the networks to adjust themselves to different sizes, configurations and external conditions.
4WARD is currently Running and is funded by the European Union FP7 ICT work programme, under Call 1 to a total of €14.5 million euro. The project started in January of 2008 and will end in February 2010.
Project Achievements
In the context of ICT 4WARD project TSSG researchers produced the following 3 papers.
• Martin Johnsson, Jyrki Huusko, Tapio Frantti, Frank-Uwe Andersen, Thi-Mai-Trang Nguyen, Miguel Ponce de Leon, "Towards a New Architecture Framework - The Nth Stratum Concept Methods", MobiMedia 2008.
• Christopher Foley, Sasitharan Balasubramaniam, Eamonn Power, Miguel Ponce de Leon, Dmitri Botvich, Dominique Dudkowski, Giorgio Nunzi, and Chiara Mingardi, A Framework for In-Network Management in Heterogeneous Future Communication Networks, MACE 2008, Samos Island, Greece, September 22-26, 2008..
• Dominique Dudkowski, Marcus Brunner, Giorgio Nunzi, Chiara Mingardi, Chris Foley, Miguel Ponce de Leon, Catalin Meirosu and Susanne Engberg Architectural Principles and Elements of In-Network Management External link mark, accepted for the mini-conference at IEEE IM 2009..
For more information please visit 4WARD or visit the 4WARD project website
Project Manager Miguel Ponce de Leon
Tel: +353 51 302952
Tel: +353 51 302900
Fax: + 353 51 302901
