ICN in the IRTF and IETF
Dirk Kutscher Chief Researcher, NEC Laboratories Europe GreenICN Research Activities and Future of EU/US/JP ICN Projects Workshop 2015-10-30
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Disclaimer
▌Internet Research Task ForcePromotes research of importance to
the evolution of the Internet bycreating focused, long-termResearch Groups working on topicsrelated to Internet protocols,applications, architecture and technology
▌Does not set standards
▌Relationship to IETF IRTF technologies can be brought to IETF for standardization ... Just as technologies from other groups can
▌IRTF Research GroupsOutput does not require consensus within RGCannot block standardization work in the IETFCan include a goal of producing proposals to be considered in the IETF
RFC 2014RFC 4440
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IRTF ICNRG
▌Cross-project research communityNot limited to a specific funding authority, project, protocolSharing of research results, new ideasDocumenting ICN scenarios, challenges, state-of-the-art solutions, gapsSpecifying protocols and semantics for ICNSharing implementation, experience from experiments
▌ICNRG and standardsNot setting standards...But: helping to understand what needs to be standardizedAnd: working on specifications
▌ICNRG AdministriviaWeb: http://irtf.org/icnrgChairs
• Börje Ohlman (Ericsson Research)• Dave Oran (Cisco Systems)• Dirk Kutscher (NEC Laboratories)
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ICNRG Work Items
▌Scenarios, use casesBaseline scenarios (RFC 7476)Video distribution IoTChallenged networks and disaster scenarios
▌Challenges, evaluationResearch challenges Evaluation Methodology
▌Protocol specificationsCCNx Messages in TLV formatCCNx Semantics
▌Newly proposed topicsManifests, chunking, fragmentation, versioningUser privacy, access controlName resolutionNamed function networking
Documentinguse cases &
opportunities
Evolving research agenda
& evaluation approaches
Creating interoperable platforms for
experimentation
Evolving ICN concepts and technologies
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Running Code
▌CCNx-1.0 (PARC)PARC licenseDeveloped by PARC Implements ccnx-messages
and ccnx-semantics
▌CCN-lite (University of Basel)Open Source, free to use without restrictions Implements ccnx protocolUsed by RIOT project
▌NDN NFD (NDN project)GPL-3.0Maintained by NDN project Implemented NDN protocol
Open Source projects
▌Many industry-relevant technologies are developed is OSS projects these daysOpenVSwitchOpenDaylightOpenStackOPNFV etc.
▌Purpose:Reference platformsSoftware-based de-facto
standardsCommon base for commdity
functions
▌ICNRG: agile, light-weight model preferable
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Elements of Potential Future Protocol Standardization
ICN protocol (encoding, messages, semantics)Manifests, fragmentation
Underlays, Link-layer Control Bootstrapping connectivity
Key Service, CA
Key Resolution Protocol Specific security mechanism (confidentiality,
access control)
Inter-DomainRouting
Intra-Domain Routing
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ICN „Standardization“ Bigger Picture
IETF
• ICN forwarding• ICN routing• ICN security
• Application layer specs• Web• „DASH“• IoT
IRTF ICNRG
• Protocols and platforms for experimentation
• No formal standards• Identifying elements
needing standards
ITU-T
• Concepts, Terminology• 5G Use Cases• 5G Requirements
Now
3GPP
• 5G Radio Interface• 5G System Architecture• 5G Control & Data Plane
Potentiallyin thefuture
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Warning: Avoid Premature Standardization
ICN▌Explore ICN potential through development and experimentation▌Some things are really different in ICN: forwarding plane
capabilities, securityCan make some of today‘s control and mangement plane functions obsoleteCan lead to much simpler and overall better architectures
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Role of GreenICN Project
▌Thesis: one ICN platform for well-connected and challenged mobile network infrastructureNetwork can survive partitioning, overloadAuto-configuration and adaptationScalability
▌Develop and validate mechanisms with this goal in mind, e.g.,:Publish/Subscribe Interface selection and forwarding strategiesContent/cache discovery through forwarding plane mechanisms
Ctrl.
HA LoadBalancer
Ctrl.
…
Internet
RNC IW3GWiFi
4G5G
xDSLCable
G IW
vPoPs
Transport
Data Center
DB
auth.services
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How Can You Help?
▌New projectsLeverage ICN technologies and available Open Source softwareParticipate in protocol development in ICNRGSet up larger testbedsEmbrace development and experimentation for research workShare your results
▌Initial DeploymentDon‘t have to wait until the Internet switches to ICNThere are areas where ICN is and can be deployed today, e.g.:
• Data logistics in data centers• IoT• Multi-path communication (hybrid access)
Build prototypes for your areaDemonstrate concrete benefitsShare your results
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Summary
▌ICNRG IRTFDeveloping platforms for ICN experimentation Identifying challenges and need for standardsRunning code importantOpen reference implementation desirable
▌Future standardizationAvoid pre-mature standardizationBetter to understand clearly what needs to be standardizedLearn that from (application) prototype developmentAvoid transferring technologies and standardized interfaces from the IP world
(BGP, DNS) – ICN likely to lead to different architectures and requirements
▌ICN and 5G ICN benefits could be huge (new radio technologies, multi-path, local control
loops, security)Softwarization enabling initial deployment IRTF ICNRG good place to have technical discussion