IEEE ComSoc International Communications Quality and Reliability Workshop
14-17 May 2018 – Austin, Texas, USA

Segments

Protecting and Operating Next-Gen Networks (Tuesday, May 15)
Chair: Vikas Arora – Director for Advanced Technologies, Export Development Canada
Abstract: Operators are seeing exponential  traffic growth driven by increased adoption of mobile devices, cloud service and  high-def video content.   To address this growth, operators are  evolving their fixed and mobile networks and making  them ready for tomorrow.  They want their network to be high performance, reliable  and open & flexible to enable innovation and to launch new services rapidly.  In mobile networking, 5G is the next big thing, but unlike previous generations of mobile technology, 5G will be far more disruptive to the mobile network industry. The next generation will enable much more than incremental improvements in data rates  and spectral efficiency.  It will fundamentally change how  networks are deployed, operated and secured.  It’s time to look at the next generation of networks from a holistic perspective, to deliver high performance, security as well as operational efficiency in the 5G era.

 

In this Network segment focused on “Protecting and Operating Next-Gen Networks, we will discuss:

  • Critical Infrastructure Protection for Communications
    • Session chair –  Spilios Makris, Palindrome Technologies
  • 5G RAN and Core
    • Session chair – Ian Wong , National Instruments
  • Security
    • Session chair – Francois Cosquer, Nokia

Accelerating Innovation with IoT: (Wednesday, May 16)
Chair: Aeneas Dodd-Noble – Principal Architect, Cisco Systems

Abstract: Since mobile networks have existed – 2G – machines have been connected to the Internet.  Although in truth the devices are connected to private networks and to enterprises that pull data to run their businesses efficiently.   Assured short data bursts and security were key aspects of the original network and SMS solved those problems.   Demands on the mobile network to address vastly broader requirements have grown enormously and the IoT segment of CQR brings industry experts to explain the progress and challenges.

Providers have been connecting devices, providing security and unique features to meet enterprise needs.  4G brings new functions such as SCEF and CSGN nodes that enable IP connections and expose IoT device state to the enterprise.  However the industry is moving ahead at an ever faster pace and we will explore three areas that are catalysts for new innovation.

  • Analytics and Blockchain
    • Session chair – TBD
  • Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
    • Session chair – Karl Rauscher, GIIC
  • Smart Cities
    • Session chair – Bob Lesnewich, Vencore Labs

These seemingly disparate topics are tightly related to IoT as they touch on the main tenets of IoT which are enterprise, security and machines.  Blockchain has been associated with crypto currencies but it provides a very secure and distributed security mechanism. Analytics are vital to know if the machines are working correctly and as there foreseen to be hundreds of millions of devices, only machine learning can be relied upon.

Use cases of robotics that command low latency and highly available networks will become more pervasive as 5G’s URLLC enable reliable networks that meet these demanding requirements.  Connected cars will be bring huge loads on the network as gigabytes of Lidar data is uploaded and multiple systems need connection to different customers that will benefit from 5G network slicing.

Smart cities have been touted as the obvious use cases but have been held up by economics.  The business aspects are being addressed and innovative cities are finding ways to use the multiple networks and ecosystem to connect disparate services.  The industry needs to ensure that the pace of innovation continues so that this nascent industry grows to reach billions of devices.


 

Realizing the Virtualized Network (Thursday May 17)
Chair: Jerry Nichols – Vice President – Sales, Radware
 

Abstract: The promises of virtualized networks are many including lower CAPEX and OPEX costs, reduced dependence on individual suppliers, and quick onboarding of Virtual Network Functions (VNF’s).

Big promises result in big challenges when disruptive technologies are introduced into production environments, especially when we’re talking about some of the largest service providers in the world.  This segment will drill down into key issues including:  the current state of VNF’s and the migration to micro services; the critical role of service assurance and the importance of feedback loops; plus the challenges of consistently bringing services to life in multivendor environments. 

  • Virtualized Functions and Microservices
    • Session chair – Syed Moneeb Javed, Ericsson
  • Service Assurance
    • Session chair – Ross Cassan, Spirent
  • Intelligent Virtualized Operations
    • Session chair – Ian Hood, RedHat