MUDED: Integrating Networks with Applications through Multi-Domain Exposure and Discovery Mechanisms

The evolving Internet application landscape is envisioned to adopt technologies such as SDN, NFV, and MEC to provide softwarized services, requiring resource orchestration across multiple networks managed by different technological and administrative domains. In such multi-domain settings, the collaboration between networks and applications provides opportunities to both applications to improve their performances and network service providers to increase their business offerings. Although many systems are proposed to support such collaborations, they are point or incremental solutions. In this work, we propose the exploration of a more integrated architecture with huge possibilities taking a network-application integration (NAI) approach. Specifically, we explore the NAI possibilities in two concrete aspects: application-aware networking and network-aware applications. We review recent progress in these two aspects, and identify the key barriers in systematically realizing such a deep integration. To address these barriers, we propose a generic multi-domain NAI exposure and discovery framework, called MUDED. Through different systematic analysis and demonstrated prototypes, the MUDED's key components showcase: the maturing of the IETF ALTO protocol on the road to becoming a generic NAI possibilities discovery and exposure mechanism; and the optimized network view generation to simplify the network service placement and management.