The impact of active networking technology on service management in a telecom environment

Active networking, where network nodes perform customized processing of packets, is a rapidly expanding field of research. This paper is based on the assumption that active networking technology will mature to a point where it can be commercially deployed on a larger scale. We investigate the realization of service provisioning and service management in a telecommunication environment that is based on active networking technology, primarily with respect to customer-provider interactions. Compared to conventional networking technology, active networking concepts enable additional flexibility in supporting management tasks. We outline a framework that allows customers, on the one hand, to access and manage a service in a provider's domain, and, on the other hand, to outsource a service and its management to a service provider. Our framework has the properties of supporting: (1) generic, i.e., service-independent, interfaces for service provisioning and management; and (2) customized service abstractions and control functions, according to a customer's requirements. Further, we describe how some of the key concepts of this framework can be realized in an active networking testbed that we are in the process of building.