Panel Discussions
Subtitle
Network Automation in Carrier Networks: Reality vs. Myths
The proposed panel presents a fact checking against current state of the art network automation mechanisms. Our purpose will be to evaluate current deployed and proposed use cases for software defined transport networks.
Special attention will be given to multiple aspects related to network automation, such as the exposure of network capabilities (using standard interfaces), as well as the deployment of End-to-End connectivity services. Multiple network technologies will be discussed, including network disaggregation, considering whiteboxes that can act as cell site gateways, broadband network gateways or even optical transponders. Finally, we will discuss on current status of cloud-based network automation and proposed solutions for software-defined everything.
Ricard Vilalta (moderator), Min Xie, Daniel King, Carlos Natalino, Lluís Gifre, Larry Horner
Ricard Vilalta graduated in telecommunications engineering in 2007 and received a Ph.D. degree in telecommunications in 2013, both from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain. He has a master degree on Audiovisual Communication at UOC (Open University of Catalonia) and a master degree on Technology-based business innovation and administration at Barcelona University (UB). Ricard Vilalta joined CTTC in 2010, and he is a senior researcher and research line leader in the Packet Optical Networks and Services Research Unit. He is an active contributor in several standardization bodies such as ONF (OTCC), ETSI (NFV, ZSM), and IETF (CCAMP, TEAS). He is also a member of the technical steering team of Open Transport Configuration & Control in ONF. He is chairing ETSI TeraFlowSDN OSG Leadership Group (LG) and leading open-source contributions and features in ETSI OpenSource MANO (OSM) with special focus on 5G technologies. He has been involved in several international, EU, national and industrial research projects: INSPIRE-5Gplus, 5GCroCo, 5GTANGO, 5GCAR, BlueSPACE, 5G-Crosshaul, EU-Japan STRAUSS, ICT IDEALIST, ICT COMBO, ICT STRONGEST, ICT OFELIA, FP6 E-Cab. Moreover, he led 5GTANGO impact activities (WP leader), INSPIRE-5Gplus experimental activities (WP leader), as well as participating in several 5GPPP WG. Currently, he is Project Coordinator of 5GPPP TeraFlow project. He has negotiated and led many industrial projects related to standards collaborations, IPR generation and demonstrations at major events (including worldwide operators, telecom providers and optical SMEs, including Telefónica, Huawei, KDDI, Sedona Networks, ETSI and OSA). He has also authored and co-authored several book chapters, and more than 50 journals, 160 conference papers, +20 invited talks in most significant conferences (OFC, ECOC, OECC/PS, ONDM, ICTON), 4 US and 2 European patent. His research is focused on SDN/NFV, Network Virtualization, Network Orchestration, MEC and B5G/6G Networks.
Min Xie is a senior research scientist at Telenor Research. She is working on next generation technologies toward the deployment of 5G and beyond at Telenor. Her current research interests lie in NFV, SDN, network slicing, service assurance, QoS, and QoE.
Daniel King is an entrepreneurial technical professional who has held senior management roles within multiple successful technology start-up and expansion ventures. He was a founder of Aria Networks and Darwinian Neural Network Industries (DNNI), and has held key roles within Movaz Networks, Redback Networks, Cisco Systems and Bell Labs (Lucent). Daniel King is also an active contributor with various Standards Development Organizations (SDOs), including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). He is an editor or author on numerous IETF Internet-Drafts and RFCs (including RFC4687, RFC5557, RFC6006, RFC6007, RFC6163, RFC6639 and RFC6805) related to packet, optical, path computation, IP (Service), MPLS (Transport), Multicast (Video), Network Optimization and Application Based Network Operations. Daniel is the Secretary of four IETF working groups, namely PCE, CCAMP, ROLL and L3VPN.
Carlos Natalino Da Silva, is a postdoc with the Optical Networks Unit, focusing on the application of machine learning to telecommunication infrastructure problems. Among the main topics are the design and management of optical networks and cloud computing infrastructures, with special focus on resource and energy efficiency, security, reliability and survivability. He has been involved in several national and international projects funded by research bodies in EU and Brazil. He has also been involved in teaching computer programming courses in Brazil and Sweden. He is an IEEE member.
Lluis Gifre Renom received in 2016 his Ph.D. degree in Computers Architectures from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Spain. In 2017, he got a position as an Assistant Professor at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), and a position as a Research Engineer at Nokia Bell Labs (France) in 2019. In 2021, he joined the Packet-Optical Networks and Services (PONS) research unit, part of the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC). He is the current TSC chair of the ETSI TeraFlowSDN OSG and an IEEE Senior Member. He participated in 9 EC/nationally-funded projects and 1 industrial collaboration. He is the lead inventor of 1 patent, and he has co-authored more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed and indexed journals and recognized international conferences. His research interests include cloud-based platforms in support of Software-Defined Networks (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV), network slicing, and orchestration of 5G/6G infrastructures.
Larry Horner is member of Intel’s Communication Service Provider team in the CTO office for the Industry Sales Group. His efforts focus on accelerating the NFV transformation in the global communication provider network, the CSPs. His work at Intel covers all aspects of the carrier transformation including virtualization from innovation to scale deployment from the enterprise premise equipment into the core. In this role as a trusted adviser to the named accounts in the CSP community Larry directly interfaces into the highest leadership levels. His insight, breadth of experience and ability to speak directly and at depth in both the business and technical levels of the transformation taking place in this industry brings a sharp focus to the opportunity being addressed today. Larry holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, and specialized on information and communication theory beyond the Masters level. He holds two U.S patents relating to fundamental changes in the communication network transitioning to the all IP network. He has held various senior level positions in the Network Equipment Provider community in design, operations, test, support and roles. He has been a key technical and management contributor to the IP transformation of the communications community for over 20 years. Larry has designed, developed and supported critical systems for the CSP network that have gone into over 300 networks world-wide. Larry also has direct experience with a U.S based Tier 1 carrier where he was both a Principal Member of Technical Staff and Area Manager of Advanced Technical Support for their business and mobile VoIP network that carried over 100B VoIP calls per year. In this role he was part of a team introducing large scale EPC and IMS solutions and beginning the transformation to the visualized network envisioned for 2020. As a Senior Member of the IEEE he is a member of the board of the local Communication Society and serves on the board for the International IEEE NFV SDN conference. A consummate builder; in his spare time he volunteers building homes both locally and internationally with Habitat for Humanity and has been known to produce quality furniture from time to time. Larry is serving on the committee for the IEEE NFV SDN International Conference, third year. He is the current chair of the Dallas CVT section, fourth year. Larry is a Senior IEEE member.
