[e2e] IEEE Network CfPs: Middleware Technologies for Future Communication Networks

[Andrew T. Campbell]

Call for Papers

IEEE Network

Middleware Technologies for Future Communication Networks

Guest Editors:

Douglas C. Schmidt
Vanderbilt University
schmidt at isis-server.isis.vanderbilt.edu

Gordon Blair
Lancaster University
gordon at comp.lancs.ac.uk

Andrew T. Campbell
Columbia University
campbell at comet.columbia.edu

Scope:

Middleware provides application designers with a higher level of abstraction
to achieve distribution transparency. Mature middleware technologies, such
as CORBA, Java 2 Enterprise Edition, and SOAP/Web services, have been
designed and used successfully with fixed networks. There remain significant
challenges, however, to design and optimize middleware for programmable (or
self-organizing) networks and/or for mobile settings. It is therefore
essential to devise new middleware solutions and capabilities to fulfill the
requirements of these emerging network technologies.

For programmable networks, we need more powerful abstractions than are
provided by traditional middleware. As the variety of services and devices
that populate the network is expanding rapidly with different levels of
granularity, they may have different requirements on quality of service
(QoS). This variety is also increasing the level of system heterogeneity,
which requires a higher level of configurability from the middleware
infrastructure. In this context, it is also crucial that such flexibility is
not introduced at the expense of the requisite predictable performance,
security, or dependability.  Making the control plane, and potentially the
data path, of future routers and switches more flexible for the introduction
of these service elements is clearly a pressing research challenge.

For mobile networks, conventional middleware platforms expect static
connectivity, reliable channels, and high bandwidth that are limited in
resource-varying wireless networks. Moreover, hiding network topologies and
other deployment details from distributed applications becomes both harder
and undesirable since applications and middleware should adapt according to
changes in location, connectivity, bandwidth, and battery power. New
wireless network middleware is required to increase performance of
applications running across potentially mixed wireless networks (from 3G to
WLANs), supporting multiple wireless devices, providing continuous wireless
access to content and applications, as well as to overcome periods of
disconnection and time-varying bandwidth delivery. Wireless middleware could
also ensure end-to-end security and dependability from handheld devices to
application servers.

In the face of changing requirements and environments, there is a clear need
for more flexible middleware. In particular, dynamic re-configurability,
possibly enabled with multiple meta-levels of the system, is needed to react
to changing contexts. Techniques such as reflective middleware and
self-repairing systems are therefore important to meet such technical
challenges.

This special issue of IEEE Network is intended to address these new
challenges of middleware technologies required for a new generation of
mobile and fixed networks and services. We seek papers that either describe
important technical issues and solutions, or provide tutorial overviews in
the area. Best practice reports based on case studies are encouraged. Topics
of interest include (but are not limited to):

·	Middleware support for micro/macro/multi-domain mobility
·	Real-time and reflective middleware
·	Middleware for peer-to-peer platforms
·	Support of hierarchical heterogeneous environments
·	Distributed objects in reconfigurable pervasive applications
·	Specification and enforcement of Quality of Service (QoS)
·	Design of CORBA, ..NET, and J2EE-based broker applications for
      mobile/fixed networks
·	Management and programmability of distributed object systems
·	Middleware for distributed and mobile agents
·	Middleware security, including authorization and authentication
·	OMG Model Driven Architecture (MDA) and its application to network
      middleware
·	Patterns for distributed object design
·	Middleware for network processors
·	Programmable control plane and data path techniques
·	Reliable and fault tolerant middleware
·	Integration of distributed object and Web Service technologies

Manuscript Submission:

Interested authors should submit an electronic version of the manuscript, in
either Postscript or PDF format, as an email attachment to one of the guest
editors. Additional information including “Guidelines for authors” is
available on the IEEE Network magazine Website at URL
http://www.comsoc.org/pubs/net/ntwrk/authors.html

Important Dates:

·	Submission Deadline: 		February 15, 2003
·	Acceptance Notification: 	April 30, 2003
·	Final Manuscripts:		July 1, 2003
·	Publication : 			Sept/Oct 2003