[e2e] CFP: IEEE Network Special Issue on Implications and Control of Middleboxes in the Internet

[Martin Stiemerling]

Our apologies if you receive multiple copies of the CFP.
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                       Call for Papers

                    IEEE Network Magazine
                       Special Issue on
Implications and Control of Middleboxes in the Internet

Important Data
==============
Manuscript Submission Due: March 1, 2008
Acceptance Notification: June 1, 2008
Final Manuscript Due: July 15, 2008
Special Issue Publication Date: September/October 2008

Call for Papers
===============
Network Address Translators (NAT) and IP firewalls have been introduced
to the Internet some time ago, and over the time become an integral part
of the Internet architecture. Moreover, there are also other types of
middleboxes, such as Virtual Private Network (VPN) gateways, Application
Layer Gateways (ALG), Performance Enhancing Proxies (PEP) and web
proxies. These intermediary boxes perform functions different from
normal IP packet treatment, which can even change the content of packets
or do rerouting of IP packets.

There have been diverse views on the value of middleboxes. Some believe
that middleboxes introduce problems for network applications as well as
challenges to the traditional end-to-end Internet architecture. These
issues range, for instance, but not limited to, from naming and
addressing of nodes behind NATs, directionality of communication
establishment, and performance impairments. On the other hand, many
administrators and operators see the middleboxes represent an important
part for their network operations. For example, firewalls are widely
deployed with the intention of securing enterprise, campus and home
networks, so as to block attacks to nodes or keep nodes from sending
malicious traffic.

The Internet community has acknowledged the emergence of the middleboxes
and developed middlebox control and coordination protocols that allow
end hosts (or application proxies) to learn about the presence of
middleboxes and communicate their needs (i.e. required packet treatment)
to those devices. A number of middlebox control protocols, such as UPnP,
MIDCOM and STUN, have been developed over the years and are partially
used in current deployments.

The papers in this special issue will focus on the state-of-the-art
research in various aspects of middleboxes and middlebox control
mechanisms, which help to understand their impact to the Internet
architecture and network operations, and how they can be further
integrated, or leveraged for different purposes, such as load balancing
and mobile network environments, among the others. Specifically, within
the aforementioned context in Internet middleboxes and their control
mechanisms, the special issue will present tutorials, surveys and
original research articles (written in a tutorial manner readable by
non-specialists) that cover the following subjects, but not limited to:

* Middlebox-supported network architectures vs. other Internet evolution
alternatives (e.g., IPv6)
* Design and/or performance evaluation of middlebox software  
architectures
* Control and coordination across middleboxes and their traversal  
mechanisms
* Security, including authentication, authorization and accounting
issues with middlebox control/traversal mechanisms
* Scalability and performance studies of middlebox control/traversal
mechanisms
* Deployment scenarios and case studies (corporate, ISP, content
providers, mobile environments etc.) based on middleboxes
* Interaction and implications with other network protocols and  
components
* Interaction and implications with end-to-end applications and services
* Related standardization efforts

Manuscript Submission
=====================

With regard to both the content and formatting style of the submissions,
prospective contributors must follow the IEEE Network guidelines for
authors that can be found at
http://www.comsoc.org/pubs/net/ntwrk/authors.html. Submitted papers must
be original and must not be under current consideration for publication
in other venues. Authors should submit a PDF format of their complete
papers via http://www.edas.info/newPaper.php?c=6198.


Guest Editors
=============
Prof. Xiaoming Fu
Institute for Computer Science
University of Goettingen
Goettingen
Germany
Email: fu at cs.uni-goettingen.de

Martin Stiemerling
NEC Europe Laboratories
Network Research Division
Heidelberg
Germany
Email: stiemerling at netlab.nec.de

Prof. Henning Schulzrinne
Department of Computer Science
Columbia University
New York, NY
USA
Email: hgs at cs.columbia.edu


stiemerling at netlab.nec.de

NEC Laboratories Europe - Network Research Division

NEC Europe Limited | Registered Office: NEC House, 1 Victoria Road,  
London W3 6BL | Registered in England 2832014

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