Software Defined Networking decouples network devices from the software that controls them through open interfaces such as OpenFlow. SDN's abstractions create new opportunities to build operating system and programming language ecosystems for networks. Several router vendors have introduced OpenFlow switches. Production deployments exist. SDN is poised to fundamentally change the current networking architecture.
Despite recent successes, key challenges still remain. These include: how to design switches and APIs that offer greater flexibility without compromising performance; what network operating system abstractions are needed to simplify the control of switches; how to ensure consistency among distributed controllers; what programming language or software tools should be developed to ease the control and management of software defined networks; how to transition an existing network to SDN, and how a software defined network can interoperate with existing protocols. Moreover, SDN may be applied in domains that have not yet been explored, opening up new research questions.
We believe that this emerging field will benefit from close interaction among researchers and industry practitioners. To this end, the DIMACS Workshop on Software Defined Networking will bring together academics and practitioners in computer systems, networking, programming languages, algorithms, and security to share their research accomplishments and identify core problems in software defined networking.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:
The workshop will feature technical presentations by invited speakers. Speakers confirmed so far include:
In addition, workshop attendees will be invited to submit proposals for "lightning" talks.
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