The document discusses the role of the IRTF ICNRG in developing platforms for information-centric networking (ICN) experimentation and identifying areas that may need standardization. The ICNRG works on specifications and produces open-source code but does not set standards. Any standardization should avoid premature decisions and learn from application prototypes. Information-centric networking could significantly benefit new 5G networks by enabling features like multi-path communication and local control loops, and initial deployment is possible in areas like data centers and the internet of things.

1. ICN
in the IRTF and IETF
Dirk Kutscher
Chief Researcher, NEC Laboratories Europe
GreenICN
Research Activities and Future of
EU/US/JP ICN Projects Workshop
2015-10-30

2. 2 © NEC Corporation 2015
Disclaimer
▌Internet Research Task Force
Promotes research of importance to
the evolution of the Internet by
creating focused, long-term
Research Groups working on topics
related to Internet protocols,
applications, architecture and technology
▌Does not set standards
▌Relationship to IETF
IRTF technologies can be brought to IETF for standardization
... Just as technologies from other groups can
▌IRTF Research Groups
Output does not require consensus within RG
Cannot block standardization work in the IETF
Can include a goal of producing proposals to be considered in the IETF
RFC 2014
RFC 4440

3. 3 © NEC Corporation 2015
IRTF ICNRG
▌Cross-project research community
Not limited to a specific funding authority, project, protocol
Sharing of research results, new ideas
Documenting ICN scenarios, challenges, state-of-the-art solutions, gaps
Specifying protocols and semantics for ICN
Sharing implementation, experience from experiments
▌ICNRG and standards
Not setting standards...
But: helping to understand what needs to be standardized
And: working on specifications
▌ICNRG Administrivia
Web: http://irtf.org/icnrg
Chairs
• Börje Ohlman (Ericsson Research)
• Dave Oran (Cisco Systems)
• Dirk Kutscher (NEC Laboratories)

4. 4 © NEC Corporation 2015
ICNRG Work Items
▌Scenarios, use cases
 Baseline scenarios (RFC 7476)
 Video distribution
 IoT
 Challenged networks and disaster scenarios
▌Challenges, evaluation
 Research challenges
 Evaluation Methodology
▌Protocol specifications
 CCNx Messages in TLV format
 CCNx Semantics
▌Newly proposed topics
 Manifests, chunking, fragmentation, versioning
 User privacy, access control
 Name resolution
 Named function networking
Documenting
use cases &
opportunities
Evolving
research agenda
& evaluation
approaches
Creating
interoperable
platforms for
experimentation
Evolving ICN
concepts and
technologies

5. 5 © NEC Corporation 2015
Running Code
▌CCNx-1.0 (PARC)
PARC license
Developed by PARC
Implements ccnx-messages
and ccnx-semantics
▌CCN-lite (University of Basel)
Open Source, free to use without restrictions
Implements ccnx protocol
Used by RIOT project
▌NDN NFD (NDN project)
GPL-3.0
Maintained by NDN project
Implemented NDN protocol
Open Source projects
▌Many industry-relevant
technologies are
developed is OSS
projects these days
 OpenVSwitch
 OpenDaylight
 OpenStack
 OPNFV etc.
▌Purpose:
 Reference platforms
 Software-based de-facto
standards
 Common base for commdity
functions
▌ICNRG: agile, light-
weight model preferable

6. 6 © NEC Corporation 2015
Elements of Potential Future Protocol Standardization
ICN protocol (encoding, messages, semantics)
Manifests, fragmentation
Underlays, Link-layer Control Bootstrapping connectivity
Key Service, CA
Key Resolution
Protocol Specific security mechanism (confidentiality,
access control)
Inter-Domain
Routing
Intra-Domain Routing

7. 7 © NEC Corporation 2015
ICN „Standardization“ Bigger Picture
IETF
• ICN forwarding
• ICN routing
• ICN security
• Application layer specs
• Web
• „DASH“
• IoT
IRTF ICNRG
• Protocols and platforms for
experimentation
• No formal standards
• Identifying elements
needing standards
ITU-T
• Concepts, Terminology
• 5G Use Cases
• 5G Requirements
Now
3GPP
• 5G Radio Interface
• 5G System Architecture
• 5G Control & Data Plane
Potentially
in the
future

8. 8 © NEC Corporation 2015
Warning: Avoid Premature Standardization
ICN
▌Explore ICN potential through development and experimentation
▌Some things are really different in ICN: forwarding plane
capabilities, security
 Can make some of today‘s control and mangement plane functions obsolete
 Can lead to much simpler and overall better architectures

9. 9 © NEC Corporation 2015
Role of GreenICN Project
▌Thesis: one ICN platform for well-connected and challenged
mobile network infrastructure
Network can survive partitioning, overload
Auto-configuration and adaptation
Scalability
▌Develop and validate mechanisms with this goal in mind, e.g.,:
Publish/Subscribe
Interface selection and forwarding strategies
Content/cache discovery through forwarding plane mechanisms
Ctrl.
HA Load
Balancer
Ctrl.
…
Internet
RNC IW
3G
WiFi
4G
5G
xDSL
Cable
IW
vPoPs
Transport
Data Center
DB
auth.
services

10. 10 © NEC Corporation 2015
How Can You Help?
▌New projects
Leverage ICN technologies and available Open Source software
Participate in protocol development in ICNRG
Set up larger testbeds
Embrace development and experimentation for research work
Share your results
▌Initial Deployment
Don‘t have to wait until the Internet switches to ICN
There are areas where ICN is and can be deployed today, e.g.:
• Data logistics in data centers
• IoT
• Multi-path communication (hybrid access)
Build prototypes for your area
Demonstrate concrete benefits
Share your results

11. 11 © NEC Corporation 2015
Summary
▌ICNRG IRTF
Developing platforms for ICN experimentation
Identifying challenges and need for standards
Running code important
Open reference implementation desirable
▌Future standardization
Avoid pre-mature standardization
Better to understand clearly what needs to be standardized
Learn that from (application) prototype development
Avoid transferring technologies and standardized interfaces from the IP world
(BGP, DNS) – ICN likely to lead to different architectures and requirements
▌ICN and 5G
ICN benefits could be huge (new radio technologies, multi-path, local control
loops, security)
Softwarization enabling initial deployment
IRTF ICNRG good place to have technical discussion