ACM/SPRINGER MONET SPECIAL ISSUE:
MOBILE NETWORK MANAGEMENT AND VIRTUALIZATION

Management, be it multiaccess, resource, mobility or network management, is a key aspect in the design, deployment and operation of current and future networks. The fast growth and adoption of virtualization and cloud computing technologies pose new management challenges that must be addressed. Although some virtualization techniques are already used in telecommunication networks, the full potential that can be achieved from a completely virtualized network environment is yet to be realized. A fully virtualized solution would be extremely flexible, allowing multiple networks to operate simultaneously over the same infrastructure, while supporting different technologies, protocols, topologies, and QoS/QoE requirements. The application of virtualization in mobile networks is an emergent topic of active research and its impact on resource, mobility, and network management as well as the associated security and autonomicity challenges are under investigation. These topics become even more complex with the increasing pressure for energy-efficient network systems. Most of the current literature focuses on a particular subset of these aspects, but does not tackle their interrelationships.

We invite authors to submit papers reporting original, previously unpublished research which fill this gap and follow either evolutionary approaches based on current IP-centered architectures or introduce revolutionary designs and new paradigms. Experimental/testbed and empirical studies as well as implementation/industry results (including field trials) are also welcome. Topics of particular interest include:

* Mobile and multiaccess network management, resource management and virtualization
* Multimedia applications and services for mobile/multiaccess networks
* Future Internet architectures for mobile network virtualization
* Disruptive technologies for mobile and wireless network management and virtualization
* Energy-efficient mobile networks through virtualization (holistic approaches covering the entire lifecycle are of special interest)
* Virtualization in autonomic mobile networks
* Performance evaluation of mobile network management and virtualization
* IEEE and 3GPP management standards and enabling technologies
* Operator vs. user-centric mobile network management and virtualization
* New business models and economics of virtualized mobile networks
* Security and reliability of managing virtualized mobile networks
* Trusted virtualized infrastructures and experimental platforms


GUEST EDITORS

Kostas Pentikousis, Huawei Technologies European Research Center, Germany
Susana Sargento, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Rui Aguiar, University of Aveiro, Portugal
Ramón Agüero, University of Cantabria, Spain


SCHEDULE

Manuscript submission deadline: 15 December 2011
Notification of acceptance: 15 February 2012
Submission of final revised paper: 15 March 2012
Publication of special issue: 2nd or 3rd Quarter, 2012 (Tentative)


SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Authors should follow the MONET Journal manuscript format described at the journal web site.

Manuscripts should be submitted on-line through www.editorialmanager.com/mone. Authors need to register to submit their papers; select "MONAMI 2011" when prompted for Article Type. A copy of the manuscript should also be e-mailed to the guest editors at k(dot)pentikousis(at)huawei(dot)com.

This special issue will feature papers accepted from this open call as well as significantly extended versions of the best papers from the 3rd International ICST Conference on Mobile Networks and Management (MONAMI 2011).