*International Journal of Communication Networks and Distributed Systems
(IJCNDS)*

*Special Issue on: "Recent Advances in Next-Generation and
Resource-Constrained Converged Networks"*

Right from its beginning, the Internet has proven to be a vital medium of
communication for society, be it entertainment, business, telecommunication,
etc. It has rapidly found its way into our daily activities. Due to our high
dependence on its functionalities, it can be regarded as one of the most
integral parts of our lives. By observing the success of the Internet and
packet-switched networks, recent initiatives such as NGN (Next Generation
Networks) and IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) have been undertaken to provide
a seamless architecture for various access technologies. Furthermore, by
integrating different technologies, for example SDP (Service Delivery
Platform) and IMS, easy service delivery, execution and management are now
possible. Other issues, such as point-to-point and broadcasting
communications, data and multimedia oriented services, mobile and cellular
systems, fast fibre and mobility, remain a challenging endeavour and, to say
the least, the end-to-end picture is still unclear.
On the other hand, efforts such as 6LoWPAN are also trying to connect
resource constrained sensor networks to the Internet to provide a ubiquitous
environment, creating the Internet of Things. This leads to a highly
distributed network of devices communicating with human beings as well as
other devices. With the increase of heterogeneity, it becomes very difficult
to ensure interactions with devices in a unified manner. In short, even
though the recent advances in network convergence offer new realities, there
are several research challenges and issues that need to be addressed. For
example, the heterogeneity of the networks imposes difficulties and
challenges in ensuring network security, QoS provisioning, route
optimisation and so on.
This Special Issue aims to publish high quality research papers relating to
the recent advances in the challenges faced by next-generation and
resource-constrained converged networks.

*Subject Coverage*

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to the following:
- Next generation networks
- IMS and related technologies
- Integration of IMS and SDP
- IPTV architectures and standards
- Security issues in IPTV
- IPTV/IMS management.
- QoS and QoE provisioning
- 3P and 4P service provisioning
- Accounting and billing
- Regulatory issues
- Streaming services over wired/wireless access networks
- 6LoWPAN architectures and standards
- Mobility issues in 6LoWPAN
- Security issues in 6LoWPAN
- Route optimisation
- Future Internet and networks
- Future services
- Signaling for application sessions and networking

*Notes for Prospective Authors*

Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently
under consideration for publication elsewhere. (N.B. Conference papers may
only be submitted if the paper was not originally copyrighted and if it has
been completely re-written).
All papers are refereed through a double-blind review process. A guide for
authors, sample copies and other relevant information for submitting papers
are available on the Author Guidelines page

*Important Dates*

Manuscript due date: 30 December, 2009
First round notification: 15 March, 2010
Revised paper due: 15 May, 2010
Notification of acceptance: 15 June, 2010
Submission of final manuscript: 1 July, 2010

*Editors and Notes*

You may send one copy in the form of an MS Word or PDF file (please mention
“IJCNDS-SI-NGN” in the subject line) attached to an e-mail (details in
Author Guidelines http://www.inderscience.com/mapper.php?id=31) to the
following:

*Syed Obaid Amin (Corresponding Editor)*
Department of Computer Engineering,
Kyung Hee University
Korea
E-mail: obaidasyed@gmail.com

*Al-Sakib Khan Pathan*
Department of Computer Engineering
Kyung Hee University
Korea
E-mail: sakib.pathan@gmail.com

*Syed Rahman*
Computer Science & Software Engineering Department
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
USA
E-mail: syedrahmanusa@gmail.com

(Please Cc the email to: Inderscience Editorial Office, E-mail:
editorial@inderscience.com)