In the context of the 27th Conference on Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks (ICIN) 2024, Intelligent network service management across the compute continuum, the week March 11th–15th, 2024, at Orange Gardens in Paris France (co-hosted with ETSI NFV#45 plenary meeting in the same week), ETSI NFV officials and contributors were invited to participate in main events demonstrating the latest ETSI NFV specification status, recent developments and future directions.

Details of the main event can be found in https://www.icin-conference.org/2024/

Event: 1st Workshop on iNtent drivEn autonomouS neTwORks (NESTOR) 2024

Site URL: https://www.icin-conference.org/2024/nestor/

The NESTOR workshop on Intent-Driven Autonomous Networks was held on Monday 11th, March 2024, exemplified meticulous organization and comprehensive coverage of intent-driven networking principles, and provided a conducive environment for learning and networking. The workshop was co-hosted by Bruno Chatras (Independent Expert, ex-chair of ETSI ISG NFV) and Kostas Katsalis (from NTT DOCOMO and ETSI NFV IFA WG vice-chair).

Renowned experts in the field delivered keynote presentations, sharing their expertise, and highlighting the significance of intent management in modern networking architectures. On behalf of ETSI ISG NFV, Haitao Xia (from Huawei and ETSI NFV IFA WG chair) gave a keynote speech in respect to ETSI NFV activities on Autonomous Networks, which introduced the work output of intent management, management data analytics, autonomous container infrastructure management and cognitive use of operations data from NFV Release 4 features, and prospected future trends in automation and AI. The agenda also included technical sessions, allowing participants to explore various facets of intent-driven networking. Lingli Deng (from China Mobile and ETSI NFV SOL WG vice-chair) and Manchang Ju (from ZTE and ETSI NFV TSC vice-chair) participated in the technical sessions also delivering technical presentations.

Event: Tutorial on Energy efficiency in ICIN 2024

Title: Green NFV: framework and enablers for energy savings in telecom network deployments

Site URL: https://www.icin-conference.org/2024/tutorials/

In Release 5 NFV specifications, extensive support for energy efficiency on multiple levels is being added as part of the ‘Green NFV’ feature. Starting from use cases, potential solutions and recommendations described in ETSI GR NFV-EVE 021 v5.1.1, normative work on the ‘Green NFV’ feature is on-going in NFV with first drop of features planned to be part of v5.1.1 of ETSI NFV specifications.

To highlight the energy efficiency support in NFV and provide an overview of enhancements in the NFV framework enabling energy-efficient deployments, Hammad Zafar (from NEC, ETSI NFV contributor/rapporteur) and Joan Triay (from NTT DOCOMO, NFV contributor/rapporteur and ex-ETSI NFV TSC chair) gave a tutorial on “Green NFV: framework and enablers for energy savings in telecom network deployments” at the ICIN’24 conference, held on March 11th–15th, 2024.

The tutorial expanded on the work done in ETSI GR NFV-EVE 021 v5.1.1. Support for energy efficiency on multiple levels within NFV framework as well as aspects related to energy monitoring across NFV deployments were explained as part of this tutorial. Energy efficiency and green networking initiatives in the telecom industry, standards organizations and open source were also introduced.

Energy efficiency aspects beyond the NFV-MANO framework were discussed during the presentation to emphasize the need for incorporating energy efficiency as part of the design process of network functions, e.g., considering energy efficiency in the hardware, virtualization and application layers during VNF design.

Tutorial presenters also identified some open challenges and provided potential research directions to the research and academic community in the audience. Energy efficiency challenges posed by use of AI/ML in telecom networks, challenges related to virtualization, containerization and scheduling were discussed.

The tutorial was well received by the audience with several important and engaging questions from the research community at the end, specifically related to challenges and research directions identified in the tutorial.

Event: Panel discussion

Title: Intelligent network service management across the compute continuum

Site URL: https://www.icin-conference.org/2024/panel/

Through this panel discussion, the various roles of AI and ML in transforming network service management across the compute continuum were investigated. The session aimed to foster a special discussion on the capabilities, challenges, and future directions of intelligent network management, providing valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers alike. On behalf of ETSI ISG NFV, Dr. Hui Deng (from Huawei, ETSI NFV vice chair) presented the ETSI NFV approach on network automation.

Through this event, ETSI ISG NFV community strengthened exchanges with academic and industrial representatives on automation, AI and energy efficiency, and furthermore orienting the way forward directions of cooperation in respect to innovations in clouds and networks.