IEEE Conference on Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networks
6-8 November 2017 – Berlin, Germany

Keynote Speakers

Keynote talk #1

Title: SDN and NFV As Enablers For Digital Business Transformation

Speaker: Rod Naphan, Chief Technology Officer & SVP of Solutions & Portfolio Planning

Organization: Fujitsu Network Communications

Bio

Rod Naphan, CTO & Senior Vice President of Solutions and Portfolio Planning at Fujitsu Network Communications, is the architect of the Fujitsu networking vision and portfolio. Rod provides executive leadership to the organization that engages the industry, imagines the possibilities inherent in technology as a source of digital transformation, and defines the future products and solutions for Fujitsu Network Communications.

Rod has broad experience in the planning, development and promotion of networking platforms. Over his 28 years in the communications industry, he has held various hands-on leadership roles in software and systems design engineering, program management, and product line management across several generations of industry leading communications equipment and software solutions. Prior to joining Fujitsu, Rod worked as a software engineer at Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

At Fujitsu Network Communications, Rod has been a champion for diversity in the workplace, and is a proud supporter of the Women’s Innovative Network (WIN), an internal program designed to promote diversity overall and support women’s growth and success in particular. He believes that a diverse employee base provides Fujitsu with innumerable benefits, including increased creativity, innovation and profitable growth.

Rod serves on the Board of Directors for ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions) and ONOS/CORD (Open Network Operating System/Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter, open source software defined networking projects). He has served on technical advisory boards for CIAN (Center for Integrated Access Networks, an NSF sponsored university research center of excellence) and for various device technology companies.

Rod holds a BSc. in Honors Computing and Computer Electronics from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a MASc. in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

 

Abstract:

Digital business transformation is sweeping the globe, creating new business models and reforming current ones. Open networking solutions powered by SDN and NFV are providing the foundation of this transformation for the networking industry. To wade through the hype and realize the promise of these technologies, Services Providers require a practical approach. This talk connects technology to the needs of real business.

 

Keynote talk #2

Title: Algorithmic Opportunities and Challenges of NFV and SDN: A Guided Tour

Speaker: Stefan Schmid, Associate Professor in the Distributed, Embedded and Intelligent Systems

Organization: Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

Bio

Stefan Schmid received his MSc (2004) and PhD (2008) degrees from ETH Zurich in Switzerland (Distributed Computing group). Subsequently, he was a postdoc at the Chair for Efficient Algorithms at the Technical University of Munich and at the Chair for Theory of Distributed Systems at the University of Paderborn, in Germany. From 2009 to 2015, he was a senior research scientist at the Telekom Innovation Laboratories (T-Labs) and at TU Berlin in Germany (Internet Network Architectures group). Since 2015, he is an Associate Professor in the Distributed, Embedded and Intelligent Systems unit at Aalborg University, Denmark. Stefan Schmid received the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Early Career Award 2016.

Abstract:

Software-defined networking and network function virtualization introduce great flexibilities in how modern computer networks can be operated, enabling innovative new network services and promising a more automated and correct network operation. At the same time, these paradigms introduce several new challenges.In this talk, I will first revisit some of the flexibilities introduced by SDN/NFV, and discuss the fundamental underlying algorithmic challenges in exploiting them towards a more efficient and (automatically) correct network operation. In the second part of the talk, we will extend the discussion to security challenges introduced in virtualized networks. The main goal of the talk is to provide a (subjective) perspective of interesting research areas in SDN/NFV, to point out fundamental connections to related research fields, and to identify open questions.

 

 Keynote talk #3

Title: NFV in 5G Networks

Speaker: Zoltán Richárd Turányi

Organization: Ericsson Research, Hungary

Bio

 Zoltán Richárd Turányi received his M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the Technical University of Budapest in 1996. In 1997 he joined Ericsson’s Traffic Analysis and Network Performance Laboratory (Traffic Lab), where he worked on network performance simulation, QoS and IP mobility. He was a visiting researcher at Columbia University in 2002. Since then he worked with various Mobile Core Network, Software Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization projects within Ericsson research. Since 2014 he fills the role of 5G Network Architectures Expert within Ericsson Research. He currently acts as technical co-ordinator of Ericsson Research’s 5G Realization program. In this capacity he co-ordinates prototyping and innovation of all non-radio related 5G components into a single system.

 

 

 

Abstract:

Besides novel radio technology, 5G networks will employ Virtualized Network Functions and thus will likely represent the first widespread NFV deployment. A number of NFV features are required for successful 5G deployments, such as automated lifecycle management, the ability to handle distributed infrastructure, combined network-compute orchestration, service chaining or the ability to handle terminal and service mobility. All this will be required in a scalable fashion addressing large, national infrastructures. In this talk, we will address some of the NFV challenges that we are expected to face in 5G networks.