Software-Defined Networks for Future Networks and Services: Main Technical Challenges and Business Implications

In 2013, the IEEE Future Directions Committee (FDC) formed an SDN work group to explore the amount of interest in forming an IEEE Software-Defined Network (SDN) Community. To this end, a Workshop on "SDN for Future Networks and Services" (SDN4FNS'13) was organized in Trento, Italy (Nov. 11th-13th 2013). Following the results of the workshop, in this paper, we have further analyzed scenarios, prior-art, state of standardization, and further discussed the main technical challenges and socio-economic aspects of SDN and virtualization in future networks and services. A number of research and development directions have been identified in this white paper, along with a comprehensive analysis of the technical feasibility and business availability of those fundamental technologies. A radical industry transition towards the "economy of information through softwarization" is expected in the near future

Intelligent resource scheduling for 5G radio access network slicing

It is widely acknowledged that network slicing can tackle the diverse use cases and connectivity services of the forthcoming next-generation mobile networks (5G). Resource scheduling is of vital importance for improving resource-multiplexing gain among slices while meeting specific service requirements for radio access network (RAN) slicing. Unfortunately, due to the performance isolation, diversified service requirements, and network dynamics (including user mobility and channel states), resource scheduling in RAN slicing is very challenging. In this paper, we propose an intelligent resource scheduling strategy (iRSS) for 5G RAN slicing. The main idea of an iRSS is to exploit a collaborative learning framework that consists of deep learning (DL) in conjunction with reinforcement learning (RL). Specifically, DL is used to perform large time-scale resource allocation, whereas RL is used to perform online resource scheduling for tackling small time-scale network dynamics, including inaccurate prediction and unexpected network states. Depending on the amount of available historical traffic data, an iRSS can flexibly adjust the significance between the prediction and online decision modules for assisting RAN in making resource scheduling decisions. Numerical results show that the convergence of an iRSS satisfies online resource scheduling requirements and can significantly improve resource utilization while guaranteeing performance isolation between slices, compared with other benchmark algorithms

Information View of Organization

This article proposes an information view of organization that brings the information systems field closer to organization theory. Although voluminous bodies of literature have been developed within each of these disciplines and links between them do exist, their mutual informing is still insufficient. The proposed view of organization is intended to help convey results of information systems research to organizational scholars, while broadening theoretical horizons of the former. This article discusses the premises, conceptual framework, examples, and preliminary evidence of the information view of organization

Energy Performance Assessment of Virtualization Technologies Using Small Environmental Monitoring Sensors

The increasing trends of electrical consumption within data centres are a growing concern for business owners as they are quickly becoming a large fraction of the total cost of ownership. Ultra small sensors could be deployed within a data centre to monitor environmental factors to lower the electrical costs and improve the energy efficiency. Since servers and air conditioners represent the top users of electrical power in the data centre, this research sets out to explore methods from each subsystem of the data centre as part of an overall energy efficient solution. In this paper, we investigate the current trends of Green IT awareness and how the deployment of small environmental sensors and Site Infrastructure equipment optimization techniques which can offer a solution to a global issue by reducing carbon emissions

Hospitality Management Instructor Attitudes towards COVID-Driven Compulsory Course-Virtualization: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how hospitality management instructors at a college of management in the Northeastern United States describe their attitudes towards the effects on instruction of the COVID-driven compulsory virtualization of their courses that occurred in Spring 2020. The Theory of Technology Acceptance, the Extended Theory of Technology Acceptance, and the Unified Theory of the Use and Acceptance of Technology jointly constituted this study’s theoretical foundations. Data collection was guided by three research questions, namely: (i) How do hospitality management instructors describe their attitudes towards the effects on teaching of the COVID-driven virtualization of instruction that occurred in Spring 2020? (ii) How do such instructors describe the setbacks created by said virtualization? (iii) How do such instructors describe the benefits of said virtualization? Data was acquired through 14 semistructured interviews and two semi-structured focus groups. Thematic analysis of the data yielded eight themes: (i) Virtual instruction was relatively convenient in some respects; (ii) Student-on-student interaction was limited; (iii) Instructor-student interaction was limited; (iv) Complex material was hard to teach; (v) Students disengaged; (vi) Virtual courses came to resemble correspondence courses; (vii) Courses involving labs and lab-like components could not be taught properly: (viii) Virtual instruction had more downsides than upsides. Conclusion: In order for the virtualization of hospitality management courses to succeed, the technology being used must allow the emotional dynamics that govern inperson instruction to govern virtual instruction

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

In This Issue Making Dollars and Sense Out of Cloud Computing Surfing the Wave of Cloud Computing VolP Meets the Cloud A Quick Look at Cloud Computing in Higher Education,2012 Cloud Computing: ls the Forecast Bright or Overcast? Cloud E-Mail Momentum Swells Institutional Excellence Award lndividual Awards President\u27s Message From the Executive Director Q&A with the CI

DevOps for Digital Leaders

DevOps; continuous delivery; software lifecycle; concurrent parallel testing; service management; ITIL; GRC; PaaS; containerization; API management; lean principles; technical debt; end-to-end automation; automatio