Emanics WP8 - Economic Management

Phase 1

Motivation

Managing the broadband infrastructure of tomorrow's broadband Internet requires suitable technology and mechanisms as well as valid and viable economic means, which will lead to a generic information infrastructure and which enables multiple parties' access in an economically fair manner.

While major factors have been addressed until now in the research community as separated activities, such as achieving technical efficiency of accounting modules, definitions of charging models independent of technological prerequisites, maintaining viable Service Level Management (SLM) aspects, and determining management-independent Internet services models, the inter-operation model of those essential components still remains to be designed. The development of a customer service management architecture and corresponding interfaces as a foundation for the integration for a production environment is essential. In addition, the mapping of different Quality-of-Service (QoS) architectures and parameters between organizational boundaries and platforms will lead to an approach to map QoS parameters to the infrastructure and across organizational boundaries. Therefore, the need for appealing new service offerings is emerging, and which are provided to customers with a guaranteed QoS at an agreed cost and are captured in a Service Level Agreements (SLA).

Objectives

The above identified areas areas determine a collaborative and joint research effort. An investigation and integration effort to make those effects configurable to various broadband provider needs is targeted at within this work-package within four steps, where the first two are addressed as outlined below in the first 18 month of EMANICS

• Step 1 — Service Provisioning Goals and SLAs: The definition of generic technical and economic goals determines the underlying key model for IP services management. This is based on the general set of services and a particular product offering of broadband Internet Service Providers (ISP), mainly according to their plan with respect to available advanced technologies of accounting systems, tools, and accounting management principles. This step includes an integrated approach to apply known policy-based management methods on economic measures, backed by available Service Level Agreements (SLA). In addition, while customers are primarily interested in accessing and using services with the guaranteed quality and the agreed cost, service providers must address technical and management challenges. In principle, the term infrastructure refers to resources such as network devices, end systems, applications, and even to human personnel, technicians, Step 1 addresses only end-systems and applications.
• Step 2 — ISP-to-ISP Interaction and Generic Service Model: The determination of ISP requirements, both technical and economical, across provider domains is crucial for tomorrow’s Internet. Incentive-driven charging models on top of services, transport, and network level data are required. This provides the basis for the development of an integrated economic traffic management approach. The introduction of advanced traffic management mechanisms, being dependent on economic measures, enhances the QoS instrumentation for IP services. The key focus is on the economic perspective of the respective management time scale of charging models, being able to minimize technological efforts and maximizing economic dimensions. While short-term actions may look completely different than long-term actions, the accounting and policy management systems need to bridge this time scale gap accordingly. In order to address various aspects of service management, an existing service model will be deployed. The potential use of web services technology, as a standardized, platform-independent way of describing service management interfaces and attributes, is proposed. This includes the design of concepts for a Service Level Management (SLM).
• Step 3 on the development of advanced economic traffic management mechanisms and Step 4 on a detailed evaluation are planned for the second 18 month of MAGIX.

Tasks

According to the step-wise objective presentation, each step will be refined in separate tasks, addressing the following issues and topics:

T8.1: Service provisioning goals and SLAs

• Integration of partner views and concepts on viable and accountable economic measures and SLAs based on technology metrics known and required accountable units for IP as well as on viable accounting management solutions in roaming service scenarios
• Application of a SLA-driven policy-based management method for obtaining viable economic measures out of technical parameters accounted for, while the meaningful usage of complex SLA-driven policies is based on the association of relevant accounting policies
• Modelling key technical areas for an ISP in relation to a charging model and the economic perspective of the respective management time scale, mainly addressing one-time costs and operational costs
• Formalization of an SLA management language

T8.2: ISP-to-ISP Interaction and Generic Service Model

• Determination of larger scales such as multi-providers domains, including an ISP-to-ISP scenario and QoS assurance/measurement and economic management among IP service providers.
• Definition of cost parameters for services on the economic side in a minimized analogy to QoS parameters for a service on the technical side and development of a mapping between service-oriented cost parameters to technical accounting functionality and mechanisms for an all-IP broadband network
• Description of a service management model with interfaces and attributes; sketch of an SLM concept

Partners

The following EMANICS partners are involved in this work package:

• University of Twente (UT) (Aiko Pras)
• Oslo University College (HIO) (Mark Burgess)
• University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich (CETIM) (Gabi Dreo-Rodosek)
• University of Zurich (UNIZH) (Burkhard Stiller)
• Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (LMU) (Helmut Reiser)
• University of Surrey (UniS)(George Pavlou)

Deliverables

The deliverables produced by this workpackage can be found here.

Phase 2

(Economic Management)

Objectives

Managing the infrastructure of tomorrow's Internet requires suitable technology and mechanisms as well as valid and viable economic means, which will lead to a generic informationinfrastructure and which enables multiple parties' access in an economically fair manner. In particular the economic dimension of network management for Internet Service Providers (ISP)has to be an integrated part of an overall IP-based network solution. While different measures depend on various factors and influence providers’ models, their mechanisms for accounting,traffic control, auditing, network state supervision, their management optimization dimension, and their way of technical operations, e.g., by admission control schemes as well as by ServiceLevel Agreements (SLA) management schemes, have to be integrated for a suitable economicmanagement model. While major factors have been addressed until now in the research community as separatedactivities, such as achieving technical efficiency of accounting modules, definitions of chargingmodels independent of technological prerequisites, maintaining viable Service LevelManagement (SLM) aspects, operating admission control, and determining management- independent services models, the core inter-operation model of the most essential of thosecomponents has been determined in Phase I of EMANICS. On this basis, the development of a suitable service management architecture and corresponding interfaces as a foundation for the integration for a production environment has to be refined in Phase II, mainly with respect toefficient interfaces, operationally applicable mechanisms, Value-added Service provisioning, and potentially based on a heterogeneous technology infrastructure. In addition, advanced traffic management mechanisms, being dependent on economic measures, as well as auditing will beconsidered to enhance the QoS instrumentation and compliance checking for IP-based services.In consequence, the envisaged future IP networks will have the potential to become enablers forattractive new kinds of services and applications in the business and private sectors, such asGrid services. Therefore, the need for appealing new service offerings is emerging, and which are provided to customers with a guaranteed QoS at an agreed upon cost. The SLA does formin all of these cases the contractual obligation to be fulfilled and negotiated. Finally, Service Performance Management will complete this set of essential functionality.These areas determine for Phase II a collaborative and joint research effort. An investigation and integration effort to make those effects configurable to various service provider needs istargeted at within this work-package within four steps, where the first two have been addressedas outlined for Phase I, the second two are addressed in second 18 month of EMANICS.Step 3 — Economic Traffic Management: The introduction of advanced traffic management mechanisms, such as admission control, accounting, auditing, and SLA management, being dependent on economic measures, to enhance the QoS instrumentation for new services. In particular, the technical areas of major importance for an ISP will be investigated in close conjunction with a Bandwidth-on-Demand model and potentially a related business approach. The key focus is on the economic perspective of the respective management time scale, being able to minimize technological efforts and maximizing economic advantages. While short-term actions may look completely different than long-term actions, the technical accounting and auditing system as well as respective SLA management schemes need toVersion bridge this time scale gap accordingly. The extension of the Service Model in the Deployment Model of Phase I by service usage parameters is envisioned to ensure that a link between the static (technical) service design and service performance management including capacity planning and availability management will be in place. Finally, the accounting based on content and service needs provider-specific charging and pricing schemes, which will complement existing approaches.Step 4 — Evaluation: Due to the potential of some partners to operate a test-bed, where the developed concepts are expected to be prototypically applied partially and tested in use case situations, the evaluation of the integrated design of the approach on economic management of IP-based networks can be applied in functional terms. This may include potential simulative investigations as well.WP8 will follow an open-call model to select joint proposals and allocate funds accordingly.

Description of work

According to the step-wise objective presentation above, each of those two steps is refined inseparate tasks, addressing the following issues and topics, which may be extended or refined inthe course of action within Phase II, mainly based on specific intermediate results obtained:

Task 8.3: Application View Point

• Investigations of Bandwidth-on-Demand approaches and related business approaches.
• Definition of content- and service-specific charging and pricing approaches.

Task 8.4: Mechanisms View Point

• Integration of traffic control and explicit admission control schemes and performance management with capacity metrics/IT service usage parameters.
• Combination of accounting models with Grid services and auditing for SLA compliance purposes.

Task 8.5: Optimization View Point

• Investigations on SLA planning and negotiation.
• Application of promise theory onto SLAs and their economic value.

Task 8.6: Functional Evaluations

• Investigation of the functional strength of available mechanisms (e.g., admission control, accounting, auditing, SLA management, performance management).
• Rating of charging and pricing approaches for new services.

Partners

The following EMANICS partners are involved in this work package:

• INRIA LORIA (INRIA) (Olivier Festor)
• University of Twente (UT) (Aiko Pras)
• Oslo University College (HIO) (Mark Burgess)
• University Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) (Joan Serrat)
• University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich (CETIM) (Gabi Dreo-Rodosek)
• University of Zurich (UNIZH) (Burkhard Stiller)
• Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (LMU) (Helmut Reiser)
• University College London (UCL)(George Pavlou)

Deliverables

The deliverables produced by this workpackage can be found here.

Phase3

(Economic Management)

Objectives

Managing the infrastructure of tomorrow's Internet requires suitable technology and mechanisms as well as valid and viable economic means, which will lead to a generic information infrastructure and which enables multiple parties' access in an economically fair manner. In particular the economic dimension of network management for Internet Service Providers (ISP) has to be an integrated part of an overall IP-based network solution. While different measures depend on various factors and influence providers’ models, their mechanisms for accounting, traffic control, auditing, network state supervision, their management optimization dimension, and their way of technical operations, e.g., by admission control schemes as well as by Service Level Agreements (SLA) management schemes, have to be integrated for a suitable economic management model.

The areas worked on in Phase II and III addressed a collaborative and joint research effort. An investigation and integration effort was made to enable various service provider needs to be addressed in a multi-domain scenario. This work was achieved within four steps. For the last 12 months of EMANICS, the new and final step 5 will be undertaken, which sees support of step 4, previously defined as the evaluation.

• Step 4 — Evaluation: Due to the potential of some partners to operate a test-bed, where the developed concepts are expected to be prototypically applied partially and tested in use case situations, the evaluation of the integrated design of the approach on economic management of IP-based networks can be applied in functional terms. This may include potential simulative investigations as well.

• Step 5 — Refinements of Selected Mechanisms: Firstly, the extension of the Grid Accounting is planned to ensure that it covers load balancing aspects as well as costs caused by unused, but not attributable resources. The Impact Analysis of Economic and Legal Objectives on Basic and Value-added Services work addresses the optimization of network and service management functionality to meet economical objectives. Additionally, there is the need for commercial settings to see policy definitions for automated determination of jurisdiction and applicable law according to a to-be-concluded international contract of an electronic value-added service. The approach on Pricing by Policies develops an approach, in which the derivation of prices for services makes use of policy analysis techniques, where conclusive results are to be obtained. Finally, the approach termed SLA Planning and Negotiation develops an information and a functional model for the field of SLA management to provide a comprehensive, generic (i.e. applicable to all deployment scenarios of interest) and detailed model of the information objects that have to be supervised and managed in the context of Service Level Management (SLM).

Description of work

According to the step-wise objective presentation above, these two steps are refined in two separate tasks, addressing the issues and topics listed below:

Firstly, driven by a successful preliminary functional evaluation of the developed accounting model, a full-fledged model application and evaluation case was conducted in previous work on GridAcc (Grid Accounting). This application case revealed a number of dimensions of important features, which are planned for the last step 5 of WP8 in order to further improve the developed and successfully applied accounting model for computing centers and Grid systems:

• Extension of the model in order to consider load balancing aspects.
• Consideration of costs caused by unused but not attributable resources in a more fine-granular way.
• Definition and integration of generally applicable set of metering points for technical accounting.

Secondly, there is the goal determined to research on the impact of economic and legal objectives on services provided by ISPs and value-added service providers. IELOS (Impact Analysis of Economic and Legal Objectives on Basic and Value-added Services) addresses the respective threefold point of views of the network, the provider/user, and the service, which especially looking at:

• Optimization of network and service management functionality to meet economical objectives.
• Functional evaluation of the approach based on a simulated DiffServ environment using OPNET.
• Policy definitions for automated determination of jurisdiction and applicable law according to a to-be-concluded international contract of an electronic value-added service.

Thirdly, the key objective of the approach termed PRIPOL (Pricing by Policies) was to develop an approach, in which the derivation of prices for services makes use of policy analysis techniques. Work up to now has been concentrated on the business indicators above mentioned and specifically in the analysis by simulation of different network scenarios. Conclusive and significant results in this context generated in this Step 5. This supports task 8.6. Finally, a global overview of these results of the strategy proposed based on these results will be made available. Later on, an iteration will be performed to refine the strategy according to those results.

Fourthly, the approach termed SLAP’N (SLA Planning and Negotiation) develops an information and a functional model for the field of SLA management. The purpose of the information model is to provide a comprehensive, generic (i.e. applicable to all deployment scenarios of interest) and detailed model of the information objects that have to be supervised and managed in the context of Service Level Management (SLM). Examples for information objects (so called artifacts) include, the SLA itself, supportive agreements, stakeholders, service catalogs and service records, measurements, internal and external reports.

• Basic conceptual model covering relevant entities in SLA management and their relationships, reflecting core requirements for a comprehensive information model
• Basic information model covering information objects (artifacts)
• Refined data models for information artifacts as a foundation for system implementation
• Investigation of functional model for service information and SLA management
• Use case model expressing functional requirements on integrated, IT-supported SLA management

Task 8.6: Functional Evaluations

Investigation of the functional strength of available mechanisms (e.g., admission control, accounting, auditing, SLA management, performance management).

Rating of charging and pricing approaches for new services.

Task 8.7: Refinements of Selected Mechanisms

Investigation on the selected integration mechanisms within economic approaches with the existing and newly developed technical mechanisms known from network management.

Projects active during 2009

Grid Accounting (GridAcc)

GridAcc focused in 2009 on cost impacts through inter-job effects and resource scarcity in large computing infrastructures such as Grid systems. The project has successfully documented its requirements and scenarios, and it has completed the system design. Accordingly, the relevant set of next steps—some of which have already been started—have been determined to consist in implementing a prototype system and to publish scientific results in the research community. The GridAcc prototype aims to help Grid operators take decisions about the cost efficiency of a considered scheduling algorithm.

Pricing by policies (PRIPOL)

The approach adopted by PRIPOL consists in identifying a set of mapping functions between business indicators and parameters of configuration policies. In that way, a system administrator giving specific importance weight to the available business indicators is directly affecting the policies to be enforced to achieve such indicators. PRIPOL has successfully shown by a number of simulations reflecting varying assumptions on user mobility that a business-driven management as foreseen by PRIPOL leads to attractive results for both, users (measured by an increased number of connected users per acces point) and operators (measured by an increased profit).

Impact Analysis of Economic and Legal Objectives on Basic and Value-added Services (IELOS)

IELOS describes the elements required to bridge the gap between business and configuration management in the DiffServ QoS management domain. This has been achieved by elaborating on a bidirectional approach that eases the analysis of business-driven DiffServ management strategies. This approach relies on business indicators that are used by ISPs to derive a network configuration that is in line with high-level business objectives. The set of considered business indicators includes, in particular, service satisfaction, profit, and loss and their influence on both static and dynamic admission control of services. The approach was evaluated through simulation experiments.

SLA Planning and Negotiation (SLAP’N)

SLAP'N targets a formal modeling of a bilateral service provider/service customer relation for an electronic value-added service. In particular, the development and documentation of an information model which covers the complete set of required concepts and information artefacts to determine jurisdiction and applicable law for the provider/customer relation envisaged is addressed. This bases on the fundamental assumption that service provider and service customer are not located within the same legal domain and/or that a service needs to be provided between different legal domains, so that an international contract is to be concluded.

Partners

The following EMANICS partners are involved in this work package:

• University of Zurich (UNIZH) (Burkhard Stiller)
• INRIA LORIA (INRIA) (Olivier Festor)
• University of Twente (UT) (Aiko Pras)
• University Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) (Joan Serrat)
• Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (LMU) (Helmut Reiser)
• University College London (UCL)(George Pavlou)

Deliverables

The deliverables produced by this workpackage can be found here.