About

Message from the Chairs

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 15th IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on Integrated Network Management (IM 2017), sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and IFIP Working Group 6.6. Held in odd-numbered years since 1989, IM 2017 will follow the 28-year tradition of IM as the primary IEEE Communications Society's forum for technical exchange on management of information and communication technology focusing on research, development, integration, standards, services, and user communities. IM 2017 focuses on the theme "Integrated Management in the Cloud and 5G Era", that aims at capturing the emerging approaches and technical solutions for dealing with 5G and cloud infrastructures, as well as associated services and applications.

We are currently witnessing a very exciting time for researchers and practitioners of our community. The recent advances in network softwarization enabled by virtualization and cloud architectures provide an appropriate framework for the deployment of the anticipated 5G environment. Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) are creating new challenges for network and service management, including the rather recent term “Orchestration”. Some of these challenges can now be addressed by network analytics whereas Artificial Intelligence techniques are gaining traction in the context of networking, paving the way to Cognitive Management, which represents an ultimate solution for network management automation. This also raises the question of data models, languages and APIs which are increasingly implemented in open source environments. IM 2017 aims at capturing many of those trends, summarized in this year’s theme: Integrated Management in the Cloud and 5G Era.

The five days of IM 2017 thus feature an outstanding program, providing opportunities that cannot be found elsewhere to gain new insights, have stimulating discussions, exchange ideas, and network with international experts in this highly-relevant and exciting field. Tuesday through Thursday constitute the core of the conference: 4 top-notch visionary keynote speakers and a Distinguished Expert Panel await in the plenary, 3 parallel tracks feature 5 more panels, 11 technical sessions detailing recent technical advances, 2 dissertation sessions that distill the essence of the recent dissertations in the field, and 4 experience sessions with a slant towards practitioners. In addition, there are 2 special track sessions, 6 poster sessions and a selection of proof-of-concept demonstrations along 3 sessions, as well as an IEEE Young Professional session. Monday and Friday complement the program with a mini-conference featuring 6 additional technical sessions, as well as 4 tutorials and 5 workshops covering topics relating to the conference theme. It is our sincere hope that you will truly enjoy this content-rich and very inspiring program.

IM 2017 owes its success in large part to a dedicated community of researchers from academia and industry that has formed over many years. First and foremost, we would like to thank the authors of submitted papers for their contribution. Second, we are indebted to the many volunteers who contributed to the various processes that make up the conference and it would not be possible for us to name them all in this short message: in particular, the members of the Organizing Committee, Technical Program Committee, the organizers of the excellent workshops, and numerous reviewers who participated a thorough peer-review process of around 300 technical and workshop papers to select a comprehensive and high-quality technical program for the conference. In addition, we would like to thank the staff from the Communications Society in the USA for their invaluable support, and we sincerely acknowledge the huge contribution of our local supporters, especially the University of Coimbra. Last but not least, we are grateful to our patrons for their generosity: IEEE SDN Initiative, IEEE Big Data Initiative, Orange and ANACOM.

IM 2017 is hosted in the heart of Lisbon, Portugal’s beautiful capital city and the hub of a multifaceted area that appeals to different tastes and senses. This gives attendees the opportunity to visit the city with numerous historic places and exclusive museums, but also enjoy the atmosphere of the various districts, each one with its own and specific character, with the typical sound of fado music.

It has been a great privilege for us to serve as Co-Chairs of IM 2017 and it is our hope that you find the conference stimulating, fulfilling and enjoyable. We thank you for your support of IM and your attendance, and wish that your participation in IM 2017 remains as a valuable and memorable experience from both professional and personal perspectives.

Welcome to IM 2017 for an exclusive forward-looking experience.
Enjoy Lisbon.

Prosper Chemouil and Edmundo Monteiro
General Co-Chairs, IFIP/IEEE IM 2017
Marinos Charalambides, Edmundo Madeira and Paulo Simões
TPC Co-Chairs, IFIP/IEEE IM 2017