Federation of Future Internet Networks

This paper addresses the complex problem of orchestrating flexible and dynamic federation of Future Internet Networks (FINs) where multiple autonomic management systems (AMSs) are expected to collaborate so as to maximize gain or achieve higher-level goals. We envision an orchestration plane coordinating the interaction among the AMSs. When any form of federation is required (e.g. merging of virtual networks), the relevant AMSs negotiate among themselves under the directives of the orchestration plane to reach an agreement that is acceptable to all involved parties. To this end, we define a negotiation framework with alternating offers. We devise a negotiation strategy for the AMSs which takes into account their own patience and attitude to risk for the case where they are completely ignorant of the character of their counterparts. We illustrate by simulation how the strategy converges to agreement and show the effects of various types of AMSs on the final outcome. Finally, we present a case study to demonstrate the operation of the proposed framework.