Click here for full paper.Abstract
Digital transition processes are transforming industries, economies, and societies. Growing numbers of connected end-users and things and an evolving range of content, applications, and use cases emphasize the growing essentiality of dynamic, flexible, and scalable network service provision. Programmable networks provide an evolved spectrum of capabilities such as fine-grained steering of network traffic, customizable on-the-fly functions, and independence from network protocols and vendors. Not only do they promise a panoply of benefits due to increased flexibility, customizability, and agility. They also give rise to new challenges. In this paper, we conduct a forward-looking cross-disciplinary study to navigate the landscape of programmable networks. We provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution and the growing complexity of programmable networks and elucidate associated opportunities and challenges. From this, we derive insights into how regulatory frameworks and policies for the future Internet should be (re)designed.
