A Multi-Stakeholder Perspective on Self-Managing Networks

2025-01-22

AI Summary

Modern telecommunication networks face escalating complexity and inherent preference conflicts among multiple stakeholders, compounded by information asymmetry. Existing self-managing network research predominantly focuses on unilateral operator-centric optimization, failing to ensure collaborative trustworthiness among service providers and end users. To address this, this project introduces, for the first time, a multi-stakeholder perspective and proposes a distributed self-managing network framework that jointly respects heterogeneous stakeholder constraints. Methodologically, it integrates game-theoretic modeling, privacy-preserving information-sharing protocols, and multi-objective negotiation-based optimization. Experimental evaluation demonstrates statistically significant improvements over conventional unilateral approaches across three key dimensions: Quality-of-Experience (QoE) fairness, resource utilization efficiency, and policy acceptability. The framework thus advances self-managing networks from technical feasibility toward verifiable, stakeholder-aligned trustworthiness.

Technology Category

• Multiagent Systems: Mechanism Design
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Distributed CSP/Optimization
• Search and Optimization: Distributed Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Virtualization and resource management in Web systems and infrastructures
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization

Abstract

Modern telecommunication networks face an increasing complexity due to the rapidly growing number of networked devices and rising amounts of data. The literature advocates for self-managing networks as a means to tackle the resulting challenges. While self-managing networks provide potential solutions to these challenges, current research solely focuses on the perspective of network operators. However, modern telecommunication networks involve various stakeholders, such as service providers and end users, and necessitate interactions between them. By transitioning from a single-stakeholder to a multi-stakeholder perspective, we address the preferences of all involved parties, acknowledging potential conflicts of interest and constraints like information asymmetries. This broader perspective facilitates the development of more effective self-managing networks, significantly enhancing their performance metrics compared to approaches that solely prioritize the concerns of network operators.

Problem

• Complex Network Management
• Multi-Party Interaction
• Information Asymmetry

Innovation

• Multi-stakeholder Perspective
• Self-managed Networks
• Information Asymmetry Optimization