Navigating the Landscape of Programmable Networks: Looking beyond the Regulatory Status Quo

Abstract

Digital transition processes are transforming industries, economies, and societies. On the one hand, the number of connected end-users and things is growing rapidly. On the other hand, the range of applications is continuously evolving. As applications like IoT, the Tactile Internet, or Immersive User Interfaces gain traction, the demands for traffic delivery, privacy, and security become highly diverse and complex. In meeting these demands, programmable networks gain importance. They introduce a new networking paradigm and provide an evolved spectrum of capabilities. In this paper, we conduct a cross-disciplinary study to navigate the landscape of programmable networks. We provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution and the growing complexity of this new networking paradigm and, based on a horizon scanning approach, elucidate associated opportunities and challenges. From this, we derive and discuss insights for the design of appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks for the future Internet.