Smartcontractchain (SC\(^2\)): Cross-ISP QoS traffic management framework with SDN and blockchain

With the proliferation of hyper-connected users, devices, and demand for bandwidth-hungry applications, such as high-definition video, management of network operations is increasingly straining resources and producing unprecedented challenges to the operators. There is an emerging consensus in the industry and academia on the need for agile and software-driven next-generation traffic management frameworks that also facilitate cross-domain policy automation, efficient Quality-of-Service (QoS) assurance, effective global control, and validation to transform the underlying infrastructure. In this work, we introduce a novel QoS traffic management framework, SmartContractChain (\(SC^2\)), to synergistically synthesize the fine-granular, flow-based control of Software Defined Networking (SDN) with the decentralized, secure, transparent, and immutable distributed ledger of Blockchain (BC), enhanced by the self-executing embedded contracts of the Smart Contracts without involving any intermediaries. The SmartContractChain (\(SC^2\)) traffic management framework enables intelligent cross-network QoS-based service provisioning in the SDN ecosystem as Next-Generation Networks (NGNs). The aware and smart service delivery framework, \(SC^2\), increases visibility and control and improves operational efficiency by mitigating the controller overhead in SDN networks. Preliminary simulation results corroborate the promise of our proposal. Limitations, challenges, and new research directions conclude our vision and work toward NGNs.