In the recent years the network community has developed a number of novel technologies to improve network flexibility, reduce cost, enhance functionality and enable virtualisation across all network components. In addition to the highly popular SDN and VNF paradigms, which improve network programmability, an equal innovative evolution is observed in the physical and MAC layer of the network across all medium types (e.g. Massive MIMO, FlexiGrid optical technologies, LiFi), which improve effective use of the medium resources. As these technologies become adopted in real applications and increasingly deployed in production environments, a significant interest emerges for technological convergence and virtualization, in order to take advantage of their full potential.

This workshop aims to provide a platform and forum to discuss and report state-of-the-art, new solutions, future directions to address challenges, issues and success stories on how to virtualise network and data center infrastructure, and to improve network usage and flexibility by technology convergence in Local and Wide Area Networks.

The topics of interest related to this workshop include, but are not limited to:

• Network technology convergence (e.g. 802.11abg, FlexiGrid)
• Network virtualization in Wide Area Networks
• Control and management software for network and infrastructure convergence and virtualization
• Application programming interfaces for network applications
• VNF control and programming frameworks
• SDN and VNF convergence
• Economics of convergence and virtualization
• Resilience of network and infrastructure virtualization and convergence
• Security aspects including: trust models, protecting and securing the controllers, and robust policy frameworks

All papers must be submitted electronically via email to viconet2015.submission@gmail.com. Prospective authors are invited to submit manuscripts reporting original unpublished research and developments in the topics related to the workshop. The length of the papers should not exceed 6 pages + 2 pages for overlength charges (see IEEE Computer Society Proceedings Manuscripts style: two columns, single-spaced, 10-point font), including figures and references (Please refer to IEEE Computer Society Proceedings Author Guidelines).

• Paper Submission Deadline: 15 July 2015
• Notification Date: 15 August 2015
• Camera-ready Paper Due: 15 September 2015
• Registration Due: 15 September 2015
• Conference Date: 26-28 October 2015

Organizing Committee

• Daniel King, Lancaster University/BT Research
• Nektarios Georgalas, BT Research
• Dimitra Simeonidou, University of Bristol
• David Hutchison, Lancaster University

Technical Program Committee

• Nicholas Race, Lancaster University
• Charalampos Rotsos, Lancaster University
• Arsham Farshad, Lancaster University
• Reza Nejabati, Bristol University
• Sarvesh Bidkar, Bristol University
• Alejandro Aguado Martín, Bristol University
• Yury Audzevich, University of Cambridge
• Gianni Antichi, University of Cambridge
• Hamada Alshaer, University of Edinburgh
• Xiping Wu, University of Edinburgh
• Andrew Lord, BT Research

For any information regarding the workshop, please contact Charalampos Rotsos at c_dot_rotsos_at_lancaster_dot_ac_dot_uk.