Abstract
The network management and operations domain continues to be under explored, is notoriously messy, error prone and seemingly intractable, and indeed is often not considered a worthy research endeavor. In this talk I will argue that operational complexity is the grand challenge of modern networks and in dire need of rethinking the "right" level of abstraction that can enable systematic, software centric solutions.

I will support this thesis by presenting work from two research threads around programmability in network operations. First I will present my work on intelligent route control. This work involves detaching network routing from the network proper into a separate platform which provides a clean abstraction for network control applications. I will present a number of these applications and the scalable and robust route control platform we developed.

In the second part of my talk I will present a system that aims to provide a structured programming environment for network operations. Following this approach operator knowledge and system dependencies can be systematically captured by a declarative language, thus forming the basis for a network operations framework that enables network-wide reasoning, prevents miss-configuration and allows safe automation of network operations.

BIO
Kobus Van der Merwe received a PhD from the Computer Laboratory at Cambridge University in 1998. Since then he has been with AT&T Labs - Research where he is currently a Lead Member of Technical Staff in the Internet and Networking Research Center. At AT&T he performs networking systems research that is both forward looking and sometimes finds application in the AT&T network. An example of the latter is his work on Intelligent Route Control, for which he has been awarded the AT&T Science and Technology Medal in 2010. His current research interests include network management, control and operation, network evolution, network security and cloud computing.