Taxonomy for the Network and Service Management Research Field

Network and service management has established itself as a research field in the general area of computer networks. However, up to now, no appropriate organization of the field has been carried out in terms of a comprehensive list of terms and topics. In this paper, we introduce a taxonomy for network and service management. With such a taxonomy, it is possible to better understand the landscape of research as well as to reason about possible future challenges and opportunities. As such, in addition to the taxonomy itself, we also present an initial analysis of the field’s past, present, and future, based on the records of papers submitted and accepted in major conferences in the area, as well as a site survey performed through a questionnaire answered by experts from both industry and academia.