* Welcome and administrivia ~ 5 min + Scribe(s) and notetaker(s) + Agenda bashing + RG matters and other announcements * Moving the drafts on challenges towards IRSG discussion ~ 10 min + draft-irtf-nfvrg-gaps-network-virtualization (C. Bernardos, UC3M) * Introduction to research activities ~ 30 min + Using Flexibility as a Measure to Evaluate Softwarized Networks (W. Kellerer, Technical University of Munich) The increase of flexibility is a common objective of softwarized networks based on concepts such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN). Up to now, flexibility is rather used as a qualitative argument for a certain design choice. Moreover, the meaning of flexibility behind such qualitative argument is highly varying in the literature as a common understanding of flexibility is missing. In this talk, an approach towards evaluating flexibility through a definition of a flexibility measure is presented. Based on this measure, different network designs can be analyzed and compared quantitatively. We refer to flexibility as the timely ability to support new requests that can be, e.g., changes in the requirements or new traffic distributions. In particular, with use case studies addressing Network Function Virtualization, we show how an application of such measure could lead to a better understanding of flexibility. With our proposed flexibility measure, we would like to stimulate the discussion towards a more quantitative analysis of softwarized networks and beyond, - https://www.lkn.ei.tum.de/research/erc-grant-flexnets.html - http://materials.dagstuhl.de/files/17/17032/17032.WolfgangKellerer.Slides.pdf - https://itc28.org/_Resources/Persistent/41a200e0bdb23f22b35a48caef66529d361531c4/ITC28-kellerer-keynote.pdf * Open discussion on the evolution of the NFVRG ~ 15 min As a reminder: We are considering ways for better driving the quality of our research and the impact on the RG as a whole. The basic idea is to shorten the meeting duration (no more than a two-hour slot) and focusing each meeting (or series of meetings) on a particular issue, looking for just a few presentations and in-depth discussions. With this in mind, we would like to propose a few matters to focus on: - Re-architecting functions - New management frameworks - Techniques to guarantee dataplane features - Measurement and benchmarking