The self-managing future internet powered by the current IPv6 and extensions to IPv6 towards "IPv6++" - A viable roadmap scenario for the internet evolution path

In this paper, we report on some perspectives we give on how to create a viable Evolution Path towards Self-Managing Future Internet via a "standardizable" and commonly-shared architectural Reference Model for Autonomic Network Engineering and Self-Management. We present a Scenario on how the Self-Managing Future Internet can be developed via a viable Evolution Path that starts with today's network models, architectures, protocols such as IPv6 (in particular) and paradigms. The scenario then goes on to define the incremental changes and concepts necessitated and guided by a unified, holistic, commonly-shared, architectural Reference Model for Autonomic Network Engineering and Self-Management that needs to be developed and standardized first, as a starting point to creating the Evolution Path towards the Self-Managing Future Internet. This evolution of today's network models, architectures, networking paradigms and protocols such as IPv6 (towards IPv6++) must be guided a nd necessitated by the architectural Reference Model. The Scenario is a "what-if" type of Scenario that presents solid and realistic steps that define an evolutionary roadmap to achieving a very advanced feature-rich Self-Managing Future Internet by 2015, which can continue to evolve beyond that time frame. The ongoing activities of the EC funded FP7-EFIPSANS Project (http://www.efipsans.org/) are geared towards this goal.