A new meta-model for Future Internet architectures

The current and future communication infrastructure is based on Internet technologies. The Internet Protocol was developed more than thirty years ago and has been continuously extended by new functions, whenever a challenge appeared. Currently, software defined approaches are being used to deploy increasingly flexible Internet-oriented networks. All this leads to an unstructured infrastructure, which is not particularly adequate for a telecommunication provider, and which is not fully describable by any existing communication model. We introduce a new communication meta-model - the Communication Cube - and its building blocks and interfaces, and show how the model can be used to structure current Internet technologies by using an example: OpenFlow. This model enables the common standardisation of interfaces and the development of easy system concepts for future telecommunication providers, content providers, cloud infrastructure providers, etc. The model does not only support the structuring of the technologies and infrastructure issues, it contains also building blocks for the operation and management of networks - including virtualised networks. Finally, business aspects are also covered by the model.