Pedestrian Crossing: The Long and Winding Road toward Fair Cross-comparison of ICN Quality

International audienceWhile numerous Information Centric Networking(ICN) architectures have been proposed over the last years, thecommunity has so far only timidly attempted at a quantitativeassessment of the relative quality of service level that users areexpected to enjoy in each of them.This paper starts a journey toward the cross comparisonof ICN alternatives, making several contributions along thisroad. Specifically, a census of 20 ICN software tools revealsthat about 10 are dedicated to a specific architecture, abouthalf of which are simulators. Second, we survey ICN researchpapers using simulation to gather information concerning theused simulator, finding that a large fraction either uses customproprietary and unavailable software, or even plainly fails tomention any information on this regard, which is deceiving.Third, we cross-compare some of the available simulators, findingthat they achieve consistent results, which is instead encouraging.Fourth, we propose a methodology to increase and promote cross-comparison, which is within reach but requires community-wideagreement, promotion and enforcement.