Network testbeds have revolutionized evaluation practices in computer science. Over the last decade many diverse testbeds have been built throughout the world, and the trend of building faster, bigger, and more diverse testbeds continues. On the other hand, there have been no studies on testbed use. Specifically, who uses testbeds, for what types of research, and what are the use patterns and practices. Answering these question would help testbed builders and funders understand the impact of their work and direct their efforts to maximize the payoff. This project seeks to analyze existing data about testbeds, and collect new data, to understand how testbeds are used, by whom and for what purpose. It seeks to analyze usage over time and to infer and analyze short-term and long-term trends. It further seeks to understand what motivates people to use testbeds and what hinders their use. For those factors that hinder testbed it attempts to identify their underlying reason, namely if they stem from a specific research field, a specific testbed practice or if they are inherent in the nature of network testbeds.
Investigating Network Testbed Usage