  This paper describes a vision and work in progress to elevate network
resources and data transfer management to the same level as compute and storage
in the context of services access, scheduling, life cycle management, and
orchestration. While domain science workflows often include active compute
resource allocation and management, the data transfers and associated network
resource coordination is not handled in a similar manner. As a result data
transfers can introduce a degree of uncertainty in workflow operations, and the
associated lack of network information does not allow for either the workflow
operations or the network use to be optimized. The net result is that domain
science workflow processes are forced to view the network as an opaque
infrastructure into which they inject data and hope that it emerges at the
destination with an acceptable Quality of Experience. There is little ability
for applications to interact with the network to exchange information,
negotiate performance parameters, discover expected performance metrics, or
receive status/troubleshooting information in real time. Developing mechanisms
to allow an application workflow to obtain information regarding the network
services, capabilities, and options, to a degree similar to what is possible
for compute resources is the primary motivation for this work. The initial
focus is on the Open Science Grid (OSG)/Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) workflows with Rucio/FTS/XRootD based data transfers and
the interoperation with the ESnet SENSE (Software-Defined Network for
End-to-end Networked Science at the Exascale) system.
