Abstract
Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) will be a technology pillar of forthcoming 5G networks. Nonetheless, there is a great interest in also deploying MEC solutions in current 4G infrastructures. MEC enables data processing in proximity to end users. Thus, latency can be minimized, high data rates locally achieved, and real-time information about radio link status or consumer geographical position exploited to develop high-value services. To consolidate network elements and edge applications on the same virtualization infrastructure, network operators aim to combine MEC with Network Function Virtualization (NFV). However, MEC in NFV integration is not fully established yet: in fact, various architectural issues are currently open, even at standardization level. This paper describes a novel MEC in an NFV system which successfully combines, at management level, MEC functional blocks with an NFV Orchestrator, and can neutrally support any “over the top” Mobile Edge application with minimal integration effort. A specific ME app combined with an end-user app for the provision of immersive video services is presented. To provide low latency, CPU-intensive services to end users, the proposed architecture exploits High-Performance Computing resources embedded in the edge infrastructure. Experimental results showing the effectiveness of the proposed architecture are reported and discussed.
Highlights
The recent rise of data-intensive services, such as video streaming, social networking, and gaming, has triggered an explosion of mobile traffic, with the specific need to achieve higher data rates per user
The Mobile Edge (ME) platform is deployed as a Virtual Network Functions (VNFs); ME apps are deployed as VNFs; The virtualization infrastructure is deployed as an NFV Infrastructure (NFVI), and is managed by a Virtualization Infrastructure Manager (VIM)
Service providers and app developers interact with ME systems through the Customer Facing Service (CFS) portal, which represents the entry point for third parties, and is intended to reproduce the quite successful approach adopted by public cloud platforms
Summary
The recent rise of data-intensive services, such as video streaming, social networking, and gaming, has triggered an explosion of mobile traffic, with the specific need to achieve higher data rates per user. Standards Institute (ETSI) launched the Mobile Edge Computing Industry Specification Group (ISG) Mobile Edge Computing (renamed Multi-access Edge Computing in 2016), which is releasing guidelines for the deployment of MEC systems in 4G and, in perspective, in 5G networks [6,7,8] In this context, a topic of significant interest is the integration of MEC with NFV. The section introduces the main MEC and NFV concepts and summarizes the state of the art in MEC-NFV integration It provides a survey of traditional video-processing services at the network edge, to highlight the advances made possible by the proposed approach. Such results can represent a benchmark to characterize the computing performance achievable at the network edge in the presence of energy consumption constraints. Horizon 2020 5G Essence project, under Grant Agreement No 761592
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