Abstract
Fifth-generation (5G) networks are envisioned to simultaneously support several services with different connectivity requirements. In this respect, service creation time is a key performance indicator (KPI) for service providers when planning the migration to 5G. For example, the European 5G infrastructure public private partnership (5G-PPP) suggests to reduce this time from 90 hours to 90 minutes, in the different phases of the service creation time KPI identified by this organization. This reduction can be achieved by leveraging on 5G state-of-the-art technologies: network function virtualization, network slicing, software-defined networking, and cloud computing, among others. Although some authors and projects have already studied the service creation time KPI in 5G, there is no literature that comprehensively analyzes and presents results related to each phase of this KPI. In this article, we explore the potential of network function virtualization technologies to reduce service creation time. To this end, we investigate the various phases of the service creation time KPI by designing and implementing, a realistic as well as complex network service that leverages on network function virtualization and related technologies. For our use case, we chose a content delivery network service specifically designed to distribute video. This decision was based on an analysis where we considered several parameters, like the complexity in the phases of design, fulfillment, and service assurance. We dissected all phases of the service creation time KPI required to turn our service blueprint into a deployment by utilizing network function virtualization tools. Henceforth, we defined and conducted several experiments, which were oriented to analyzing the different phases of the service creation time KPI. After analyzing the obtained results, we can conclude that using these new tools permits a substantial reduction in the time taken by each phase of the service creation time KPI.
Highlights
T HE fifth-generation (5G) of wireless mobile networks has been designed to boost usability and provide enhanced performance, aiming at supporting new services with stringent requirements
OpenStack controls each data center, and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) OSM is in charge of service orchestration and virtual network functions (VNFs) management across the entire infrastructure
1) Phase 0: Platform provision Since this phase involves the configuration of the existing telecommunications network infrastructure to foster the new service, this phase requires: (i) infrastructure resource reservation in terms of networks, compute and storage for the new service, and (ii) in case the service providers already have their own customized VNF images, these images are validated and later uploaded to the infrastructure platform by the OpenStack system administrators
Summary
T HE fifth-generation (5G) of wireless mobile networks has been designed to boost usability and provide enhanced performance, aiming at supporting new services with stringent requirements. Due to the heterogeneity of these services, they can be classified into three groups [1]: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) The former covers services requiring a high throughput; mMTC requires low throughput but a large number of devices connected to the network; whereas the latter imposes a very low latency in all parts of the network, including the radio part. To deploy such complex networks over a shared infrastructure, the generation mobile networks (NGMN) alliance defined the concept of network slicing [2].
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