The objective of this article is to demonstrate the feasibility of on-demand creation of cloud-based elastic mobile core networks, along with their lifecycle management. For this purpose the article describes the key elements to realize the architectural vision of EPC as a Service, an implementation option of the Evolved Packet Core, as specified by 3GPP, which can be deployed in cloud environments. To meet several challenging requirements associated with the implementation of EPC over a cloud infrastructure and providing it "as a Service," this article presents a number of different options, each with different characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. A thorough analysis comparing the different implementation options is also presented

To meet the challenging key performance indicators of the fifth generation (5G) system, the network infrastructure becomes more heterogeneous and complex. This will bring a high pressure on the reduction of OPEX and the improvement of the user experience. Hence, shifting today's manual and semi-automatic network management into an autonomic and intelligent framework will play a vital role in the upcoming 5G system. Based on the cutting-edge technologies, such as Software-Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualization, a novel management framework upon the software-defined and Virtualized Network is proposed by EU H2020 SELFNET project. In the paper, the reference architecture of SELFNET, which is

We propose the innovative architecture of Superfluidity, a Horizon 2020 project, co‐funded by the European Union. Superfluidity targets 5G networks, by addressing key network operator challenges with a multi‐pronged approach, based on the concept of a flexible, highly adaptive, superfluid network. Superfluidity supports rapid service deployment and migration in a heterogeneous network environment, regardless of the underlying hardware. The overall proposal offers advanced capabilities in terms of service deployment and interoperability, while guaranteeing high‐performance levels end‐to‐end. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

5G is considered to be the technology that will accommodate the development and management of innovative services with stringent and diverse requirements from end users, calling for new business models from the industry. In this context, the development and efficient management of Network Services (NS) serving specific vertical industries and spanning across multiple administrative domains and heterogeneous infrastructures is challenging. The main challenges regard the efficient provision of NSs considering the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements per vertical industry along with the optimal usage of the allocated resources. Towards addressing these challenges, this paper details an innovative approach that we have developed for managing and orchestrating such NSs, called SONATA, and compare it with OSM and Cloudify, which are two of the most known open-source Management and Orchestration (MANO) frameworks. In addition to examining the supported orchestration mechanisms per MANO framework, an evaluation of main operational and functional KPIs is provided based on experimentation using a real testbed. The final aim is the identification of their strong and weak points, and the assessment of their suitability for serving diverse vertical industry needs, including of course the Internet of Things (IoT) service ecosystem.

Unlike previous generations, 5G will be more than just a mobile network. 5G will have broader coverage, including humans, but also cars, robots, and things in general; and will target verticals like eHealth, Automotive, or Industry 4.0, just name a few. To deal with this, 5G will need to be faster, more efficient, reliable, flexible, agile, and, at the same time, cost less. For this to be possible, 5G has to engage with the best-of-breed of the emerging technologies, where NFV is definitely in the top list. ETSI NFV is today in an advanced stage of standardization. In particular, many MANO platforms are today available, with different levels of development, varying on the number of features and maturity levels. In this context, this paper describes the 5GTANGO Service Platform, an open source MANO framework currently under development in the scope of the 5GTANGO H2020 project, and whose main developments started in a previous H2020 project named SONATA. In particular, some features that go beyond the state-of-the-art are approached, either considering standardization or implementations available. Those features are Policy, SLA and Slicing.