The paper leverages the emerging paradigm of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in an attempt to outline from the network management point of view the current trends on the road to 5G region. To that end, relevant architectural frameworks and concepts have been presented and the anticipated network densification through the notion of Edge Cloud has been discussed. Within this context, added value assets that can be generated by following some of the analysed principles have been also included. Finally, open issues and challenges with respect to the NFV functionalities and their materialization according to 5G requirements have been elaborated and some key new concepts about network and small cell virtualization have been introduced.

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The surge of the Internet traffic with exabytes of data flowing over operators' mobile networks has created the need to rethink the paradigms behind the design of the mobile network architecture. The inadequacy of the 4G UMTS Long term Evolution (LTE) and even of its advanced version LTE-A is evident, considering that the traffic will be extremely heterogeneous in the near future and ranging from 4K resolution TV to machine-type communications. To keep up with these changes, academia, industries and EU institutions have now engaged in the quest for new 5G technology. In this paper we present the innovative system design, concepts and visions developed by the 5G PPP H2020 project SESAME (Small cEllS coordinAtion for Multi-tenancy and Edge services). The innovation of SESAME is manifold: i) combine the key 5G small cells with cloud technology, ii) promote and develop the concept of Small Cellsas-a-Service (SCaaS), iii) bring computing and storage power at the mobile network edge through the development of non-x86 ARM technology enabled micro-servers, and iv) address a large number of scenarios and use cases applying mobile edge computing.

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