Orchestration of Network Services across multiple operators: The 5G Exchange prototype

Abstract

Abstract-Future 5G networks will rely on the coordinated allocation of compute, storage, and networking resources in order to meet the functional requirements of 5G services as well as guaranteeing efficient usage of the network infrastructure. However, the 5G service provisioning paradigm will also require a unified infrastructure service market that integrates multiple operators and technologies. The 5G Exchange (5GEx) project, building heavily on the Software-Defined Network (SDN) and the Network Function Virtualization (NFV) functionalities, tries to overcome this market and technology fragmentation by designing, implementing, and testing a multi-domain orchestrator (MdO) prototype for fast and automated Network Service (NS) provisioning over multiple-technologies and spanning across multiple operators. This paper presents a first implementation of the 5GEx MdO prototype obtained by extending existing open source software tools at the disposal of the 5GEx partners. The main functions of the 5GEx MdO prototype are showcased by demonstrating how it is possible to create and deploy NSs in the context of a Slice as a Service (SlaaS) use-case, based on a multi-operator scenario. The 5GEx MdO prototype performance is experimentally evaluated running validation tests within the 5GEx sandbox. The overall time required for the NS deployment has been evaluated considering NSs deployed across two operators.

5G network slicing using SDN and NFV: A survey of taxonomy, architectures and future challenges

“…From the technical perspective of orchestrating resources on 5G systems, the developed architecture is to ensure that both network resources and slices are provided on demand-basis. To summarize, 5GEx's objectives are: (1) to develop a multi-domain and multi-service infrastructure for 5G networks based on SDN/NFV, (b) enable orchestration of services and an IaaS model for multiple carriers forming the so-called "5G network factory," [158] .…”

“…As pointed out by Sgambelluri et al [158] , apart from catering to the needs of future 5G services, 5GEx is positioned to overcome also the historical, technological and market fragmentation of the European telecommunications sector. Such a generic, open, and standardized offering of various connectivity modes supported with other 5G capabilities will enable the numerous small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and content providers to differentiate and monetize their online content and application provision [159] .…”

Coordination Models for 5G Multi-provider Service Orchestration: Specification and Assessment

“…5GEx [3] is an open multi-service multi-operator inter-networking approach for orchestrating, trading and composing 5G infrastructure wholesale services. Through the 5GEx framework NSPs and Clouds trade, orchestrate and manage services on the fly, so as to meet end user demand for 5G retail services.…”

Connectivity orchestration in multi-provider elastic optical networks (Invited paper)

“…In [22], a backwardcompatible mechanism is proposed to enable both domain summarization and multi-path routing, by encapsulating link disjoint paths onto a single virtual path and by providing multiple virtual intra-domain topologies. The work in [3] proposes an orchestrator architecture to handle virtual services across different operators exploiting a multi-domain PCE as orchestrator module for each provider. Finally, a number of studies discussed smart mechanisms to allow authenticated peer PCE to infer critical intra-domain information of adjacent domains through licit PCEP requests exploiting concepts such as signature-based and anomaly-based detection and trust management mechanisms [23], [24].…”

“…In this multi-provider context, additional complexity is required to handle shared and inter-operable control and management sessions through different operators implementing their own administrative and business strategies, along with the need to preserve high degrees of confidentiality and security [2]. Therefore, the orchestrator of each multi-domain network infrastructure, i.e., the Multi-domain Orchestrator (MDO), is emerging as the key element able to offer and coordinate service instances, to a federation of infrastructure providers while monitoring and guaranteeing agreed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) [3]. In such a context, connectivity functions and procedures among MDOs requires careful evaluation and additional constraints with respect to the control of a singleprovider infrastructure.…”