Towards a service-oriented network virtualization architecture

Network virtualization is an emerging concept that enables the creation of several co-existing logical network instances (or virtual networks) over a shared physical network infrastructure. There are several motivations behind this concept, including: cost-effective sharing of resources; customizable networking solutions; and the convergence of existing network infrastructures. In this paper, we analyze the existing (conventional and virtualized) business models and propose a new business model for virtual networking environments. Our proposed model is a service-oriented hierarchical model, in which different levels of services (i.e. essential services, service enablers, service building blocks, and end-user services) offered by various players, can be dynamically discovered, used, and composed. Using this business model as basis, we also define a layered service-oriented network virtualization architecture and discuss some of the issues related to its operation.