On the cloudification of Metropolitan Area Networks: impact on cost and energy consumption

Building Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) for supporting 5G services and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) requires carefully rethinking of MAN node architectures, featuring both computing and storage capabilities. This article provides an example of such MEC-enabled node architecture following the Central-Office Re-architected as Datacenter (CORD) guidelines and further explores both optical, packet-switching and computing/storage hardware needs for the expected traffic requirements for MANs in the short, medium and long term. We show that replacing traditional routers with carrier-class possibly disaggregated switches offers appreciable saving opportunities on both cost and power in the packet layer. On the other hand, introducing datacenter capabilities at MAN nodes may increase the network total cost by a value between 30-50%, plus another important amount in power consumption. Thus, new design of MAN nodes for incorporating such computing/storage capabilities must be carefully decided on which scenarios it makes sense and profit, given the large CAPEX and OPEX impact.