Unlocking Efficiency in B5G Networks: The Need for Adaptive Service Function Chains

Service Function Chains allow the dynamic generation of basic virtual network services in order to build more complex services. They constitute the basis of the flexibility support for 5G and Beyond 5G networks. In order to totally exploit their benefits, the Service Function Chains should adapt to specific user requirements and current network status. The existing mechanisms to compose and embed Service Function Chains mostly disregard energy metrics to guide their decisions, thus resulting in a lack of energy optimisation by network operators. This paper presents a revision of existing Service Function Chain composition and embedding approaches and a discussion of current and future research directions, focused on energy optimisation for adaptive Service Function Chains. Furthermore, an architecture to empower the green orchestration of adaptive Service Function Chains is also drafted.