UNIFYing Cloud and Carrier Network Resources: An Architectural View

Cloud networks provide various services on top of virtualized compute and storage resources. The flexible operation and optimal usage of the underlying infrastructure are realized by resource orchestration methods and virtualization techniques developed during the recent years. In contrast, service deployment and service provisioning in carrier networks have several limitations in terms of flexibility, scalability or optimal resource usage as the built-in mechanisms are strongly coupled to the physical topology and special purpose hardware elements. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) opens the door between cloud and carrier networks by providing software-based telecommunication services which can run in virtualized environment on general purpose hardwares. Our main goal is to unify software and network resources in a common framework. In this paper, we propose a novel architecture supporting automated, dynamic service creation based on a fine-granular service chaining model, SDN and cloud virtualization techniques. First, we introduce the architecture with the main components. Second, the most important benefits are highlighted and compared to other state-of-the-art approaches. Finally, preliminary experiences with our proof-of-concept prototypes are presented.