An End-to-End Carrier Ethernet MEF enabled 5G network architecture

5G introduces new paradigms that enable communication networks to become more flexible and handle a wide variety of network services from various vertical domains. Small cell deployment exploiting virtualization techniques as envisaged by 5G, allows enhanced mobile edge computing capabilities, thus enabling flexible network service deployment and slicing support near the end user. This paper presents a cloud-enabled small cell architecture for 5G networks developed within the 5G-ESSENCE project. The paper also presents the implementation and deployment of an Ethernet Virtual Connection service over a 5G-enabled infrastructure.