A dynamic pricing algorithm for a network of virtual resources

A service chain is a combination of network services (e.g. network address translation (NAT), a firewall, etc.) that are interconnected to support an application (e.g. video-on-demand). Building a service chain requires a set of specialized hardware devices each of which need to be configured with their own command syntax. By moving management functions out of forwarding hardware into controller software, software-defined networking (SDN) simplifies provisioning and reconfiguration of service chains. By moving the network functions out of dedicated hardware devices into software running on standard x86 servers, network function virtualization (NFV) turns the deployment of a service chain into a more (cost)-efficient and flexible process. In an SDN/NFV-based architecture, those service chains are composed of virtual network functions (VNFs) that need to be mapped to physical network components. In literature, several algorithmic approaches exist to do so efficiently and cost-effectively. However, once mapped, a simple revenue model is used for pricing the requested substrate resources. This often leads to a loss of revenue for the infrastructure provider. In this paper, we propose a more advanced, dynamic pricing algorithm for pricing the requested substrate resources. The proposed algorithm increases the infrastructure provider's revenue based on historic data, current infrastructure utilization levels and the pricing of competitors. Our experimental evaluation shows that the proposed algorithm increases the revenue of the infrastructure provider significantly, independent of the average network utilization.Peer Reviewe

Algorithms for advance bandwidth reservation in media production networks

Media production generally requires many geographically distributed actors (e.g., production houses, broadcasters, advertisers) to exchange huge amounts of raw video and audio data. Traditional distribution techniques, such as dedicated point-to-point optical links, are highly inefficient in terms of installation time and cost. To improve efficiency, shared media production networks that connect all involved actors over a large geographical area, are currently being deployed. The traffic in such networks is often predictable, as the timing and bandwidth requirements of data transfers are generally known hours or even days in advance. As such, the use of advance bandwidth reservation (AR) can greatly increase resource utilization and cost efficiency. In this paper, we propose an Integer Linear Programming formulation of the bandwidth scheduling problem, which takes into account the specific characteristics of media production networks, is presented. Two novel optimization algorithms based on this model are thoroughly evaluated and compared by means of in-depth simulation results

NFV Based Gateways for Virtualized Wireless Sensors Networks: A Case Study

Virtualization enables the sharing of a same wireless sensor network (WSN) by multiple applications. However, in heterogeneous environments, virtualized wireless sensor networks (VWSN) raises new challenges such as the need for on-the-fly, dynamic, elastic and scalable provisioning of gateways. Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is an emerging paradigm that can certainly aid in tackling these new challenges. It leverages standard virtualization technology to consolidate special-purpose network elements on top of commodity hardware. This article presents a case study on NFV based gateways for VWSNs. In the study, a VWSN gateway provider, operates and manages an NFV based infrastructure. We use two different brands of wireless sensors. The NFV infrastructure makes possible the dynamic, elastic and scalable deployment of gateway modules in this heterogeneous VWSN environment. The prototype built with Openstack as platform is described

Can open-source projects (re-) shape the SDN/NFV-driven telecommunication market?

Telecom network operators face rapidly changing business needs. Due to their dependence on long product cycles they lack the ability to quickly respond to changing user demands. To spur innovation and stay competitive, network operators are investigating technological solutions with a proven track record in other application domains such as open source software projects. Open source software enables parties to learn, use, or contribute to technology from which they were previously excluded. OSS has reshaped many application areas including the landscape of operating systems and consumer software. The paradigmshift in telecommunication systems towards Software-Defined Networking introduces possibilities to benefit from open source projects. Implementing the control part of networks in software enables speedier adaption and innovation, and less dependencies on legacy protocols or algorithms hard-coded in the control part of network devices. The recently proposed concept of Network Function Virtualization pushes the softwarization of telecommunication functionalities even further down to the data plane. Within the NFV paradigm, functionality which was previously reserved for dedicated hardware implementations can now be implemented in software and deployed on generic Commercial Off-The Shelf (COTS) hardware. This paper provides an overview of existing open source initiatives for SDN/NFV-based network architectures, involving infrastructure to orchestration-related functionality. It situates them in a business process context and identifies the pros and cons for the market in general, as well as for individual actors

Optimal Orchestration of Virtual Network Functions

-The emergence of Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is bringing a set of novel algorithmic challenges in the operation of communication networks. NFV introduces volatility in the management of network functions, which can be dynamically orchestrated, i.e., placed, resized, etc. Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) can belong to VNF chains, where nodes in a chain can serve multiple demands coming from the network edges. In this paper, we formally define the VNF placement and routing (VNF-PR) problem, proposing a versatile linear programming formulation that is able to accommodate specific features and constraints of NFV infrastructures, and that is substantially different from existing virtual network embedding formulations in the state of the art. We also design a math-heuristic able to scale with multiple objectives and large instances. By extensive simulations, we draw conclusions on the trade-off achievable between classical traffic engineering (TE) and NFV infrastructure efficiency goals, evaluating both Internet access and Virtual Private Network (VPN) demands. We do also quantitatively compare the performance of our VNF-PR heuristic with the classical Virtual Network Embedding (VNE) approach proposed for NFV orchestration, showing the computational differences, and how our approach can provide a more stable and closer-to-optimum solution