566 research outputs found
Introducing Development Features for Virtualized Network Services
Network virtualization and softwarizing network functions are trends aiming
at higher network efficiency, cost reduction and agility. They are driven by
the evolution in Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function
Virtualization (NFV). This shows that software will play an increasingly
important role within telecommunication services, which were previously
dominated by hardware appliances. Service providers can benefit from this, as
it enables faster introduction of new telecom services, combined with an agile
set of possibilities to optimize and fine-tune their operations. However, the
provided telecom services can only evolve if the adequate software tools are
available. In this article, we explain how the development, deployment and
maintenance of such an SDN/NFV-based telecom service puts specific requirements
on the platform providing it. A Software Development Kit (SDK) is introduced,
allowing service providers to adequately design, test and evaluate services
before they are deployed in production and also update them during their
lifetime. This continuous cycle between development and operations, a concept
known as DevOps, is a well known strategy in software development. To extend
its context further to SDN/NFV-based services, the functionalities provided by
traditional cloud platforms are not yet sufficient. By giving an overview of
the currently available tools and their limitations, the gaps in DevOps for
SDN/NFV services are highlighted. The benefit of such an SDK is illustrated by
a secure content delivery network service (enhanced with deep packet inspection
and elastic routing capabilities). With this use-case, the dynamics between
developing and deploying a service are further illustrated
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Threat Landscape and Good Practice Guide for Software Defined Networks/5G
5G represents the next major phase of mobile telecommunication systems and network architectures beyond the current 4G standards, aiming at extreme broadband and ultra-robust, low latency connectivity, to enable the programmable connectivity for the Internet of Everything2. Despite the significant debate on the technical specifications and the technological maturity of 5G, which are under discussion in various fora3, 5G is expected to affect positively and significantly several industry sectors ranging from ICT to industry sectors such as car and other manufacturing, health and agriculture in the period up to and beyond 2020. 5G will be driven by the influence of software on network functions, known as Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). The key concept that underpins SDN is the logical centralization of network control functions by decoupling the control and packet forwarding functionality of the network. NFV complements this vision through the virtualization of these functionalities based on recent advances in general server and enterprise IT virtualization. Considering the technological maturity of the technologies that 5G can leverage on, SDN is the one that is moving faster from development to production. To realize the business potential of SDN/5G, a number of technical issues related to the design and operation of Software Defined Networks need to be addressed. Amongst them, SDN/5G security is one of the key issues, that needs to be addressed comprehensively in order to avoid missing the business opportunities arising from SDN/5G. In this report, we review threats and potential compromises related to the security of SDN/5G networks. More specifically, this report contains a review of the emerging threat landscape of 5G networks with particular focus on Software Defined Networking. It also considers security of NFV and radio network access. To provide a comprehensive account of the emerging threat SDN/5G landscape, this report has identified related network assets and the security threats, challenges and risks arising for these assets. Driven by the identified threats and risks, this report has also reviewed and identified existing security mechanisms and good practices for SDN/5G/NFV, and based on these it has analysed gaps and provided technical, policy and organizational recommendations for proactively enhancing the security of SDN/5G
Progressive introduction of network softwarization in operational telecom networks: advances at architectural, service and transport levels
Technological paradigms such as Software Defined Networking, Network Function
Virtualization and Network Slicing are altogether offering new ways of providing services.
This process is widely known as Network Softwarization, where traditional operational
networks adopt capabilities and mechanisms inherit form the computing world, such as
programmability, virtualization and multi-tenancy.
This adoption brings a number of challenges, both from the technological and operational
perspectives. On the other hand, they provide an unprecedented flexibility opening
opportunities to developing new services and new ways of exploiting and consuming telecom
networks.
This Thesis first overviews the implications of the progressive introduction of network
softwarization in operational networks for later on detail some advances at different levels,
namely architectural, service and transport levels. It is done through specific exemplary use
cases and evolution scenarios, with the goal of illustrating both new possibilities and existing
gaps for the ongoing transition towards an advanced future mode of operation.
This is performed from the perspective of a telecom operator, paying special attention on
how to integrate all these paradigms into operational networks for assisting on their evolution
targeting new, more sophisticated service demands.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Telemática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Eduardo Juan Jacob Taquet.- Secretario: Francisco Valera Pintor.- Vocal: Jorge López Vizcaín
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