Edge-to-edge virtualization and orchestration in heterogeneous transport networks

Nowadays, Internet services demand for the mobilization of computing and storage resources located in proximity of the final users, and for the support of an agile and programmable network infrastructure. This calls for a holistic vision in which control, management, and optimization of both computing and networking resources are combined, resulting in a progressive blur of the capabilities of the latter towards the edges of the transport segment. However, due to its multi-provider nature, the Internet itself is the main obstacle to this change. In such a context, Network Virtualization (NV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) solutions can enable business opportunities and provide technical benefits for the operators managing the different domains of a transport infrastructure. In this paper we discuss in detail the technical challenges and outline potential architectural approaches exploiting the above mentioned solutions to provide edge-to-edge virtualization, abstraction, control, and optimization of heterogeneous transport networks composed of both packet- and circuit- switched technologies.