Towards more flexible networks -- backyard of IMT Takashi Egawa NEC Corporation Rapporteur, Q.14, SG13 1

From hardware to software  Flexible network function implementation/ operation  Opex / capex reduction  Faster business cycle, rapid adaptation to demand, increased resource usage, … 2 Dedicated appliances + Dedicated wire/radio Virtual functions + virtual links on generic server / storage / network pool HW world SW world This shift is expected to contribute to

A key difference btw. 5G & 4G: flexibility of networks  network is becoming even more complicated multiple RATs, wandering servers/applications, …  we need slice Human loves territory -- it simplifies life  network has to adapt to various changes, e.g., demand Internet made changes faster, and made people’s temper shorter  we can Thanks, Moore’s law 3 Flexibility is critical in future networks because

NW becomes more complicated  Multi-RAT for better QoE  Applications / virtual servers wanders  Various reqs on mobility, security, …  Underlying NW must be flexible 4 ITU-R M (11/2014) An example of more complicated network architecture: QoE enhancement in a multi-RAT environment

Network softwarization view of the 5G mobile networks 5 ITU-T FG IMT-2020 report (2015/12)

Issues to standardize  Efficient accommodation of various applications  Support for emerging network architectures  Horizontal extension: End-to-end slicing  Vertical extension: Deep data plane programmability (data plane enhancement)  Considerations for applicability of softwarization  End-to-end reference model for scalable operation  Coordinated APIs  Energy management aspects of network softwarization  Economic incentives aspects of network softwarization  Network management and orchestration  Support enhanced MEC management  Support inter-edge mobility of a MEC system  Support more simple and controllable APIs of a MEC system  Support traffic routing among multiple MEC applications  Distributed cloud for service provider  In-network data processing  Resource usage optimization  Resource abstraction  Migration towards newly emerging network  RAN virtualization and slicing under software control  Capability Exposure 6 ITU-T FG IMT-2020 report (2015/12)

A few key questions  Applicability Is it really possible to satisfy requirements?  Copper is inflexible, but reliable in transferring packets. No worry for ‘QoS’ or ‘priority’  Dedicated server + real-time OS is good for real- time operations and to guarantee ‘xx msec delay’ ?  Don’t we really need ‘dedicated hardware’?  Management  All the burden of complexity falls in software.  Necessity for orchestrated operation is increasing.  Extensibility and exposed capabilities  how much flexibility should each slice provide? E.g., non-IP protocol should be able to be supported?  How much e.g., API, security capability should be exhibited to customers? 7

Standardization activities in/outside of ITU-T  ITU-T SG13  SDN, network virtualization, ICN under ‘future networks’ umbrella  FG IMT-2020 for 5G  ITU-T SG15  Transport SDN  ETSI Network Function Virtualization (NFV)  ETSI Mobile Edge Computing (MEC)  Other activities in other SDOs TMF Zoom: management and orchestration, IETF/IRTF: various protocols, 3GPP: RAN virtualization and others  Open source activities  OpenStack, OpenDayLight, OPNFV, Opensource MANO, and many many others esp. in cloud and SDN 8

Y.3011: Network Virtualization for FNs  Definition of “network virtualization":  A technology that enables the creation of logically isolated network partitions over shared physical networks so that heterogeneous collection of multiple virtual networks can simultaneously coexist over the shared networks. This includes the aggregation of multiple resources in a provider and appearing as a single resource.  Motivation  Key technology for Service Awareness of FNs  Diverse services  Heterogeneous network architectures  Problem spaces & design goals  Coexistence of multiple networks  Simplified access to resources  Flexibility in provisioning  Evolvability  Design goals  Isolation, network abstraction, topology awareness and quick reconfigurability, performance, programmability, management, mobility, wireless Detailed requirements are in Y.3012, architecture in Y.3015

Y.3033: Framework of data aware networking 10  Definition of “data aware networking":  A network architecture whose technology optimizes handling enormous amount of data efficiently in a distributed environment and enables users to access desired data safely, easily, quickly, and accurately, regardless of their locations.  Motivation and scope  Describing high-level requirements (framework document) to realize the “data access” design goal specified in Y.3001 which is.  Optimal and efficient handling of huge amount of data, and retrieval of the data promptly regardless of their location.  Problem spaces  Scalable and cost-efficient content distribution.  Mobility support.  Disruption tolerance. ① On-path caching while downloading content files. ② Responding to user requests from any DAN element. ③ Optimizing process on DAN element before responding.  Design goals  Naming, Routing, Caching, Security, Mobility, API, Transport.

Y.3300: Framework of software-defined networking  Definition of “software-defined networking” A set of techniques that enables to directly program, orchestrate, control and manage network resources, which facilitates the design, delivery and operation of network services in a dynamic and scalable manner  Objective of SDN Faster network business cycle, Acceleration of innovation, Rapid adaptation to demand, Increase in resource availability and usage efficiency, Customization of network resources including service-aware networking  Capability of SDN: Programmability, Resource abstraction  Requirements of SDN (a few): programmability of network resources, orchestration of network resources and SDN applications, logically centralized control of network resources, abstraction of underlying network resources

Conclusion  Softwarization of networks makes network flexible --- a key capability of 5G  Many things to do to realize this capability, including standardization  ITU will contribute to this trend 12