NFV and SDN - Key Technology Enablers for 5G Networks

TL;DR

This paper reviews how NFV and SDN technologies are essential enablers for the development of flexible, scalable, and programmable 5G networks, highlighting their complementary roles.

Contribution

It provides an overview of NFV and SDN, explaining their integration and significance in shaping future 5G network architectures.

Findings

NFV and SDN are key enablers for 5G networks.

They enable flexible and programmable network deployment.

The technologies complement each other in 5G evolution.

Abstract

Communication networks are undergoing their next evolutionary step towards 5G. The 5G networks are envisioned to provide a flexible, scalable, agile and programmable network platform over which different services with varying requirements can be deployed and managed within strict performance bounds. In order to address these challenges a paradigm shift is taking place in the technologies that drive the networks, and thus their architecture. Innovative concepts and techniques are being developed to power the next generation mobile networks. At the heart of this development lie Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking technologies, which are now recognized as being two of the key technology enablers for realizing 5G networks, and which have introduced a major change in the way network services are deployed and operated. For interested readers that are new to the field of SDN and NFV this paper provides an overview of both these technologies with reference to the 5G networks. Most importantly it describes how the two technologies complement each other and how they are expected to drive the networks of near future.