Efficient flexibility and higher system scalability call for enhanced network performance, better energy consumption, lower infrastructure cost, and effective resource utilization. To accomplish this, an architectural optimization and reconstruction of existing cellular network is required. Network slicing is considered to be one of the key enablers and an architectural answer of communication system of 2020 and beyond. Traditional mobile operators provide all types of services to various kinds of customers through a single network, however, with the deployment of network slicing operators are now able to divide entire network into different slices each with its own configuration and specific Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In a slice-based network, each slice will be considered as a separate logical network. In this way, the infrastructure utilization and resource allocation will be much more energy and cost efficient in comparison to traditional network. In this paper, we provided a comprehensive discussion on concept and system architecture of network slicing with particular focus on its business aspect and profit modeling. We throughly discussed two different dimensions of profit modeling, so called Own-Slice Implementation and Resource Leasing for Outsourced Slices. We further addressed open research directions and existing challenges with the purpose of motivating new advances and adding realistic solutions to this emerging technology.
Further, authors in @cite_3 addressed network slicing related concepts i.e. resource allocation, virtualization technologies, orchestration process, and isolation function. The paper provided a comprehensive discussion on Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) along with a deployment use-case (which considers network slicing using both NFV and SDN integration). The authors further demonstrated existing challenges and future research directions of network slicing implementation in 5G communication system. Moreover, a comprehensive survey on architecture and further research directions of network slicing is also available in @cite_9 .
@cite_9 @cite_3
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The fifth generation of mobile communications is anticipated to open up innovation opportunities for new industries such as vertical markets. However, these verticals originate myriad use cases with diverging requirements that future 5G networks have to efficiently support. Network slicing may be a natural solution to simultaneously accommodate, over a common network infrastructure, the wide range of services that vertical- specific use cases will demand. In this article, we present the network slicing concept, with a particular focus on its application to 5G systems. We start by summarizing the key aspects that enable the realization of so-called network slices. Then we give a brief overview on the SDN architecture proposed by the ONF and show that it provides tools to support slicing. We argue that although such architecture paves the way for network slicing implementation, it lacks some essential capabilities that can be supplied by NFV. Hence, we analyze a proposal from ETSI to incorporate the capabilities of SDN into the NFV architecture. Additionally, we present an example scenario that combines SDN and NFV technologies to address the realization of network slices. Finally, we summarize the open research issues with the purpose of motivating new advances in this field. The next generation mobile transport networks shall transform into flexible and agile SDN NFV-based transport and computing platforms, capable of simultaneously supporting the needs of different vertical industries, e.g., automotive, e-health and media, by meeting a diverse range of networking and computing requirements. Network slicing, has emerged as the most promising approach to address this challenge by enabling per-slice management of virtualized resources and provisioning and managing slices tailored to the needs of different vertical industries. Service orchestration is the key enabler for slicing that allows efficient placement of virtual network functions over the infrastructure as well as optimal allocation of virtual resources among all network slices to deliver guaranteed, reliable and scalable services of different verticals. Besides, due to the limited footprint of infrastructure operators, it is also required to enable the interconnection and federation of multiple administrative domains, to effectively allow services to span across several providers. This paper presents the design of Service Orchestrator (SO) in the 5G-TRANSFORMER system, which deals with service orchestration and federation across multiple domains. Network slicing is a technique for flexible resource provisioning in future wireless networks. With the powerful SDN and NFV technologies available, network slices can be quickly deployed and centrally managed, leading to simplified management, better resource utilization, and cost efficiency by commoditization of resources. Departing from the one-type-fits-all design philosophy, future wireless networks will employ the network slicing methodology in order to accommodate applications with widely diverse requirements over the same physical network. On the other hand, deciding how to efficiently allocate, manage, and control the slice resources in real time is very challenging. This article focuses on the algorithmic challenges that emerge in efficient network slicing, necessitating novel techniques from the communities of operation research, networking, and computer science. The concepts of network function virtualization and end-to-end network slicing are the two promising technologies empowering 5G networks for efficient and dynamic network service deployment and management. In this paper, we propose a resource allocation model for 5G virtualized networks in a heterogeneous cloud infrastructure. In our model, each network slice has a resource demand vector for each of its virtual network functions. We first consider a system of collaborative slices and formulate the resource allocation as a convex optimization problem, maximizing the overall system utility function. We further introduce a distributed solution for the resource allocation problem by forming a resource auction between the slices and the data centers. By using an example, we show how the selfish behavior of non-collaborative slices affects the fairness performance of the system. For a system with non-collaborative slices, we formulate a new resource allocation problem based on the notion of dominant resource fairness and propose a fully distributed scheme for solving the problem. Simulation results are provided to show the validity of the results, evaluate the convergence of the distributed solutions, show protection of collaborative slices against non-collaborative slices and compare the performance of the optimal schemes with the heuristic ones.