A Multi-domain Experimentation Environment for 5G Media Verticals

Abstract

5G networks are considered as a main enabler for new services for Media & Entertainment (M&E) verticals, allowing ultra-low delays, high numbers of mobile clients, resource-demanding operation, and large-scale UHD streaming. This evolution requires low-complexity and flexible experimentation of new service orchestration and management mechanisms over multi-domain 5G ecosystems. In this paper, we introduce 5G-CDN, an experimentation facility that focuses on the next-generation Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), a paradigm for hosting and launching M&E services. We build on top of existing novel test-bed federations, such as the FED4FIRE, to enable large-scale, multi-domain experimentation, involving: (i) end-to-end network slicing over multiple infrastructure providers utilizing heterogeneous hardware and virtualization resources; (ii) dynamic resource discovery and allocation residing at both federated open-access and local test-beds; and (iii) experimentation with modular media service orchestration mechanisms, e.g., on content caching and service elasticity. We provide proof-of-concept results demonstrating content provisioning over allocated slices and dynamic resource discovery involving European and USA test-beds, where hetero-geneous physical and virtual resources co-exist.