1. The NFV Research Group https://irtf.org/nfvrg/ Diego R. Lopez, Telefónica I+D NFVRG co-chair

2. The NFV Concept 2 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/ Network functions are fully defined by SW, minimising dependence on HW constraints DPI BRAS GGSN/ SGSN Firewall CG-NAT PE Router VIRTUAL NETWORK FUNCTIONS COMMON HW (Servers & Switches) FUNCTION CAPACITY

3. The NFV Framework 3 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/ NFV Infrastructure End Point E2E Network Service ComputeStorageNetwork HW Resources Virtualization Layer Virtualization SW Virtual Compute Virtual Storage Virtual Network Virtual Resources Logical Abstractions Network Service VNF Logical Links VNF Instances VNF SW Instances VNF : Virtualized Network Function VNF

4. Why an NFV Research Group NFV is not just an implementation technique Even if that was the case, the challenges are important It can (and for sure will) contribute to make the Internet architecture evolve Re-think current network functions out-of-the-box Virtual topologies associated with strict functional criteria Fully abstracted from the underlying infrastructure topology, especially in what relates to the constituent nodes New service provision patterns The decoupling between functionality and capacity will enable new roles and new business model Support recursion in network service beyond the underlay-overlay schema Evolve the way Internet services are provided and managed Dynamic adaptation to network needs (security, reliability, temporal properties. measurements…) Help solving the middlebox issues 4 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

5. Not Just Carrier Cloud plus SDN While the base technologies are reasonably established, their application to the provision of network functions is not Data plane workloads Huge pressure on performance Totally alien to cloud architectural patterns Requires techniques related to HPC Architectural constraints The network has a shape Finding the balance and possible smart strategies The security implications No more last resort on physical access Up to legal aspects It is needed to go beyond open-source projects and standardization activities In despite of what you may think, they are quite similar And the NFVRG is committed to contribute to both 5 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

6. The NFVRG Story (1) From their initial stages of the NFV concept back in 2012 the need for strong research activity was acknowledged NFV was blazing the trail in a completely new application scenario of cloud principles The NFV proponents attempted direct collaboration with the research communities from the beginning The first NFV whitepaper includes a more open an efficient innovation cycle as one of NFV essential benefits Shorter time to bring research into operational practice The second NFV whitepaper directly encouraged to “create new applied research an study programs around NFV” The ETSI NFV ISG community formulated a Research Agenda by the beginning of 2014 Encouraging research activities, out of the scope of the ISG Used as the base for the NFVRG charter

7. The NFVRG Story (2) The SDNRG was the first forum where NFV was addressed by the IETF/IRTF First direct appeared along IETF86 in Orlando A first introductory session on NFV goals and first steps was held at IETF88 in Vancouver The number of NFV contributions to the SDNRG experimented a continuous growth Informal discussions among NFV activists and the IETF/IRTF leadership along the IETF89 in London The IRTF Chair agreed to start NFVRG as a "proposed RG” A tentative status that is used to gauge community interest and potential results of proposed research groups within the IRTF The NFVRG first met (out-of-agenda) at IETF90 in Toronto, and in-agenda at IETF91 in Honolulu Two interim meetings were also organized with the main goal of refining the original charter The two meetings as proposed RG gather a high participation at all levels Audience, presentations and discussions among the participants. This led to a direct request to the IRTF Chair to formally charter the NFVRG as an IRTF Research Group The announcement of the formal charter of NFVRG was made by the end of January 2015 Around ten drafts currently active, one of them already adopted by the RG https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

8. Enabling a New Architecture Exploring the new network architectures based on VNFs Special emphasis on "network function deconstruction” Identify compositional patterns New patterns in network and service function chaining, Architecture implications for chains and deployment implications for service paths Design and implementation patterns related to virtual and non-virtual functions chaining Chaining (and general composition) automation NFV challenges to current cloud architectures Data plane workloads Adapt VNF deployment to satisfy service topologies and mobility requirements. 8 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

9. Streamlining Operations Orchestration of the virtualization aspects Guarantee scalability and flexibility Autonomous orchestration and optimization of VNFs and network services based on them Reliability and failure characterization The number of potential root causes multiplies Metrics and aggregation patterns And even the almighty Big Data New operational models Simplify service provider OSS (operation support systems) Explore the application of the DevOps paradigm to network operation Heterogeneous networks Coexistence with non-virtualized infrastructure and services Heterogeneity management Explore the most efficient migration paths 9 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

10. Securing and Metering Network security relies more than it seems on physical access control Just think about the perimeter concept in current firewalling practice This is brought to the extreme in the case of network infrastructures Security procedures rely explicitly and even implicitly in the limited physical access to links and nodes A deconstructed network cannot relay any longer on physical security And this includes new opportunities to build tailored and adaptive security Deconstruction will allow a much more complete and flexible monitoring and data collection Probes can be seamlessly deployed Additional data can be collected on demand And rely on those collected data to perform adaptive orchestration and management It is necessary to overcome the claims about inferior performance of VNFs with respect to their physical, traditional counterparts Should VNFs only be required to be good-enough for their particular purposes? There is a need for appropriate performance modeling and characterization 10 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

11. And Beyond Energy efficiency has a specific relevance by its own Especially considered in terms of end-to-end and optimization Virtualized network functions are expected to play a key role in next generation infrastructures 5G Convergence (wired, optical, cellular, satellite...) IoT You name it… Appropriate abstractions and domain-specific languages to support new levels of abstraction Supporting languages and APIs Frameworks for combined processing, network and storage description Policy languages Last but not least, NFV brings the promise of new business models and a deep change in the network service provision economics Techno-economic studies will be mostly welcome 11 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/

12. Go NFV, Young Man NFV goes well beyond a way of implementing network functions on COTS hardware With a key impact on architecture and even network construction principles Quite a few research directions have already been identified And many more are expected as the technology and its applications mature The NFVRG is a young research group That has already gathered a high interest Come join us in blazing the trail 12 https://irtf.org/nfvrg/