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An Integration of Slicing, NFV and SDN for Mobility Management in Corporate Environments

Meneses, F. ; Silva, R. ; Santos, D. ; Corujo, D. ; Aguiar, R.

Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies Vol. -, Nº -, pp. - - -, April, 2019.

ISSN (print): 2161-3915
ISSN (online): 2161-3915

Scimago Journal Ranking: 0,44 (in 2019)

Digital Object Identifier: 10.1002/ett.3615

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Abstract
On-line access to information while on the move has conferred businesses with the capability to be constantly accessible and in operation, independently of geographi- cal area or timezone. There are situations, however, that demand technical solutions for specific scenarios, such as controlled access to corporate-based content. Vir- tual Private Networks (VPNs) allow controlled remote access to content, supporting scenarios such as teleworking. Nonetheless, such mechanisms are not commonly associated with the highly mobile users of today, which can traverse different types of access networks, while still keeping access to content restricted to corporate network usage. In addition, as VPN mechanisms are disassociated from mobility procedures, service disruption can happen or specific mechanisms and clients can be required in end-user’s equipment.
This paper proposes a framework that leverages Network Slicing, enabled by Soft- ware Defined Networking and Network Function Virtualisation, to provide seamless and isolated access to corporate-based content, while moving through heterogeneous networks. This solution allows Mobile Network Operators to dynamically instantiate isolated network slices for corporate users, and handover them between 3GPP and non-3GPP networks while users move away from the corporate network. In this way, they are able to keep access to corporate-based content in a transparent way, while maintaining access requirements for the service being used.
The framework was implemented and validated over an experimental testbed com- posed by mobile and Wi-Fi accesses, with results presenting improvements in terms of overhead signaling and data redirection without downtime nor stream reconnection.