Edge Microservice Deployment and Management Using SDN-Enabled Whitebox Switches


Por: Rahhal, M, Gifre, L, Robles, PA, Najari, JM, Zabala, A, Jimenez, MA, Osuna, RL, Muñoz, R, de Dios, OG, Vilalta, R

Publicada: 1 ene 2026
Resumen:
This work advances a 6G-ready, micro-granular SDN fabric that unifies high-performance edge data planes with intent-driven, multi-domain orchestration and cloud offloading. First, edge and cell-site whiteboxes are upgraded with Smart Network Interface Cards and embedded AI accelerators, enabling line-rate processing of data flows and on-box learning/inference directly in the data plane. This pushes functions such as traffic classification, telemetry, and anomaly mitigation to the point of ingress, reducing latency and backhaul load. Second, an SDN controller, i.e., ETSI TeraFlowSDN, is extended to deliver multi-domain SDN orchestration with native lifecycle management (LCM) for whitebox Network Operating Systems—covering onboarding, configuration-drift control, rolling upgrades/rollbacks, and policy-guarded compliance—so operators can reliably manage heterogeneous edge fleets at scale. Third, the SDN controller incorporates a new NFV-O client that seamlessly offloads network services—such as ML pipelines or NOS components—to telco clouds via an NFV orchestrator (e.g., ETSI Open Source MANO), enabling elastic placement and scale-out across the edge–cloud continuum. Together, these contributions deliver an open, programmable platform that couples in-situ acceleration with closed-loop, intent-based orchestration and elastic cloud resources, targeting demonstrable gains in end-to-end latency, throughput, operational agility, and energy efficiency for emerging 6G services. © 2026 by the authors.

Filiaciones:
Rahhal, M:
 Ctr Tecnol Telecomunicac Catalunya CTTC CERCA, Castelldefels 08860, Spain

Gifre, L:
 Ctr Tecnol Telecomunicac Catalunya CTTC CERCA, Castelldefels 08860, Spain

Robles, PA:
 Telefonica, Madrid 28050, Spain

Najari, JM:
 Naudit, Madrid 28049, Spain

Zabala, A:
 Telcaria, Leganes 28911, Spain

Jimenez, MA:
 Eviden, Madrid 28037, Spain

Osuna, RL:
 Naudit, Madrid 28049, Spain

Muñoz, R:
 Ctr Tecnol Telecomunicac Catalunya CTTC CERCA, Castelldefels 08860, Spain

de Dios, OG:
 Telefonica, Madrid 28050, Spain

Vilalta, R:
 Ctr Tecnol Telecomunicac Catalunya CTTC CERCA, Castelldefels 08860, Spain
ISSN: 20799292
Editorial
MDPI Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND, Suiza
Tipo de documento: Article
Volumen: 15 Número: 1
Páginas:
WOS Id: 001657253700001
imagen gold, All Open Access; Gold Open Access

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