5G‐Transformer aims to transform today’s rigid mobile transport networks into an SDN/NFV‐ based Mobile Transport and Computing Platform (MTP), which brings the “Network Slicing” paradigm into mobile transport networks by provisioning and managing MTP slices tailored to the specific needs of vertical industries. The technical approach is twofold:
- Enable vertical industries to meet their service requirements within customised MTP slices; and
- Aggregate and federate transport networking and computing fabric, from the edge all the way to the core and cloud, to create and manage MTP slices throughout a federated virtualized infrastructure.
The goal of 5G‐Transformer is to design, implement and demonstrate a 5G platform that addresses the aforementioned challenges.
5G‐Transformer defines three novel building blocks that will be developed and demonstrated integrating the aforementioned vertical industries:
- Vertical Slicer as the logical entry point (i.e., one stop shop) for verticals to request the creation of their respective transport slices in a short time‐scale (in the order of minutes).
- Service Orchestrator for end‐to‐end service orchestration and federation of transport networking and computing resources from multiple MTP domains and for management of their allocation to slices.
- Mobile Transport and Computing Platform as the underlying unified transport stratum for integrated fronthaul and backhaul networks, hence building on the foundations of 5GPPP Phase 1 projects.