On the integration of verticals through 5G control plane

To enable the variety of verticals and flexibly deliver services over 5G, a new control plane architecture and system concept is needed. To this end we present a vision for the 5G control plane which allows the verticals to provide tailored services over the communication infrastructure. We discuss in detail the enabling concepts which are essential to realize this vision. Finally, we present a reference framework centered around a novel control plane for vertical integration but which also takes into account the relevant ecosystem such as the underlying infrastructure, the data plane and the management and orchestration framework. We believe that the 5G control plane vision and the accompanying reference framework presented in this paper are important puzzle pieces in the overall 5G architecture.