Network and Infrastructure Virtualization Architectures

This chapter covers virtualization applied in the context of meta-architectures and next-generation network (NGN) testbeds, which can also be referred to as testbed virtualization. In this chapter, the main focus is on the organizational architecture and the management framework of such architectures. It mainly describes the specifications of large testbeds from existing national and international research initiatives on Future Internet network architectures. Overall, this chapter provides a “big picture” and a context in which wireless virtualization can ultimately be integrated in. While many of these architectures do not explicitly address wireless virtualization, they do provide some universal design principles for a virtualized infrastructure. Additionally, the importance of wireless technologies in the Future Internet architecture is clearly recognized. Ultimately, a framework for wireless infrastructure virtualization can be derived based on the concepts summarized in this chapter.