Page 203 - 5G Basics - Core Network Aspects

Core network aspects 1

7 The capability framework for software-defined NICE

7.1 Overview of the capability framework

S-NICE capabilities are aligned with, and enhance, the NICE capabilities as described in [ITU-T Y.2301].
Making use of SDN concept and technologies, the S-NICE capability framework differs from the NICE
capability framework. Figure 1 provides the capability framework overview of S-NICE.

Figure 1 – Capability framework overview of S-NICE

At the service layer, the S-NICE orchestration capabilities consist of the service control capability and the
open environment capability, and interact with the SUP capability.
The transport layer has S-NICE controller capabilities (named "S-NICE controller", for brevity, in Figure 1),
which consist of the policy control capability and the traffic scheduling capability of S-NICE. The transport
layer also has S-NICE infrastructure capabilities which support the access and core transport capability with
the requirements to support SDN related protocols. Meanwhile, the S-NICE infrastructure capabilities
support the content and context detection capability, the policy enforcement capability, and the traffic
scheduling enforcement capability of S-NICE.
Although the separation of network control and transport applies in both NICE and S-NICE, S-NICE extends
this concept further by taking advantage of SDN technologies. The interaction mechanisms and interfaces of
S-NICE are different from those of NICE. In S-NICE, the interfaces between applications and the S-NICE
orchestration capabilities, the interfaces between S-NICE controller capabilities and the S-NICE infrastructure
capabilities, and the interfaces between the S-NICE orchestration capabilities and the S-NICE controller
capabilities are required to use SDN related protocols while in NICE this usage is not required.

7.2 The S-NICE orchestration capabilities at the service layer
In NICE, the NICE provider interconnects with third-party applications as well as self-operated applications
via the open environment capability and the service control capability.

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