Toward carrier cloud: Potential, challenges, and solutions

Mobile operators are in need of means to cope with the ever increasing mobile data traffic, introducing minimal additional capital expenditures on existing infrastructures, principally due to the modest average revenue per user. Network virtualization and cloud computing techniques, along with the principles of the latter in terms of service elasticity, on-demand, and payper-use, could be important enablers for various mobile network enhancements and cost reduction. This article discusses the recent trends the mobile telecommunications market is experiencing, showcasing some of the emerging consumer products and services that are facilitating such trends. The article also discusses the challenges these trends present to mobile network operators. It also demonstrates the possibility of extending cloud computing beyond data centers toward the mobile end user, providing end-to-end mobile connectivity as a cloud service. The article introduces a set of technologies and methods for on-demand provision of a decentralized and elastic mobile network as a cloud service over a distributed network of cloud computing data centers. The concept of Follow-Me-Cloud, whereby not only data but also mobile services intelligently follow their respective users, is also introduced. The novel business opportunities behind the envisioned carrier cloud architecture and service are also discussed, considering various multi-stakeholder scenarios.