Introduction to network orchestration

This is the aspect that brings out the flexibility provided by a 5G network. The importance of orchestration cannot be stressed enough. In a network that is trending toward rapid virtualization and cloudification, a network orchestrator becomes all the more necessary. Network orchestration from a high level may look like the following figure:

Figure 17.3 – Network orchestration tools

It contains an orchestration engine, which acts as the brain of this system. Orchestration is most popularly used for the deployment of services, cloud-native functions, and network functions, which can also be virtualized network functions.

But it is not limited to the deployment operation. A network orchestrator participates in every aspect of life cycle management. Most network function vendors have their own life cycle management tools. An orchestrator works to integrate all of them to provide a one-stop shop for all life...