Home routing gateway virtualization: An overview on the architecture alternatives

This paper presents a novel concept in home and access network architectures based on the virtualization within the service provider network of the layer-3 home routing gateway functionality. This new paradigm aims to diminish service providers´ capital and operational expenditures in home equipment associated to the deployment of services for residential customers, while easing the deployment of new services due to the layer-2 visibility of the home network from the access network. Several architecture designs for this home routing gateway virtualization are presented together with a qualitative comparison among them. Finally, a list of topics for further study in order to make this paradigm a feasible deployment has been elaborated.