Experimenting with SRv6: a Tunneling Protocol supporting Network Slicing in 5G and beyond

With network slicing, operators can acquire and manage virtual instances of a mobile network, tailored to a given service, in this way maximizing flexibility while increasing the overall resource utilization. However, the currently used tunnelling protocol, i.e., GTP, might not be the most appropriate choice for the envisioned scenarios, given its unawareness of the underlay network. In this paper, we analyse the use of an alternative tunnelling protocol to transport user data, namely, Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6). More specifically, we discuss its qualitative advantages, present a prototype implementation, and carry out an experimental comparison vs. GTP, confirming that it constitutes a valid alternative as tunnelling protocol.