Network Virtualization in Future Home Environments

Home environments have a great potential of resource sharing and energy saving. More and more home computers are running on an always-on basis (e.g. media-centers or file-sharing clients). Such home environments have not been sufficiently analyzed regarding their energy-efficient operation, yet. This paper discusses network virtualization methods that are needed in future home environments to enable the energy-efficient cooperation of home networks. End-users share their available hardware resources (e.g. CPU, disk, or network resources) with other users in an energy-efficient and balanced way. To achieve such an envisioned future home environment, an architecture is suggested that combines different virtualization methods. In this paper, virtualization related requirements of the suggested architecture are discussed in detail. Network virtualization methods and concepts are compared to each other with respect to their usability in the architecture. In addition, initial virtualization approaches are simulated and evaluated with regard to benefits and complexity in the suggested architecture.