A LISP-Based Implementation of Follow Me Cloud

Abstract

The follow me cloud (FMC) concept enables service mobility, wherein not only content/data, but also services follow their respective users. The FMC allows mobile users to be always connected via the optimal data anchor and mobility gateways to access their data and services from optimal data centers. The FMC was initially designed to support user mobility, particularly in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) networks. In this paper, FMC is further tailored to support mobile users connected from other network types, such as public WiFi or Asymetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) fixed networks. Indeed, this paper presents an implementation of FMC based on local/identifier separation protocol (LISP), whereby the main goal is to render FMC independent from the underlying technology. To simplify further the deployment, all FMC entities (including LISP entities) are virtualized considering the network function virtualization principle.