Jul 2026· Applied Networking Research Workshop· pp. 1-7· 0 citations· 23 references
Computer Science
TL;DR
BoostState is presented, a low-latency state transfer framework in MEC that leverages programmable data planes to accelerate state transfer while preserving conventional cloud-based NF deployments and reduces state transfer latency compared to prior work.
Abstract
Stateful Network Functions (NFs) are widely deployed in cloud environments, where operations such as scaling, failover, and migration depend on NF state to ensure correct processing. Supporting these operations requires state transfer between NFs. The emergence of Multi Access Edge Computing (MEC) introduces state transfer scenarios such as state splitting and merging across NFs, driven by user mobility and distributed deployment. Existing techniques perform state transfer at NFs, which becomes a bottleneck, particularly when a NF transfers state to other NFs while continuing packet processing or competing for CPU resources. We present BoostState, a low-latency state transfer framework in MEC that leverages programmable data planes to accelerate state transfer while preserving conventional cloud-based NF deployments. BoostState leverages state partitioning, where NF state is partitioned into header and action state. It delegates handling header state to programmable data planes, reducing state transfer overhead at NFs. We implement BoostState using P4 language on a Netronome SmartNIC. Our results show that BoostState reduces state transfer latency compared to prior work, including up to 60% lower transmission latency.
Network slicing is a foundational capability of Fifth Generation (5G)-Advanced and emerging Sixth Generation (6G) networks, yet practical support for seamless runtime slice transitions remains limited. Standard cloud-native 5G architectures lack native support for stateful inter/intra-slice session migration, relying instead on high-overhead Non-Access Stratum (NAS) re-registrations, container redeployment etc., which disrupt userplane traffic for up to 245.50 ms. To address this limitation, we present Orchra, an intelligent orchestrator for stateful, low-latency context transfer. By externalizing critical user equipment state-including NAS context, security keys, and Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session information-into a transient staging layer, Orchra preserves session continuity across slice boundaries without requiring full re-registration. Experimental evaluation shows that Orchra reduces this userplane interruption by more than twice in comparison to conventional Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)-based approaches while incurring negligible security overhead. These results demonstrate a practical and reproducible approach for enabling seamless, state-preserving slice transitions in cloud-native 5G-Advanced networks.
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