Telecommunication networks have become a critical infrastructure for economic growth and social prosperity. Current networks will be unable to face the future demands and their increasingly diverse set of services, users, applications and requirements what is forcing network operators to transform them. At the centre of this network transformation is the broad-scale deployment of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN). 5GTANGO puts forth the flexible programmability of 5G networks with i) a NFV-enabled Service Development Kit (SDK), ii) a Store with advanced validation and verification mechanisms for VNFs/Network Services qualification (including 3rd party contributions) and iii) a modular Service Platform in order to bridge the gap between business needs and network operational management systems. We propose an integrated vendor-independent platform where the outcome of the development kit, that is a packaged NFV forwarding graph, is automatically tested and validated in the Store for their posterior deployment with a customizable orchestrator compatible with common existing Virtual Infrastructure Managers (VIM) and SDN controllers in the market. This end-to-end ecosystem for the agile development and deployment of services realises an extended NFV DevOps model between service developers, telecom operators and vertical industries, increasing operational efficiency, facilitating the implementation and validation of new services and accelerating the adoption of NFV technologies. 5GTANGO system will be demonstrated in two vertical pilots: advanced Manufacturing and immersive Media. 5GTANGO will actively promote collaboration and try to influence the SDOs most relevant for the project such as ETSI NFV or IETF, as well as the key open source initiatives such as OSM and Open-O. It is also 5GTANGO’s ambition to make key contributions to the 5G-PPP Programme, the targeted KPIs and commits to work with its peer 5G-PPP projects.

The Internet (r)evolution has changed traditional business and forces it to reinvent itself. Traditional operator-enabled services are losing on their importance due to a variety of new communication services, like chat and social networks, which complement or supersede traditional ones like voice telephony. Technical progress has minimized the need for access-controlled communication services and is moving instead to context based communication, which is presumably available at only marginal or no additional cost. However, unlike traditional telecommunication services, that enable universal communication, Internet communication tools are characterized by their walled garden approach, where users can only communicate with users of the same application and are not free to change application without losing their data or contacts. The main goal of the reTHINK project is to design and prototype a new, non telecom centric, but Web-centric P2P Service Architecture enabling dynamic trusted relationships among distributed applications called Hyperlinked Entities that support use-cases such as contextual and social communications, M2M/IoT and content oriented services. This project will enable any type of service delivery through specialized end-to-end network quality commitments, powered by specialized P2P and/or Cloud services (delivered as SaaS,PaaS or IaaS). The major structural difference between the operators approach and the web companies is related to a recurring concept in the deployment of ICT solutions: full deperimeterisation of services. Operators today cannot directly compete at a global level because their services are not and cannot be provided outside of the deployed and owned network. The services operators provide are tightly coupled with the network's functionalities and its geographical extension. The work is performed by a consortium of 3 global telecom operators, 2 SMEs, 2 Universities and 2 leading research institutes, coordinated by Eurescom.