Software demarcation in edge computing environment

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system of a telecommunication service provider network including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

• establishing a first tunnel between the processing system and a virtual machine monitor of a customer premises-based device;
• sending a first instruction to the virtual machine monitor via the first tunnel, the first instruction for directing the virtual machine monitor to instantiate a first service provider application on the customer premises-based device;
• establishing a second tunnel between the processing system and the first service provider application, wherein the first service provider application is configured to operate in a service function chain;
• and
• sending a second instruction to the virtual machine monitor via the first tunnel to tear down the first service provider application from the service function chain.

A device comprising:

• a processing system of a telecommunication service provider network including at least one processor;
• and
• a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• establishing a first tunnel between the processing system and a virtual machine monitor of a customer premises-based device;
• sending a first instruction to the virtual machine monitor via the first tunnel, the first instruction for directing the virtual machine monitor to instantiate a first service provider application on the customer premises-based device;
• establishing a second tunnel between the processing system and the first service provider application, wherein the first service provider application is configured to operate in a service function chain;
• and
• sending a second instruction to the virtual machine monitor via the first tunnel to tear down the first service provider application from the service function chain.