Method and control system for controlling provisioning of a service in a network

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a system, cause the system to carry out operations including:

• receiving an allocation request for providing the service;
• obtaining a predefined stored network function specification data structure (i) identifying a first network function of the service comprising one or more network functions including the first network function, and (ii) specifying the first network function and defining at least a virtual implementation, associated with a virtual machine identifier, for performing the first network function and a physical implementation, associated with a hardware identifier, for performing the first network function;
• and
• after receiving the allocation request, controlling provisioning of the service in the network by making a selection of one of the defined implementations in the predefined stored network function specification data structure, for performing the first network function.

A control system configured for controlling provisioning of a service in a network, the service comprising one or more network functions including a first network function, wherein the control system comprises:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the control system to carry out operations including:
• receiving an allocation request for providing the service;
• obtaining a predefined stored network function specification data structure identifying and specifying the first network function and defining at least a virtual implementation associated with a virtual machine identifier, for performing the first network function and a physical implementation, associated with a hardware identifier, for performing the first network function;
• and
• after receiving the allocation request, controlling provisioning of the service in the network by making a selection of one of the defined implementations in the predefined stored network function specification data structure, for performing the first network function.