השוואת שיטות

	וירטואליזציה של פונקציות רשת (NFV)	Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)	רשתות מוגדרות תוכנה (SDN)
תחום	תקשורת	תקשורת	תקשורת
משפחה	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
שנת המקור	2012	2001	2008
הוגה השיטה	ETSI NFV Industry Specification Group	IETF MPLS Working Group	Nick McKeown et al.
סוג	virtualization paradigm	label-based forwarding paradigm	programmable network paradigm
מקור מכונן	ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). (2012). Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Architectural Framework. GS NFV 002 V1.1.1.	Rosen, E. C., Viswanathan, A., & Callon, R. (2001). Multiprotocol Label Switching Architecture. RFC 3031.	McKeown, N., Anderson, T., Balakrishnan, H., et al. (2008). OpenFlow: enabling innovation in campus networks. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 38(2), 69-74.
כינויים	virtual network functions, network slicing	label switching, traffic engineering	network virtualization, programmable networks
קשורות	2	4	4
תקציר	Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a paradigm that implements traditional network functions (firewalls, load balancers, gateways, packet inspection) as software running on commodity servers instead of proprietary hardware appliances. Introduced by ETSI (2012), NFV reduces capital and operational expenses by leveraging cloud infrastructure and enabling rapid deployment of network services. Combined with SDN, NFV enables on-demand service creation and network slicing. It is now central to 5G and cloud-native network architecture.	Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a forwarding paradigm that prepends a short label to packets, enabling routers to make forwarding decisions based on the label rather than IP destination address. Introduced by IETF (2001), MPLS was designed to enable traffic engineering, VPN creation, and fast rerouting in IP networks. While MPLS complexity is high, it remains foundational in service provider backbones for traffic engineering and Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning.	Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a network architecture paradigm that decouples the control plane (routing decisions) from the data plane (packet forwarding). Introduced by McKeown et al. (2008) with OpenFlow, SDN enables network programmability by centralizing control logic in software-based controllers that direct forwarding behavior of simple programmable switches. SDN has transformed network operations, enabling rapid service deployment, traffic engineering, and cloud integration. It is now foundational in data centers and service provider networks.