Convergence of ICN and MEC for 5G: Opportunities and Challenges

Information-centric networking (ICN) builds on a content-centric network architecture to overcome the shortcomings of host-centric routing/operation and realize efficient pervasive and ubiquitous networking. Similarly, multi-access edge computing (MEC) is another key technology to fulfill the stringent requirements of 5G to offer anytime-anywhere connected services for massive numbers of devices with ultra-low delay and very large bandwidths. The amalgamation of the ICN paradigm with MEC opens up new opportunities as well some challenges to realize 5G vision and advance beyond 5G systems. The key motivation of this article is to discuss and elaborate the convergence of ICN and MEC for better future networks, and to identify the current standardization efforts. Moreover, the article renders the key use cases and identifies potential research directions with the coexistence of ICN and MEC.