, oper- ators initiated a new concept, called network functions virtualization (NFV) within the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) consortium [10]. Instead of building NFs in the form of propri- etary hardware boxes, NFV calls for the virtualization of them. Using virtualization and cloud technologies, it allows legacy NFs to be flex- ibly deployed in the form of software on commodity servers. Sharing the same spirit of splitting the router's control plane from forwarding plane, the decoupling of NF software from the hardware facilitates a faster pace for innovations and shorter development cycles, and result in shorter time to market of new services. 1 Introduction 1.1.1 Benefits One important benefit of the SDN and NFV is the potential to open new business opportunities in network architecture, related systems, and hardware. Today, when a new network protocol or network application is invented, the entire industry needs to go through the tedious standardization process by established organizations such as the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), to name but a few. After the standard- ization process, the development cycle and extensive testing activities may last 18-24 months, ensuring the performance, reliability, and interoperability with other equipments. While the seamless inter- connectivity plays an important role in the success of the Internet and its applications, however, the long duration of standardization process and development cycle has made today's networks difficult to change. This is particularly true for research and innovations related to test and validate novel networking approaches, for example, new or revised routing or forwarding schemes. Such modifications currently require the close collaboration between operators and system manufactures, and hence demand substantial resources in terms of time and manpower. The essence behind SDN and NFV is the decoupling of 