he performance metrics given in Table 3.4 can be considered as KPIs for the DPI. 3.7 QoS in Future Networks The further evolution of NGN within the ITU is referred to as future networks. In fact, it is a continuation of the work on NGN, targeted to smart and more advanced services, considering different types of awareness, including: Service awareness. Future networks should provide new service deployments without significant increase in network deployment and operational costs. Data awareness. Future networks are expected to carry constantly increasing amounts of data in all parts (access, core, and transit network segments), which needs to be accessed easily, quickly, accurately, safely, and with desired QoS, regardless of the access network, fixed or mobile. Environmental awareness. Future networks should be energy efficient and environ- mentally friendly. Social and economic awareness. Future networks should be developed with awareness of the costs and competition, SO that services can be accessible by all players in the service ecosystems. The question is how to provide these types of awareness in future networks. Well, the answer is by adding more flexibility in the network regarding the allocation of its resources (e.g. bandwidth, memory or processing power of the nodes, etc.) regarding all planes (user plane, control plane, and management plane). Which are the available "tools" for such a goal? They are software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) technologies. They are seen as enablers to reduce operational costs and provide potential revenue streams by expanding the telecom world into different verticals (e.g. machine-type communications, the IoT, used for different services in different verticals, such as smart cities, smart industry, smart homes). However, telecom operators have a large amount of equipment which does not have SDN or NFV capabilities. So it is very probable that many telecom operators in the future will consider the benefits of SDN and NFV in hybrid imple