3 Terminology and Acronyms

The following table provides information about the acronyms and the terminology used in the document.

Table 3-1 Acronyms

Field	Description
5G-AN	5G Access Network
5GC	5G Core Network
AMF	Access and Mobility Management Function
CNE	Cloud Native Environment
MMI	Machine Machine Interface
MPS	Messages Per Second
NF	Network Function
Network Function	A functional building block within a network infrastructure, which has well defined external interfaces and well defined functional behavior. In practical terms, a network function is often a network node or physical appliance.
Network Slice	A logical network that provides specific network capabilities and network characteristics.
Network Slice instance	A set of Network Function instances and the required resources (e.g. compute, storage and networking resources) which form a deployed Network Slice.
NF Consumer	A generic way to refer to an NF which consumes services provided by another NF. Ex: An AMF is referred to as a Consumer when it consumes AMPolicy services provided by the PCF.
NF Instance	A specific instance of a network function type.
NF Producer or NF Provider	A generic way to refer to an NF which provides services that can be consumed by another NF. Ex: A PCF is a provider NF and provides AMPolicy Services
NRF	Network Repository Function or Network Function Repository Function
Resiliency	The ability of the NFV framework to limit disruption and return to normal or at a minimum acceptable service delivery level in the fame of a fault, failure, or an event that disrupts normal operation.
Scaling	Ability to dynamically extend/reduce resources granted to the Virtual Network Function (VNF) as needed. This includes scaling out/in or scaling up/down.
Scaling Out/In/ Horizontally	The ability to scale by add/remove resource instances (e.g. VMs). Also called scaling Horizontally.
Scaling Up/Down/ Vertically	The ability to scale by changing allocated resources, e.g. increase/decrease memory, CPU capacity or storage size.
PCF	Policy Control Function
SEPP	Security Edge Protection Proxy
SCP	Service Controller Proxy
5G System	3GPP system consisting of 5G Access Network (AN), 5G Core Network and UE