On the Virtual Network Embedding polytope

Abstract

We initiate the polyhedral study of the Virtual Network Embedding (VNE) problem, which arises in modern telecommunication networks. We propose new valid inequalities for the so-called flow formulation. We then prove, through a dedicated flow decomposition algorithm, that these inequalities characterize the VNE polytope in the case of an embedding of a virtual edge on a substrate path. Preliminary experiments show that the new inequalities propose promising speedups for MIP solvers.