Modern societies increasingly depend on critical infrastructures such as transportation, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as well as energy systems. The latter constitutes a particularly demanding application and, in an effort to reduce its impact on the environment while boosting efficiencies, is undergoing a paradigm shift towards renewable, distributed generation of electricity. This transformation towards Smart Grids in turn requires an unprecedented degree of monitoring and control on all levels of the electrical system. Accordingly, pervasive ICT infrastructures, capable of meeting stringent requirements in terms of robustness, flexibility, and performance, are needed. This work aims at meeting these challenges by applying the concepts of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) to critical infrastructure communications. Both approaches represent a paradigm shift away from integrated, fixed-function devices towards flexibly programmable, i.e. softwarization- and virtualization-driven, ICT infrastructures. These 5G core network technologies are evaluated via simulations and empirical studies, focusing on their suitability for use in future Smart Grids. Key contributions to the state of the art in fault-tolerance, flexibility and scalability are introduced by way of novel strategies for resilience, core network slicing and scalable Edge Clouds, and integrated into a comprehensive SDN controller framework. The developed solutions are shown to fulfil the most demanding requirements of relevant critical infrastructure protocols and scenarios, derived from real-world deployments as well as research projects.weiterlesen