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This demand has driven the development of solutions that involve the coordinated management of Access Points. In recent years, Software-Defined Wireless Networks (SDWNs) have emerged as a promising approach, leveraging Software-Defined Networking (SDN) principles to enable intelligent coordination and management of APs using cost-effective hardware. However, while SDWNs have primarily focused on managing the radio interface, less attention has been devoted to SDN-based management of wired network segments or the automated deployment of virtualized Wi-Fi infrastructures. In this work, we present a fully virtualized Wi-Fi network solution that integrates SDN and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) principles across both wireless and wired segments. Our architecture features SDN-based data plane management, two SDN controllers, virtualized APs, and a virtualized gateway, all implemented as containerized components. Automated deployment and orchestration are facilitated using Kubernetes. This infrastructure provides a robust foundation for implementing advanced end-to-end functionalities, such as network slicing, thereby preparing Wi-Fi networks for seamless integration into future 5G and 6G ecosystems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10922-026-10064-3","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,6]],"date-time":"2026-05-06T10:44:14Z","timestamp":1778064254000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Leveraging Kubernetes for Automated Deployment and Orchestration in Virtualized Wi-Fi Networks"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"34","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8298-4300","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mar\u00eda","family":"Canales","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8682-745X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00f3n","family":"G\u00e1llego","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Santacruz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4690-6089","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jos\u00e9","family":"Ruiz-Mas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0299-0859","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"\u00c1ngela","family":"Hern\u00e1ndez-Solana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5237-0447","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juli\u00e1n","family":"Fern\u00e1ndez-Navajas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9052-9554","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jorge","family":"Ort\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"10064_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Kreutz, D., Ramos, F.M.V., Ver ssimo, P.E., Rothenberg, C.E., Azodolmolky, S., Uhlig, S.: Software-defined networking: a comprehensive survey. 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