Patent ID: 8468523

Claim:
A network apparatus, comprising: a storage unit for storing instructions and user authorization information used and executed by the network apparatus; a user unit for requesting a generation of a virtualization slice; a virtualization control unit for determining whether to generate a software-based virtualization slice or a hardware-based virtualization slice based on the user information of a user issuing the generation request, wherein the determining includes checking authorization of the user; a hardware virtualization unit for generating the hardware-based slice in association with another network apparatus according to a result of the determination, wherein the generating of the hardware-based virtualization slice when it is determined that the hardware-based virtualization slice is to be generated, converting by an interface conversion unit, a generation code of the software-based virtualization slice into an application programming interface (API) code supported by hardware, and generating the hardware-based virtualization slice based on the converted API code; and a software-based virtualization unit for generating the software-based virtualization slice when it is determined that the software-based virtualization slice is to be generated, wherein the generating the software-based virtualization slice includes generating a new virtual machine using a privileged virtual machine, connecting the new virtual machine to another virtual machine of another network apparatus to generate the software-based virtualization slice.