developed by the content providers, usually coming as a set of [*virtual network functions*]{} (VNFs) running on virtual machines or containers.

Designing a MEC network requires making decisions on where, within the network edge, servers shall be placed, and how to dimension them. Both questions require a deep knowledge of the data demand the network will have to serve: more exactly, we need to know (i) how much data the users will require; (ii) the type of such data, e.g., the mobile apps requesting it, and (iii) how much computational power will be needed to produce these data. The first two items have been widely studied: using operator-provided [@orange-d4d; @Malandrino-TCS] and crowd-sourced [@noi-pof; @noi-workshop] traces, it is possible for researchers to obtain a fairly good picture of the data demand of mobile networks, including its time and space evolution, as well as the services contributing to it.

Estimating the [*processing power*]{} needed to serve a given network demand, on the other hand, is much more challenging. The processing required to generate one gigabit per second of video data is not the same as the processing needed for the same quantity of gaming updates or maps. Additionally, it makes a significant 