Evolving to the Next Generation of Network Automation

The recent artificial intelligence boom is impacting the telecoms industry in a number of ways, among the most significant of which concerns network automation. To get further clarity on the matter we posed a few questions to Eyal Shaked, General Manager of Intelligent OSS at Amdocs.

As the telecom industry evolves, what are some of the new challenges you see?

We are witnessing a surge in cutting-edge technologies across the network. These transformative changes pose new challenges for operations teams, who now face the task of managing complex and dynamic networks while integrating with existing infrastructure. Embracing 5G standalone, cloud and edge technologies, as well as exposing the network through APIs, introduces complexities that demand careful attention – especially as they integrate with various existing systems.

At the same time customer expectations are soaring. Consumers, enterprises and partners all anticipate dynamic, real-time interactions with the network, seeking seamless experiences, innovative new services and immediate access to data and services.

In this ever-changing landscape, industry stakeholders must adapt to the demands of the 5G era, meeting both technological challenges and rising customer expectations while controlling costs.

So what’s required to overcome these challenges?

The key lies in automation. CSPs must implement automation to manage the complexity of new networks. In the digital age, delivering and maintaining service quality in highly heterogeneous and dynamic networks will be beyond humans, and mandates the implementation of AI/ML driven automation.

Automation depends on access to accurate data to generate effective actions. This data will be derived from multiple sources, with inventory being one of the most critical as it remains the cornerstone of service providers’ operations.

The inventory needs to provide comprehensive service and network data; for automation, the data cannot be siloed. It needs to be end-to-end, enabling service providers to be on top of existing and new networks as these are highly interdependent. These capabilities do not typically exist in currently deployed inventories – which explains the significantly growing interest we are seeing in a new approach to inventory.

In other words, do you mean they are exploring inventory modernization?

Indeed – as mentioned, this is key to the next level of automation needed in the network. Our customers are exploring a gradual, business-driven, tailored approach to inventory modernization, designed to meet their specific needs. And with over 20 years of inventory experience and worldwide deployments (including the largest and most innovative service providers) we can do just that – enable our customers with the scalability and flexibility needed to deliver concrete business outcomes.

What specific features should the “inventory for the new network” possess?
The inventory should support all networks, clouds and services without compromising visibility, providing a complete end-to-end view of the network and its dependencies through a centralized ‘single pane of glass’ interface.

Amdocs offers a vendor-neutral, cross-domain inventory across networks, clouds and services with a flexible management layer for centralized access to data from any source. These capabilities enable service providers to federate existing inventories, replace legacy systems, or add new inventories to support new use cases.

What about assurance and your recent acquisition announcement?

Amdocs recently acquired the Helix Service Assurance Suite from TEOCO. Combining these capabilities with our inventory delivers a single source of truth about services and resources, and provides real-time visibility to support the dynamic nature of new networks.

Close integration between the two solutions is of paramount importance across multiple use cases. While assurance systems excel at detecting faults, measuring performance, and assessing service quality parameters, the service and network topologies (kept up to date in the inventory) facilitate a swift correlation of events, enabling service providers to understand:
a. What exactly happened to cause all this? Root cause analysis
b. Which services are affected? Service impact analysis

Service disruptions and downtime can be further minimized through proactive automated identification and resolution of network issues – before they affect the customers.

Sounds promising! Any thoughts on the future?

These are exciting times in the network space. Enhancing agility, reducing operational costs and enabling new services – beyond classic connectivity – all these can only be achieved by taking automation to the next level.

At Amdocs, we are excited by the advancements we are making with our customers. With continuous developments to our existing products (such as inventory, orchestration and fulfillment) alongside the incorporation of assurance capabilities, we are powering the next generation of intent-driven, AI-powered, closed-loop operations and helping drive our industry to the next level.

At the upcoming DTW23 in Copenhagen we will be showcasing our holistic offering, including the recent acquisition. If you are there, be sure to stop by the Amdocs booth #204.

You can find more information on Amdocs Network Inventory and Amdocs Helix Service Assurance.

Eyal Shaked, General Manager of Intelligent OSS at Amdocs.