Observability in telecoms: paving the way for autonomous networks and business success

Tackling today’s network complexity through observability

In recent years, observability has emerged as a critical solution to navigating the complexities of modern hybrid networks. Today's hybrid, multi-cloud networks, which involve the integration of on-premises infrastructure, cloud services, and telecoms networks, are inherently complex and challenging to manage due to the diverse number of players within the ecosystem. To add to this, in today's digital age, customers expect nothing short of a flawless customer experience. For today's digital-native customers, speed and convenience at their fingertips is the new norm. As such, autonomous networks that can anticipate needs, proactively identify issues and continuously optimise performance offer a strategic business advantage for Communication Service Providers (CSPs). Observability, a critical building block in autonomous networks, plays a crucial role in this transformation, enabling CSPs to transform networks, monetise new services and deliver an enhanced customer experience.

Why observability matters

Observability provides comprehensive insights into the internal states of a network system by inspecting and analysing the system's data. Going beyond basic monitoring capabilities, observability allows CSPs to gain real-time insights. This provides a comprehensive picture of network performance and behaviour, giving CSPs deeper insights into the complex issues affecting systems. In doing so, CSPs are able to not only ensure that service level agreements (SLAs) are met, but also offer an innovative approach to enhance service assurance, manage security threats, and optimise network planning and performance. When all these benefits are fully realised, its most strategic goal is achieved - to transform networks to power innovative business models and monetise new opportunities.

An effective observability strategy

A successful observability strategy comprises five crucial components: AI and machine learning; intent-driven orchestration; network digital twins; open APIs and ecosystem integration; and generative AI (GenAI). Each of these technologies plays a vital role in establishing a flexible and open framework. Through processing diverse data from multiple vendor systems, this integrated approach ensures the effective management of modern networks.

For example, AI and machine learning’s ability to automatically detect anomalies, predict potential issues, and recommend corrective actions significantly enhances observability. This enables service providers to effectively address challenges before they escalate into critical problems, strengthening the overall resilience of these networks. 

Intent-driven orchestration technology further enhances observability by providing deeper insights into the network operations' intent. These insights enable operators to identify whether observability aligns with business goals and service requirements, enabling effective network management.

Additionally, digital twins enable operators to replicate physical networks that simulate and analyse network behaviour in real-time. This capability allows operators to test "what-if" scenarios, providing greater observability, thus enabling communication service providers to optimise network performance before making real-world changes.

Open API systems that integrate with other systems and applications are also essential in an effective observability platform. The transparency provided by this integration ensures that observability data can be accessed across different domains, ultimately improving overall network intelligence and operational efficiency.

Finally, leveraging machine learning models and large language models (LLMs) to automate key processes, such as alarms, logs, and KPIs, further facilitates self-awareness and autonomous decision-making. This allows operators the ability to interact more strategically with the network, resulting in significant time saving benefits.

Observability in practice

By choosing network providers with a robust observability strategy embedded into their digital network infrastructure, CSPs stand to turn observability into a real strategic business advantage that delivers tangible benefits. Currently, observability use cases are actively deployed in various real-world scenarios.

Observability is a particularly beneficial tool in managing the complexities of 5G networks. A recent report found that 73% of telecom operators plan to adopt cloud-native architecture for their 5G core networks by 2025. As businesses' reliance on cloud-native 5G networks for seamless connectivity deepens, observational tools prove particularly beneficial in ensuring not only the optimal performance of these 5G networks but also ensuring Service Level Agreement compliance across diverse use cases such as IoT, private wireless networks, and network slicing.

Observability data also proves essential when establishing proactive maintenance strategies. The insights observability data provides helps to identify potential issues before they impact network performance, reducing downtime and maintenance costs while improving the overall service reliability as a result.

In today’s digital age, the customer demand for hyper-personalization is increasing. In this realm, observability is particularly beneficial as it allows CSPs to gain insights into customer experience and network usage patterns. This information can be used to tailor services, optimise resource allocation, and deliver a superior user experience, ultimately driving customer satisfaction and loyalty. This forms a critical component that will provide businesses with an important advantage in today’s highly competitive telecoms landscape.

Turning observability into a strategic business advantage

Optimising the efficiency of network systems begins with the critical step of assessing the performance of current systems. This is particularly true given the complexity of today’s hybrid networks, where observability plays a crucial role in maintaining operational efficiency to deliver exceptional customer experience. Real-time insights into network performance enabled through AI and closed-looped automation technology stands to transform networks into powerful, innovative business models, creating new opportunities for monetisation. 

Erez Sverdlov, Europe Market Leader, Cloud and Network Services at Nokia. A Senior Executive with over 30 years in the Global Telecommunications/Technology industry, currently leading Nokia’s software business in Europe. Pragmatic leader with a history of successful customer management, strategic business development, delivery, and support of technology-based solutions.