Yue Wei, Huawei: F5.5G Premium All-Optical Network, Leading a New Era of Experience-Centric Operation

Figure: Yue Wei, President of Huawei's NCE Optical Network Domain

[Istanbul, Türkiye, July 5, 2024] The 16th Huawei User Group Meeting (HUGM) was recently held in Istanbul, Türkiye, with the theme of "Listening, Collaborating, Improving, Developing". At the Optical Product Line Mindshare session, Yue Wei, President of Huawei's NCE Optical Network Domain, delivered a keynote speech entitled "F5.5G Premium All-Optical Network, Leading a New Era of Experience-Centric Operation". He explained how Huawei's F5.5G Premium All-Optical Network solution will help carriers embrace the brand-new era of all-optical network experience-centric operation and broaden the business landscape.

Propelled by the call and response between network and demands, the development of all-optical networks has hailed milestone after milestone. The first decade of the millennium marked the "era of connectivity", as optical networks connected homes to the world. The next decade saw the incorporation of 10 Gbps broadband access into high-speed data transmission, ushering in the "era of bandwidth". Today, new demands on networks spring forth. Premium experience in itself has become an independent indicator of value and an essential for enterprises and individual users in both production and living. We have entered the "era of experience".

However, carriers struggle to measure up to the huge business opportunities arising from the growing demands, as traditional optical networks offer no means of measuring or visualizing user experience. When trying to expand their home broadband services, carriers encounter the three prominent challenges of low marketing success, low complaint handling efficiency, and high churn rate. Similarly, in the enterprise-to-business domain, they are faced with O&M dilemmas such as complex network structures, invisible SLA risks, high dependency on manual work. To address these challenges, Huawei's F5.5G Premium All-Optical Network solution offers Premium Broadband and Premium Transmission solutions, enabling carriers to accomplish "User Aware Network" and "Network Aware User", and bringing a revolutionary change to all-optical network operation.

"User Aware Network" for Proactive Experience Assurance

"User Aware Network" is accomplished through the quantitative measurement of user experience, which allows carriers to proactively identify poor QoE and take preemptive assurance measures. For the home broadband domain, Huawei's Premium Broadband solution offers the home broadband customer experience index (CEI) model. Powered with 3-layer 8-dimensional big data and BLOA algorithm, the model can evaluate user experience with high accuracy. Primed with an overview of network-wide user experience, carriers can then pinpoint their subscribers' real needs, either following up with precision marketing of services, or identifying subscribers with low scores and resolving network problems before the subscribers report faults. This is how the solution keeps carriers one step ahead in assuring user experience and safeguarding user satisfaction.

For the transmission domain, Huawei's Premium Transmission solution introduces the digital twin technology for digital mirroring of physical networks. At the fiber layer, the system detects and reports performance issues such as abnormal optical attenuation, and can increase the optical power to offset the impact of attenuation. At the network layer, the system detects and analyzes availability risks caused by abnormal network structures, and generates suggestions for rectification. At the service layer, the system also helps carriers navigate SLA risks caused by improper trails and performance. The Premium Transmission solution can reduce complaints by 80% and network fault rate by 30%, helping carriers establish stable and efficient transmission bases.

"Network Aware User" for Instant Troubleshooting

"Network Aware User" refer to when subscribers notice and report network problems, the solution can help carriers quickly troubleshoot and provide high-quality services. For the home broadband domain, the solution caters to 34 typical home broadband faults that account for freezing, disconnection, and slow response, and allows call centers carry out remote E2E diagnoses within 80 seconds. In addition, the LinkHome Assistant app allows field engineers to perform quick diagnoses during onsite troubleshooting, without the assistance of network operation centers (NOCs). The feature has proved itself in practice to reduce the average troubleshooting duration from 5 minutes to 1 minute and the churn rate from 4.3% to 1.8%.

For the transmission domain, the solution's intelligent fault diagnosis system supports NOC engineers in troubleshooting faults remotely and with precision. Coupled with the one-click diagnosis feature, it enables analyses of cross-layer alarms at the cable, optical, electrical, and service layers, and automatically identifies root causes. The solution is the efficient alternative to the traditional troubleshooting process that requires cross-functional effort. In practice, the solution reduces the average number of site visits for problem handling from three to one and the process from 8 hours to 15 minutes.

Yue concluded that the coming decade will be one for carriers to advance into the era of experience-centric operation, and the F5.5G Premium All-Optical Network solution will serve as their shortcut to win their share in experience monetization. Huawei looks forward to working with carriers and industry partners to seize new opportunities, and bring premium experience to every home, business, and industry.