Network automation: a solution framework for service agility and cost economics in cloud-enabled 5G networks

The dynamic nature of telco cloud networks render the traditional siloed and manual operational approaches inefficient and unsuitable for helping to increase service agility, tackle the complexities of cloud technologies and transform opex economics. The legacy operational model was designed for a bottom-up network-led approach in which the networks are first built out and the services designed and provisioned later.

This report provides:

• an explanation of why the traditional operational approaches are not fit for purpose to tackle the complexities of the modern virtual network, and are unsuitable to achieve the higher levels of service agility and reduced opex that communications service providers (CSPs) require
• an illustration of what network automation is and what its role is in achieving the ultimate CSP goals of autonomous operations
• a software systems-based framework for network automation
• recommendations for how CSPs and vendors can progress the network automation journey.