The TM Forum has published the latest Autonomous Networks (AN) Level 4 Industry Blueprint release. EANTC has co-signed this report.
It is our pleasure to support the important work of the TM Forum in advancing automated network service provisioning, troubleshooting, and optimization. We published our industry-first independent test of Level 4-ready Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) implementation by Huawei precisely one year ago. We found that the solution with Huawei routers and network management reached Level 4.0 for provisioning, 3.6 for fault management, and 3.8 for optimization – relating to a specific set of standard SRv6 end-to-end services.
In the past twelve months, network management solution vendors have worked hard to expand automated multi-vendor provisioning and telemetry collection further. We have conducted extensive multi-vendor testing at the 2024 EANTC multi-vendor interop event with controllers and routers from five manufacturers (Ciena, Cisco, Huawei, Juniper, and Nokia).
The results of our testing proved that automated provisioning of selected IP network services is already a viable option. Automated troubleshooting, which depends on telemetry collection, still requires more work because there are multiple data acquisition standards. Automated network optimization is still experimental in most network domains because it could be harmful when making mistakes. The difficult-to-predict nature of AI-based solutions in areas that the models have not been trained for does not help. Operators want their network to function flawlessly not only in a normal business but, most importantly, in exceptional situations.
The TM Forum has opted for a self-assessment of operator readiness for Autonomous Networks solutions. The future will tell if operators fill these questionnaires conservatively or based on competitive marketing goals. We hope the topic will be too nerdy to result in messages like “Best-automated network in the country!” or “Smartest AI answering your support calls!”.
European operators of critical infrastructure—including mobile 5G networks and fixed IP networks—are getting ready for NIS2. The certifications in the NIS2 area mostly focus on “security” in terms of access and threat protection and proper handling of denial-of-service attacks. But reliable operation under extreme conditions is an important aspect of security and uninterrupted service as well.
For this reason, EANTC will continue working with vendors and operators to develop and conduct advanced Autonomous Networks provisioning, telemetry, and optimization tests. One of our initiatives with German operators is performance testing of AI-based network optimization solutions for the 5G Open RAN era in the i14y Lab project.
Stay tuned for results from the next O-RAN Alliance PlugFest (scheduled for November 18)!