As communication service providers (CSPs) leap towards 5G rollouts, there will be huge CAPEX investments in network infrastructure and spectrum licensing. It will therefore be imperative to control ongoing OPEX spend by utilizing automation-led operations. Existing legacy networks such as 3G/4G have a few such capabilities that use self-organizing network (SON) modules that cater to self-configuration, optimizations, and healing. More so, 5G networks will unleash a room for automation due to “cloudification” and containerization of network functions. This will be feasible, given that there will be several new APIs for consumption, thus leading to no deterrence to AI/ML use cases, unlike in legacy networks. However, there are standardizations underway, and several new Cloud-native Network Functions (CNF hereon) or Virtual Network Functions (VNF hereon) entrants have bloated the market. Many new CSPs have forayed into open ecosystems while existing players are looking for a seamless upgrade from 4G to 5G or the co-existence of both technologies until 5G is heavily rolled out.
To tap the full potential of automation within the 5G ecosystem and reduce OPEX, some of the immediate focus areas for CSPs will be – prescriptive networks with advanced SON, cross-vendor automated testing and deployment, and hybrid cloud management and operations with tools/frameworks.
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