Can we fully "automate" a telecom network ?

Traditionally, the Operation, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) of telecom networks and systems have been hugely dependent on humans. Human intervention is required at different levels, mainly at hardware and software. The dependency is more prevalent with wire-line operators as compared to wireless operators. While this had its benefits in the past, with multiple changes of different magnitude happening in the surrounding, too much dependency on humans on telco operations has sometimes become really inefficient and unproductive.

Telecom operators use different business models to source the human services required. These include in-house, partly outsourced and fully outsourced, etc. But in the long run, all these models have their own defects due to various reasons. As telecom networks transform from Circuit Switched based (mainly TDM) OGNs (Old Generation Networks) to Packet Switched (mainly IP/Ethernet) based NGNs (Next Generation Networks) to virtualized NGNs (vNGN) or Software Generation Networks (SGNs), certain amount of the work done by the humans could be automated, increasing the efficiency and productivity of the overall operations.

SGN, which includes virtualization of the network [Software Defined Networking (SDN)] and network functions [Network Functions Virtualization (NFV)], bring in automation and agility to telecom networks at different levels. With proper orchestration of different resources, an end to end service across different network segments and systems could be provided almost automatically.

What if the user requests a "telecom" service online through a web portal and is automatically provisioned and delivered within seconds?

While online service requests and and automatic service delivery is common with Internet based web scale companies, telecom service delivery has traditionally includes many human interventions at different points. This is common for service management as well. There are obvious areas in a telecom domain, where we can NOT practically introduce automation. These include, but not limited to, wires (copper, cable, fiber), towers, antennas, chassis, cards and power supplies. However, once these basic building blocks are in place and properly connected, the rest can be easily automated with proper implementation and usage of software. Software is a very powerful tool and the code has really become the king, not only in telecom space, but also in many other areas.

If the network intelligence is logically centralized, few experts can manage everything from anywhere. Physical intervention is required only when there's something to do with hardware and you can do it with a properly trained set of staff easily. To achieve this many things need to put in place as listed below.

• Virtualizing networks, network elements and systems wherever possible.
• Abstracting different levels of the network to a software layer using SDN.
• Virtualizing network fictions of the operator using NFV.
• Virualizing the end customer services delivers across the network and systems using NFV and Virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE), where the Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) are located inside the vCPE, at the network edge or in the cloud. The vCPEs are essentially plug-and-play and self-serviced by the customers themselves.
• Orchestrating the resources and the services.
• Re-architecture of traditional Central Offices (COs) or Local Exchanges (LEs) to be mini Data Centers (DC) to host VNFs. CORD (Central Office Re-architected as a Datacenter) can be used for this purpose effectively.

Above need not happen at once or in the order above, but a proper strategy and a plan with realistic timelines can deliver results step-by-step as different capabilities are released at appropriate times.