Telco cloud-native & autonomous core network techtalk

Top industrial experts and leaders from TM Forum, Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN Alliance), Telefónica, MTN, Telkomsel, and Huawei took part in a telco cloud-native & autonomous core network TechTalk hosted by TelecomTV at DTW-Ignite 2024.

The participants discussed telco cloud-native and autonomous core networks, providing valuable insights and suggestions for the future development of the industry.

Telco cloud-native: Key features and evolution roadmap

Anita Döhler, CEO of the NGMN Alliance, Juan Carlos Garcia Lopez, Senior Expert, Technology and Innovation, Leo Ma, Vice President of Cloud Core Network Product Line at Huawei, and Ayedime Amadi, Senior Manager of MTN's Technology Dept., discussed the application and future development of cloud native in the telecom field.

1. Key features of telco cloud-native: carrier-grade stability, smooth evolution, and intelligent O&M

Leo Ma pointed out that although telco cloud-native originated from cloud-native in the IT field, it cannot simply be replicated in the telecom field. Instead, it must be able to provide carrier-grade stability, smooth evolution, and intelligent operations and management (O&M) to support telco cloud services, with the help of large-scale Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) commercial practices.

High stability is the cornerstone of the core network, and smooth evolution must comply with unified standards, such as the ETSI standards. In addition, one set of infrastructure should be able to manage both VMs and containers. With intelligent O&M, telco cloud-native can better realize cloud features including elasticity and agility.

1. Implementation of unified telco cloud-native standards: collaboration with standards & industry organizations including ETSI, NGMN Alliance, and TMF

Leo Ma also emphasized the importance of standards in implementing multi-vendor integration. He mentioned that ETSI has established an excellent reference architecture in the NFV era, which provides a wealth of experience for the development of telco cloud-native. He called for the joint efforts of standards organizations, such as ETSI), and industry organizations, such as NGMN Alliance and TM Forum, to launch a set of telco cloud-native network construction standards and industry initiatives. In this way the industry can avoid fragmentation and promote healthy development.

1. Evolution of telco cloud-native: from carrier-grade to automated and on to intelligent

Leo Ma proposed that the development of telco cloud-native consists of three phases:

• 1.0 (carrier-grade): to achieve carrier-grade reliability and performance.
• 2.0 (automated): to achieve network agility and simplify networks, with rule-based automation.
• 3.0 (intelligent): to demarcate and locate cross-layer faults and realize E2E automation and intelligent root cause analysis.

All participants unanimously recognized the importance of the telco cloud-native concept and expressed their willingness to jointly promote the development and implementation of related standards. Through this TechTalk, industry leaders have reached broad consensus and agreed to work together to accelerate the standardization of telco cloud-native technologies and ensure smooth implementation and global promotion.

Autonomous Core Network: the Solution to the Conflicts Between Core Network O&M Efficiency and Reliability

This topic focused on the autonomous core network. The past decade has seen a great success in NFV. However, core networks are becoming more complex along with the continuous evolution to cloud native and full convergence, and operators are facing conflicts between efficiency and reliability. To address these challenges, Andy Tiller (EVP at TM Forum), I Gusti Ngurah Panca (General Manager at Telkomsel), Juan Carlos Garcia Lopez (Senior Expert, Technology and Innovation), and Fernando Camacho (Autonomous Networks Product Director at Huawei) had an in-depth discussion and proposed clear solutions.

1. Autonomous core networks can effectively solve conflicts between agility and high stability.

Leveraging TM Forum's vision of Zero-X and Self-X, autonomous core networks use advanced technologies such as large models, digital twins, and intent-driven networks to provide automation and intelligence capabilities throughout the core network lifecycle. Agile, secure network change activities can be carried out through automatic orchestration and pre-verification technologies, and technologies such as digital twin and simulation help achieve efficient and stable O&M. This greatly reduces dependency on experts and manual intervention, achieving fast and stable O&M and effectively resolving the conflicts between core network agility and high stability.

1. The core network autonomous networks level (ANL) evaluation should focus on network reliability and cover the entire lifecycle including planning, development, maintenance, optimization, and operation.

ANL evaluation helps operators identify their network capability weaknesses, guide network planning, and improve investment efficiency. It is key to systematic and large-scale network transformation. In addition, ANL evaluation varies depending on fields. In the core network field, considering that the core network plays a key role in the entire network, ANL evaluation should focus on network reliability and cover the entire lifecycle including planning, development, maintenance, optimization, and operation. Currently, high stability evaluation in the industry is still in the early stage. Industry partners should work together to accelerate the implementation and promotion of high stability standards.

1. Artificial intelligence is essential for operators to stride towards high-level autonomous networks.

The results of the ANL pilot evaluation conducted by TM Forum show that artificial intelligence plays an important role in improving the ANL. Especially in the O&M phase, artificial intelligence can help operators monitor network statuses in real time, proactively detect network risks, quickly detect faults, and automatically diagnose and rectify the faults. It is essential for operators to stride towards high-level autonomous networks. Vendors should increase their investment in artificial intelligence, and operators should accelerate the deployment of intelligent solutions to accelerate their transition to L4 autonomous networks.

This roundtable attracted wide attention from the industry at DTW 2024. Operators, industry organizations, and equipment manufacturers shared their profound experience and forward-looking perspectives in telco cloud-native & autonomous core network. Along with the journey of the intelligent evolution of cloud core networks, Huawei envisions a future where it collaborates with the industry to help operators in the global telecom industry innovate and transform their networks.