Find out how Verizon implemented a self-service portal for enterprise customers using TM Forum’s Open APIs reducing service turnaround time from weeks to hours.
Verizon gives enterprises self-service over network technologies
Software-defined networking (SDN) has revolutionized enterprise network management—albeit with some caveats. Although SDN provides unprecedented flexibility to define, optimize, and monitor networks, it also can make managing them more complex than ever. For example, enterprise network administrators have to run a daily gauntlet of vendors, software configurations and updates, policy management and software licenses across physical, virtual and cloud layers. That gauntlet also is continually evolving as vendors end support for legacy products, and as the enterprise adds employees and applications. That’s why Verizon developed Dynamic Network Manager (DNM) 2.0, which uses chatbots and intuitive dashboards to cut through all of that complexity, such as with visualizations to highlight short- and long-term trends. DNM 2.0 is also manufacturer-agnostic, which is ideal for the multi-vendor environments that most enterprises have. “DNM 2.0 is a unified interface for managing physical, virtual and cloud services,” says Raju Sharma, Director, Verizon. “It allows customers to provision, activate, monitor, troubleshoot and make changes to their services in an integrated service view that shows the relationships between products and services in their portfolio.”
AI-powered self-service to work smarter DNM 1.0 debuted in 2010, followed by a redesigned 2.0 in Nov, 2019. The new version provides integrated management of layer 1, 2, 3 and virtual services, as well as 5G mobile network slices.
The system automatically and proactively suggests optimum network configurations, upgrades and changes. That feature is handy for new administrators who are still learning their company’s nuances, and it frees veterans to focus on big-picture issues. DNM 2.0 also tackles the problem of alarm fatigue.
“Critical network events are surfaced into a single operations dashboard, enabling the customer to take action with a single click, and address network issues before they become problems,” Sharma says. “The system reduces complexity by presenting only actionable or critical information.”
* Data in the image above is not real customer data To flatten the learning curve for new network technologies, DNM 2.0 uses AI and natural language processing, which can figure out what users are asking for even when they don’t use industry-standard or vendor-specific terms. AI also powers the augmented reality “virtual coach”: contextual overlays embedded throughout the interface, defining terms and suggesting actions.
Vendor agnostic architecture The intent based vendor-agnostic architecture makes DNM 2.0 flexible enough to support network technologies that are still on the drawing board. That benefits both customers and Verizon.
But achieving a vendor-agnostic architecture wasn’t easy. In fact, it was the biggest challenge for the product and development team. “This ecosystem includes both physical devices (e.g., switches) and software-defined networking services (e.g., virtual network functions such as SD-WAN),” Sharma says. “Between the physical and virtual layers of the network stack, the system integrated over a dozen different vendor APIs to deliver management features to our users. “Each vendor presented a unique implementation, with differing capabilities and unique APIs and interfaces, even across identical underlying services. The development team was challenged with generalizing features across this diverse range of APIs, to standardize the network nomenclature, conventions and user interfaces so that DNM 2.0 would truly deliver a vendor-agnostic next generation digital network management experience.” To overcome these challenges, Verizon created a vendor management application layer, which consists of two sections: vendor onboarding and workflow creation. “DNM implements a vendor-agnostic rule engine,” Sharma says. “This selects the best suited workflow (depending on the make and OS of the customer’s equipment) and executes workflow steps according to the appropriate command type (e.g., command line interface/API). “This simplifies the user experience. The customer simply needs to input the business intents rather than complex, vendor-specific steps.”
Managing 5G network slices DNM 2.0 supports WAN interface virtualization along with intent based networking. This enables the customers to manage the business intents and the supported WAN interfaces parallelly. Customers can choose from a variety of WAN interfaces, including 5G slices. For example Customers subscribed to 5G-BI (Business Internet) can choose their bandwidth based on their business needs. Customers subscribed to Co-management level of service can manage the WAN interfaces along with application aware routing, quality of service and security (Firewall) policies in a single pane of glass.
DNM 2.0 was designed as an API-first architecture, leveraging TM Forum’s Open APIs.
“The system includes APIs that customers can use to build their own real-time applications, achieving fully automated and touch-less network operations,” Sharma says. “The machine-to-machine API layer gives customers the capability to develop their own applications and automation pipelines. Leveraging this capability, customers can manage entire networks automatically without requiring manual intervention.”
“This enhances the agility of the system, enabling the development teams to quickly extend current functions and build all-new capabilities,” Sharma says. “It also makes it easy for customers to access help and documentation related to their network configuration.”