Network automation is the need of the hour in this data-driven era. The recently hyped 5G technology has shown great promises for achieving complete network automation. The recent innovations in 5G have been centred around AI and ML. New-age technologies have helped build a performance-driven and agile 5G network. Besides communication service providers, many corporate organizations are shifting towards network automation. 5G automation has the power to enhance network availability and service availability. However, many enterprises fail to achieve 5G automation due to a lack of a definitive strategy. Read on to know more about 5G automation and its benefits.

Why is there a need for 5G automation in 2022?

5G technology is more complex than its predecessors. The 5G environment will be more complex than ever, giving birth to new challenges. To ensure the 5G network offers a wide range of services, you need to automate it. The 5G capabilities that are in dire need of automation in this data-driven era are as follows:

• Cloud enablement services are gaining a lot of hype in 2022. Due to increased complexity and scalability, 5G environments are usually deployed across cloud platforms. For a large enterprise, it isn’t easy to manage a 5G network deployed across the cloud manually. That is why 5G automation is needed for effective deployment across cloud platforms.
• 5G technology is highly compatible with network slicing. With network slicing, enterprises can create many virtual 5G networks over a single physical network. For a small enterprise, managing a few network slices manually is possible. However, the challenge arises when there are many network slices over a large 5G network. 5G automation can help manage multiple network slices on a single physical network.
• 5G network allows us to create more edge sites than traditional networks. One cannot create many edge sites with a traditional data center. However, it is a challenge to manage the data and resources across many edge sites. If an enterprise fails to manage the edge sites, service availability will take a toll. 5G automation is needed to manage the distributed landscape of 5G networks.
• By the end of 2030, around 30 billion devices will be connected to the internet. There is a need for a scalable solution that can leverage the power of 5G technology. With the rise of digital transformation services and solutions, more and more enterprises and consumers are switching to the 5G network. 5G automation is the only option for CSPs (Communication Service Providers) and enterprises to boost service availability

Why do CSPs need to use AIOps as quickly as possible?

After the COVID pandemic, CSPs are at a greater risk than anybody else. During the COVID pandemic, enterprises and organizations understood the need for digital transformation services and solutions. In the process of digitizing their business, enterprises had no option other than to use their in-house IT staff for network deployment and management. Also, enterprises are now no longer unfamiliar with the new-age technologies. As a result, many enterprises are managing their networks and IT infrastructure.

CSPs can still claim their market share in the pre-COVID-19 era. With 5G automation, CSPs can provide better services to their clients. They can offer no-touch service management and an enhanced customer experience. AI-led technologies can help CSPs deploy 5G networks on a large scale. AIOps (Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations) has emerged as a useful technology for CSPs. AIOps can fully automate service management over 5G networks.

Underutilization of network data

Do you know that many enterprises analyse only a small portion of their network data? Have you wondered about the results when the entire network data is analysed? Well, enterprises can generate rich insights about network performance and trends by analysing the available network data. CSPs can identify network errors and user behaviour by analysing the available data. However, it isn’t easy to accumulate data from numerous 5G network slices and end sites. There is a need for AI data analytics monitoring tools to bring the network data to one place.

An AIOps-based analytics platform can manage the entire data produced by 5G networks. It will help achieve 5G automation in a true sense. Data from 5G network slices and endpoints will be collected automatically and analysed with no human intervention.

Network programmability with 5G automation

Enterprises and CSPs often look for ways to enhance network programmability. An organization wants to monitor the network devices and program them whenever needed. Network programmability refers to the ability to configure and monitor network elements. However, ensuring high network programmability for 5G networks is a challenge. Using manual configuration every time to program network devices will take a long time. An enterprise cannot risk its service availability by manually programming and monitoring network devices.

With 5G automation, manual network programming isn’t needed. Autonomous networks can shape themselves based on specific requirements. With 5G automation, your network will scale itself based on requirements like bandwidth, traffic, and latency. With the best AIOps platforms software, you can create intent-driven 5G networks that can automatically scale themselves.

5G automation is the key to zero-touch service management

For a small enterprise with only a few 5G touchpoints, service management will be easy. The real challenge occurs when there are many 5G end sites to manage. Also, 5G technology is highly compatible with new-age devices powered by IoT (Internet of Things). To ensure high service availability, 5G automation is the only solution.

With 5G automation, performance management becomes easy. You can track the performance of endpoints across a 5G network centrally with AI-led technologies. AIOps can help analyse service requirements across a 5G network remotely. Services across a 5G network can be deployed without human intervention (zero-touch). The dream of an intelligent network can be fulfilled with AIOps.

In a nutshell

Besides the aforementioned benefits, 5G automation can also help with data governance. You can monitor the data stored at different places and govern how it is used. AIOps can help enterprises and CSPs to hyper-automate 5G networks. Boost the service availability of a 5G network with AIOps!