Telecom networks are far from being sentient, but they are becoming more and more responsive and automated, which helps service providers lower their operating costs.
Two of the largest service providers in the US are using AI and machine learning in a variety of ways. Here s a quick glimpse of what they ve talked about doing lately with improved network monitoring and testing and what s ahead as the network edge becomes more responsive to an influx of users, devices and changing network conditions.
Network monitoring
Adam Koeppe, SVP for technology strategy, architecture and planning at Verizon, said AI makes it possible to improve network performance by capturing data from the interactions of tens of thousands of network nodes with hundreds of millions of customers.
So says Stephanie Gibbons, principal analyst for carrier network software at Light Reading sister company Omdia.
Despite the concerns over COVID-19, Gibbons said operators must continue 5G investments, including in SDN and NFV implementations.
Outlook cloudy: Cloud native network infrastructure continues to be vital to 5G.
(Source: Unsplash)
In the report 2021 Trends to Watch: Carrier Network Software, Gibbons said operators are continuing to deploy carrier network software for network automation. Over the last two years, ensuring that this automation provides unified end-to-end management has become critical, she said.
Omdia said that 96% of carriers have either deployed or plan to deploy network functions virtualization (NFV) in 2020, while 50% have deployed or plan to deploy carrier software-defined networks (SDN).