News
By: Anders Vestergren, Head of Solution Area Network Management at Ericsson
Delivering a “best effort” connection is no longer good enough for today’s mobile customer. Quality of connection, coverage and reliability are hotly demanded, and communication service providers are under pressure to step up, or face subscriber churn as users turn to a network they judge more likely to deliver what’s needed. When it comes to 5G, there’s growing network complexity involved in meeting those demands. However, a new digital glue is set to transform network operations in the coming year, explains Anders Vestergren, Head of Solution Area Network Management, Ericsson.
Anders Vestergren, Head of Solution Area Network Management at Ericsson
The telecoms industry is caught between a digital rock and a theoretical hard place. There’s a growing need to innovate in ways that boost the development of new, lucrative services. However, network complexities that have arisen as a result of 5G advancement, as well as a lack of ‘killer apps’ to date, has created hesitancy across the market.
There are also concerns that unstructured innovation could introduce additional layers or offshoots of proprietary technology, which is the last thing that CSPs want. Complexity is already a bar to launching new network products and services; the industry-at-large is therefore looking for ways to simplify and streamline operations as a necessary condition for revitalizing innovation.
Currently, CSP are committing time and resources to managing the complexities of 5G advancement, while waiting for developers to unlock the innovation that will drive the next phase of 5G’s advancement – they risk being trapped in an endless cycle. They therefore need to find ways to shift their focus and resources from the intricacies of network management and become the innovation drivers themselves, or at least offer more tangible support to those who could make use of telecom networks capabilities to deliver that “killer app”.
Fortunately, the emergence of radio access network (RAN) automation applications, also known as rApps, could break the logjam and spark the service innovation revolution.
The digital glue
rApps are designed to run on the Non-Real Time RAN Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIC) within a platform aligned with the O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) framework for open network management and automation, known as SMO (Service Management and Orchestration). Combined, rApps and the platform have the ability to overcome a lack of continuity across the IT estate and act as the digital glue that joins a range of elements together in a coherent and streamlined unit, powered by automation.
At a basic level, the Open RAN management and automation platform will join together different generations of radio (including Open RAN or Cloud RAN, and purpose built) to deliver unified management in one platform.
rApps are also a catalyst for bringing together a range of parties within the wider technology community in an ecosystem with a clear objective. Last year, Ericsson introduced an rApp directory for commercially available rApps for use on the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP), the company’s open network management and automation platform for open, multi-vendor and multi-technology networks, supporting all 4G and 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN). The ecosystem around that platform, built for developers and CSPs engaged with the EIAP, contains a software development toolkit and other supporting elements that can be used to develop new high-quality, high-value rApps that meet a CSP’s, or industry use case’, individual requirements. In addition, the directory provides ecosystem members the opportunity to showcase their rApp innovations and offerings, while potential users can discover new rApps, explore their functionality and connect with their owners.
This combination of resources will enable CSPs to plug the power of the developer community into their business strategies, unlocking game-changing simplicity in automating RAN, and creating dynamic, efficient and responsive networks that are ready to deliver on demanding and specialised use cases. With rApps and their associated ecosystem, a window of opportunity has opened for CSPs to work alongside developers to drive 5G innovation forward.
A delivery mechanism for AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no stranger to telecoms but the additional levels of testing required by the sector, and specialized industry training required by the various models, has slowed down its widespread implementation. rApps, with defined purposes and objectives, delivered through the open network management platform already deployed on the network, can be seen as a way to implement AI-powered capabilities in a network without onerous integration and adaptations in the existing network set up – once more the digital glue in joining together key elements integral to the success of 5G networks.
For example, AI-powered rApps currently available can help improve network performance by identifying suboptimal configurations in a RAN more effectively than previously possible. Unlike the earlier generation of tools or manual methods, an application can be written and deployed that doesn’t just compare cell performance to a set of pre-defined KPIs; it will constantly run network-wide pattern analyses and use AI to detect cells that are acting outside of the specification, revealing issues before they start causing degradation. This scale and speed is helping providers improve their networks in near real-time and monitor KPIs.
Unlocking the future of telecom innovation
Importantly, rApps enable CSPs to manage and optimise their networks at scale, handling the increasing complexity and diversity of network services and devices. They also facilitate the rapid deployment of new use cases and services, enabling telecom CSPs to innovate and gain a competitive edge. And finally, they can help reduce energy consumption by optimising network operations, contributing to more sustainable network management.
Taken together, the functionalities supported by rApps will help unleash the full potential of 5G technology as well as opening the industry up to outside developers, who will help make it easier and more efficient for CSPs to better manage network complexity. The result: an across-the-board improvement of network performance for any vendor and any radio technology, providing a common and consistent level of service and customer experience – delivering efficiency gains for the CSP in the first place, and also ensuring these 5G networks are ready to act as a platform for innovative businesses to build monetizable services on.
Revolutionising network management
The traditional ways of managing networks, through static configuration planning and human-centric rollout, are no longer capable of delivering the required levels of performance. However, the auguries are good: a growing open ecosystem that supports innovation and the monetisation of new use cases is starting to emerge, with an industry-wide effort to create clean, usable telecom data that can power AI tools, and AI-powered rApps underpinning efficient network operations.
What is clear is that intelligent automation will be required to manage complexity and meet growing customer expectations while optimising operating costs and capital expenditure. That’s where rApps deliver – these powerful tools enable telecom CSPs to enhance network management, reduce costs and improve the overall performance and sustainability of their networks. All of this can be unlocked by harnessing developer-led innovation.
The hope of creating a more manageable and agile network, while dealing with the complexities inherent in the current model, is about to become a reality.
