Future Cognitive Mobile Networks : Connecting Management and Orchestration

The goals when running a mobile network have remained the same over the years, namely reducing CAPEX/OPEX by decreasing the necessary level of manual intervention and increasing the network performance. However, the complexity has dramatically increased: 5G networks will have to be able to deal with dynamic slice management and a multi-cloud environment with flexibly orchestrated resources while guaranteeing challenging latency requirements and seamless mobility. As a response to this, a more intelligent, or cognitive, self-management approach will be necessary where meaningful information, many of which will be based on machine learning, is shared across the mobile network management and orchestration domains. Cognition will be represented by modular, programmable pieces of software that connect both domains in a truly end-to-end and conflict-free manner. This panel will assemble stakeholders from two, so far relatively unrelated, communities: the one working on self-organizing networks (SON) and the other one working on orchestration bringing in additional virtualization aspects.