Communication Service Providers (CSPs) today face many challenges, but the two toughest are managing cost pressures and delivering a differentiated service experience for their customers. By utilizing cloud, automation, and AI, CSPs can manage these challenges and deliver the benefits of new revenue streams while addressing the people and skills gap that exists within their organization.

What is Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) and why is it critical to your future success?

Cellular networks have evolved rapidly since they were first digitized, and we now stand at the cusp of the rollout of Open RAN (O-RAN). O-RAN brings disaggregation and creates an open environment that expands the ecosystem and fuels innovation, but also brings more complexity to manage the O-RAN and with its distributed architecture. This is where Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) plays a role, as a simplified integration framework for the management and orchestration of RAN and Open RAN (O-RAN). It uses intelligence and automation to deliver new use cases and simplify radio network management.

However, SMO should no longer be viewed as, and limited by, just being a framework to manage the performance of O-RAN. It should be utilized as a critical enabler for intelligence across the end-to-end network and a cornerstone of programmability, one of the key focus areas for monetizing the network. This area is becoming increasingly important particularly as it relates to 5G, and will continue to grow in the coming years; Analysys Mason predicts that 5G-related spending in the SMO segment will reach USD1.3 billion by 2028.

How has SMO evolved over time?

The concept of SON for radio network management is not new and has been proven to support radio network configuration, optimization, and self-healing. The prime focus has been on taming complexity by automating common approaches to network management and fault management and optimizing coverage, as well as managing network capacity and performance.

SMO builds on this and introduces the Non-Real-Time RAN Intelligence Controller (Non-RT RIC) to take this narrative to the next level by bringing critical enablers of openness through a standard approach to use-case development, broadening the horizon of innovation. It leverages the use of data analytics and AI/ML to bring additional insights and higher efficiency to the decisions that drive RAN optimization. It also offers a means to simplify the management of radio networks with the introduction of policies and intents so that the focus is more on the outcome or result.

Since its inception, the definition of SMO has been expanding to go beyond just O-RAN to include traditional RAN and Cloud RAN, as well as growing from a limited role of pure network performance improvement towards service performance improvement that enhances customer experience (QoE). This expanded SMO aims to go beyond traditional network management to service management, orchestration, and assurance to become more comprehensive. It enables an API-based approach to support extensive use case development and brings intelligence-driven automation to drive monetization, improve quality efficiency and operations, and drive down operational costs. This is done through leveraging wider data sets, using intent management and AI, and incorporating standardized interfaces into their network management processes.

This approach to SMO enables efficient and effective end-to-end network management and brings a multitude of other benefits to CSPs, some of which can be seen below.

When it comes to the network itself, SMO supports reduced management complexity through a simplified management architecture and enables effective network management across technology domains, leveraging AI and enabling proactive optimization and self-healing. It also creates opportunities for enhanced monetization and new and innovative use cases and reduces TCO by enabling dynamic operations for effective resource utilization.

Networks continue to evolve, and CSPs must evolve to manage and monetize those networks in the most efficient and effective way. Those who adapt will survive and thrive in this complex environment, but those who don’t will be left behind. Nokia’s SMO simplifies the overall management paradigm and goes beyond O-RAN network management to deliver a unique customer experience, improve operational efficiency, and reduce TCO. But how will it achieve that? And what are the different components that contribute to a winning formula? Watch out for our next blog in the series, where we will discuss this and more.

SMO is the next evolution in network management and the move towards autonomous operations, and Nokia is here to support you on that journey.

Check out our webpage here, for more information on our SMO solution.