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Observability in telecom: necessary for network autonomy, critical to business success

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Taming network complexity: It begins with observability

Today’s hybrid networks are complex, there's an expanding ecosystem of players, and managing a multi-cloud environment remains challenging. Nokia brings a simple paradigm to a complex reality. We deliver networks that sense with observability, think with AI and automation, and act with closed-loop automation. We help our customers transform their business to deliver a new level of customer experience. And we’re doubling down on the need for observability in the network to achieve this goal.

Sense with observability: step one toward autonomous networks

Observability has moved beyond buzzword status and is now considered a critical building block in autonomous networks. Observability allows service providers to inspect, analyze, and understand the internal states of a system based on the data it produces; it does this by offering innovative approaches to service assurance, improved security threat management, and new insights to guide network planning and optimization.

Ultimately, observability moves well beyond basic monitoring capabilities to bring CSPs deeper into the complex issues that must be resolved. It allows telcos to gain real-time insights into network performance, identify anomalies, and ensure that service level agreements (SLAs) are met. This is when the most strategic goal is achieved: To transform networks to power innovative business models and monetize new opportunities.

A drill-down into Nokia's observability strategy and use cases

Nokia envisions a future where networks are managed autonomously, with minimal human intervention. This vision is embedded into our digital operations portfolio, and observability plays a central role by providing the data and insights needed for AI-driven decision-making processes. Key strategic elements include:

  • Human as observers: In Nokia's vision for autonomous networks, humans transition from active participants in network management to observers overseeing AI-driven processes. Observability facilitates this shift and provides the necessary correlation of data and the generation of AI-powered insights to troubleshoot network performance.

  • AI-driven assurance: Observability enables AI-powered assurance systems that automatically detect and resolve issues in real-time. By continuously monitoring network performance and analyzing patterns, these systems can predict potential failures and take preventive measures, ensuring higher network resilience and improved quality of experience (QoE) for users

  • Closed-loop automation: Nokia's observability framework supports closed-loop automation, where insights gained from observability are used to automatically adjust network configurations and optimize performance. This level of automation reduces the need for manual intervention and allows networks to adapt to changing conditions dynamically

Nokia's observability strategy is built on five key components, each contributing to a flexible and open framework that processes diverse data from multivendor systems in a comprehensive framework to manage modern networks:

  • AI and machine learning: Nokia leverages AI and machine learning to enhance observability. These technologies enable the automatic detection of anomalies, prediction of potential issues, and recommendation of corrective actions, making networks more proactive and resilient

  • Intent-driven orchestration: Observability is closely tied to Nokia's intent-driven orchestration framework. By understanding the intent behind network operations, Nokia can ensure that observability is aligned with business goals and service requirements, allowing for more efficient and effective network management

  • Network digital twins: Nokia utilizes network digital twins to simulate and analyze network behavior in real-time. These digital replicas of physical networks enable detailed observability, allowing operators to test "what-if" scenarios and optimize network performance before implementing changes in the real world

  • Open APIs and ecosystem integration: Nokia's observability platform is designed to be open and extensible, with APIs that facilitate integration with other systems and applications. This openness ensures that observability data can be leveraged across different domains, enhancing overall network intelligence and operational efficiency

  • Generative AI (GenAI): GenAI brings more autonomy into observability. It increases efficiency and accuracy in operations by leveraging machine learning models and large language models (LLMs) to automate key processes, such as alarms, logs, and KPIs, facilitating self-awareness and autonomous decision-making. This frees up humans to interact more strategically with the network.

Our approach turns observability into a strategic business advantage for CSPs, and we’re not just talk. Our observability use cases are actively deployed in various real-world scenarios to deliver tangible benefits, including:

  • 5G network management: With the rollout of cloud-native  5G networks, observability becomes even more critical. Nokia's observability tools enable CSPs to manage the complexity of 5G networks, ensuring optimal performance and SLA compliance across diverse use cases such as IoT, private wireless networks, and network slicing.

  • Proactive maintenance: By utilizing observability data, we enable proactive maintenance strategies that identify potential issues before they impact network performance. This approach reduces downtime and maintenance costs while improving overall service reliability.

  • Enhanced customer experience: Observability allows CSPs to gain insights into customer experience and network usage patterns. This information can be used to tailor services, optimize resource allocation, and deliver a superior user experience, ultimately driving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Observability is critical to reaching the real goal (hint: It’s not autonomous networking)

Nokia’s approach to observability is deeply integrated into our sense, think, act vision for autonomous networks. We aim to transform networks from reactive to predictive to conversational. And whereas graduating to higher automation levels is a strategic goal, we want to help our customers deliver exceptional levels of customer service, prove ROI, and connect into a lucrative ecosystem of service innovation. To do so, we will continue to invest in AI and machine learning, expand the use of digital twins, and enhance our open API ecosystem to foster collaboration.

Nokia's vision for observability is not about just technology – it's about transforming how networks are managed so our customers can monetize new services over innovative business models. By delivering networks that sense, think, and act, we will accelerate the transition to autonomous networks, and ultimately drive your business success in the digital age.

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe." ~ Marilyn vos Savant

Srinivas Bhattiprolu

About Srinivas Bhattiprolu

As Head of Pre-Sales and Advanced Consulting Services at Nokia, Srinivas Bhattiprolu is primarily responsible for driving the Cloud and Network services portfolio business along with business consulting business for the company.

Srinivas is a result-oriented IT professional with over 22 years of techno-managerial experience. Srinivas has cultivated a strong understanding of the security domain, specializing in IoT Consulting and IoT Security, building solution blueprints and the corresponding use cases for communication service providers. He also possesses knowledge and working experience in various domains such as telecommunications, banking, financial services and industrial process control.

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