Service management and orchestration (SMO)
The next evolution of autonomous operations
Communication Service Providers (CSPs) today face many challenges, but the two toughest challenges they face are managing cost pressures and delivering a differentiated service experience for their customers. Through utilizing cloud, automation, and AI, CSPs can address these challenges and deliver the benefits of new revenue streams whilst addressing the people and skills gap that exists within their organization.
Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) is a key part of this, and we’ll explore this on this page.
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 to create 2G and we now stand at the cusp of the rollout of Open RAN (O-RAN). O-RAN brings disaggregation and enables operators to mix and match components and goes one step further by opening the interfaces inside the base station. Such an open environment expands the ecosystem and fuels innovation, but it also brings more complexity to manage the O-RAN with its distributed architecture. This drives the need for a new management paradigm called Service Management and Orchestration (SMO). SMO utilises intelligence and automation to simplify the complex operation and maintenance of O-RAN networks at scale. These O-RAN networks will not be deployed in a greenfield manner, which means for meaningful and seamless operations, this will also include the management of the traditional RAN. SMO is a critical enabler for intelligence across the network.
SMO evolution
The concept of SON for radio network management has been around for a while 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, fault management, and optimizing coverage, as well as capacity and network performance. SMO 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 means to simplify the management of radio networks with the introduction of policies and intents so that the management focus is more on the outcome or the result.
Since its inception, the definition of SMO has been expanding to go beyond just O-RAN to include the purpose-built RAN and Cloud RAN as well as grow from the purpose of pure network performance improvement towards a service performance improvement to enhance customer experience (QoE). 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.
The true value of SMO lies in its intelligent automation capabilities, which enable operators to enhance network availability and performance, improve customer experience (QoE) and net promoter score (NPS), reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), and increase energy efficiency. This is done through leveraging wider data sets, using intent management and AI, and incorporating standardized interfaces.
What benefits does it bring?
This approach to SMO brings a multitude of benefits to CSPs.
Reduced management complexity
Flexible and simplified management architecture based on Service Based Management Architecture (SBMA) principles to enable easy interworking, extensibility for new functions, and support multivendor operations
Improved QoE
Enable proactive optimization and healing actions by leveraging AI, faster troubleshooting in complex cloud environments and assurance actions
Network monetization
Deliver new services spanning multiple domains such as network and service automation and closed-loop service assurance
Reduced TCO
Enabling dynamic operations for effective resource utilization, higher degrees of automation to reduce need for manual intervention
Openness to build broader and richer ecosystem of usecases
Unlocking the ability to innovate through enabling new use cases leveraging AI/ML with richer insights and data correlation, with the standards-based APIs enabling the portability of rApps built on different vendor platforms
Effective network management
Differentiation as needed by operators in managing their networks giving the ability to do ‘what they need’
SMO architecture
SMO will follow a cloud-based, vendor-agnostic, and Open API-based approach.
Standardised interfaces and OAM services (e.g., O1, O2, R1 ) with the ability for CSPs to extend for custom non-standards based API integrations
Platform components to support aspects like security and log management
Cloud Management and Orchestration related services for lifecycle management
Data Management solution with a data catalog for efficient processing, sharing, and exposure of data for application and service needs
Non-RT RIC, rApps, and needed management functions for operations and introduction of new use-cases
AI-powered autonomous operations
Additionally, SMO enables Innovation with an extensible marketplace with a catalog of Apps for monetizing and enabling collaboration with a wide developer ecosystem.
Our approach to SMO
Nokia SMO offers a cutting-edge, open, interoperable solution based on a cloud-native architecture aligned with the 3GPP framework. Our SMO platform has openness in its DNA to enable the delivery of innovative use-cases leveraging a rich dataset over a multivendor network with a clear focus on autonomous operations. It utilizes advanced intelligence and automation to streamline the complex operations and maintenance of large-scale networks with secure operations.
The Nokia MantaRay SON solution is a market-leading solution deployed by more than 120 CSPs around the world. It has led the industry by providing an unmatched solution for radio network automation proven to perform in multivendor networks. Nokia’s SMO solution will leverage SON use-cases as rApps, as well as utilize SON components to provide value-added SMO services and offering differentiated value in the operation of radio networks.
Nokia O-RAN leadership
Nokia has been a player in Open RAN standards development since its inception. Today, Nokia is the largest contributor to O-RAN standards, producing approximately 17% of all Open RAN technical contributions over the past three years. Our active involvement spans nine of the 11 O-RAN ALLIANCE working groups, where we are driving definition of many key specifications. Nokia co-chairs three pivotal working groups in the ALLIANCE – the maximum number permitted by a single vendor – focusing on the fronthaul interfaces, the near-real-time RAN intelligent controller and operations and maintenance (OAM).
For more information on our O-RAN leadership, visit our page here.
Key terms
RIC – RAN Intelligent Controller is a new network element introduced in O-RAN that enables new services to be introduced into the Radio Network, e.g. software that optimizes the performance of the network. The RIC works by exposing an API (Application Programming Interface) that allows new use-cases to be defined in a standards-based approach. There are two types of RIC – Non-RT RIC, which sits in SMO and does non-real-time control of the RAN elements, and Near-RT RIC, which sits closer to the radio and handles real-time control of the Radio via fine-grained actions.
rApps – Modular applications that leverage the functionality exposed via the Non-RT RIC (Non-Real time RAN Intelligent Controller) Framework’s R1 interface to provide value-added services relative to RAN operations.
SBMA – Service Based Management Architecture is a term from 3GPP Release16 which addresses an architecture paradigm involving RESTful Management Service components for building 5G management and orchestration solutions enabling improved operability and automation of 5G radio and core networks and services.
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