Road to 5G: Aricent Debuts Autonomous Network Solution with Self-Optimization Capabilities

Aricent, a global design and engineering company, has announced new capabilities as part of its Autonomous Network Solution (ANS) for intelligent automation of next-generation virtualized networks. Aricent ANS components are based on industry standards including ETSI NFV, ETSI AFI GANA, MEF LSO and TM-Forum’s Zoom.

There are two significant opportunities for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the evolution of networks. The first is to drive greater productivity in development teams. For example, machine learning can be used in DevOps for root cause analysis of bugs, to maintain uptime and recommend remediation. The second opportunity is to evolve the network so that it's not just automated, but becomes an intelligent platform that can:

· Deliver enhanced IoT services for smart cities, connected cars, telematics, smart wearables and industrial equipment

· Elevate the customer engagement and loyalty by adapting the experience through service recommendations, better telemetry and looping in chat-bots for customer care

· Translate the business intent by the end user to configure the network, optimize resources, remediate issues and launch services based on workload models

The capabilities of the Aricent Autonomous Network Solution include:

· Management and Network Orchestration. A platform to define and manage virtual network function (VNF) service chains, policies, resource consumption and performance metrics.

· Lifecycle Service Orchestration: Intent-based management layer to control physical and virtual network resources through both physical network and NFV orchestrator’s.

· Self-Optimization Framework: Bespoke machine learning toolchain to support multiple use cases such as predictive defect detection, root cause analysis and low latency network services.

“As consumers expect more immersive experiences, the network must become a platform that delivers intelligent automation,” said Walid Negm, chief technology officer of Aricent. “The status quo will not be sufficient for advanced use cases such as mobile 4K video, digital industry and emerging 5G services. Aricent’s ANS pushes the cloud journey forward by teaching a network to take raw input and produce a direct command. That sort of advanced control system or ‘self-steering’ is just around the corner,” he said.