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Network Solutions and Services
Reimagining 5G and network solutions for future businesses
Highlights
- Communication service providers (CSPs) are adopting a comprehensive approach to wireless network planning, designing, and deployment.
- They are assessing networks for site conditions, effective spectrum management, selection of appropriate technologies, and the right vendors to ensure interoperability.
- Zero touch design and deployment (ZTDD) can help companies effectively manage the complex and hybrid networks we have today, make the most of their existing technology investments, and deliver exceptional customer experience.
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Why of zero-touch design and deployment is gaining importance
CSPs across the globe have undertaken large-scale network transformation to become digital and drive service innovation.
During wireless network planning, designing, and deployment, communication service providers (CSPs) adopt a comprehensive, dynamic approach. This involves a thorough assessment of site conditions, effective spectrum management, selection of appropriate technologies, and selecting the right set of vendors to ensure interoperability. The process encompasses radio frequency (RF) planning, simulation, integration testing, real-time monitoring, and automated deployment, followed by continuous optimization. To ensure quality of service (QoS), CSPs address customer feedback and efficiently manage costs and resources, ensuring robust network operations.
Zero-touch design and deployment (ZTDD) is a methodology aimed at minimizing manual effort by streamlining configurations and settings in system or radio access network (RAN) designs. This approach is pivotal in enhancing customer experience in communication services, focusing on seamless coverage planning, capacity augmentation, RAN deployment, and continuous improvement in network performance and customer satisfaction, while ensuring guaranteed service quality.
The zero-touch approach involves creating systems or devices with configurations and settings that minimize the need for human intervention. The design is streamlined to eliminate or significantly reduce manual steps in the deployment and design process. By integrating global best practices, ZTDD aims to achieve efficient radio network planning, design, and deployment for CSPs.
The core principles of ZTDD are rooted in lean, agile, automation, and data-driven planning methodologies. These principles collectively contribute to streamlining the planning and design cycles with an automated way of deployment. ZTDD addresses the gaps in network domains and services, offering a comprehensive 360-degree visibility into the entire planning and design value discovery. The methodology operates continuously, leveraging supply chains and feedback loops to ensure ongoing improvements in network performance and customer satisfaction.
By embracing the ZTDD approach, CSPs can transform their operating through agile, automation, AI-ML, and data-driven techniques. This approach focuses on developing systems or nodes with configurations and settings that minimize user involvement, thus streamlining the design process and substantially reducing manual steps in deployment. With customer experience as the key priority, the zero-touch approach ensures seamless coverage planning, capacity expansion, and end-to-end deployment across multi-domain (RAN, core, transport) network infrastructures.
Some roadblocks in radio network design and deployment processes
There are ample opportunities for improvement in the typical process of radio network planning, designing, and deployment.
These opportunities stem from the inherent complexity of the various phases of network development demands meticulous attention and innovative solutions across all phases. Key areas for improvement include general complexity, integration challenges, real-time analysis, user interface design, cost implications, vendor-specific considerations, parameter settings, and seamless deployment and integration of the network.
A critical component of this development is the management of inventory objects, where the level of dynamism is influenced by several factors, including frequency of change, the nature of changes to the element under consideration, physical capacity constraints that may limit changes, security and regulatory requirements, and commercial considerations.
These factors directly impact how inventory and network resources are planned, modified, and deployed over time. Radio network planning, designing, and deployment must account for this dynamism. They are responsible not only for introducing new technologies but also for ensuring that the network can adapt effectively to continuous change. This involves:
- Designing a comprehensive technology assessment framework
- Driving automated deployment processes
- Conducting thorough cost-benefit and impact analyses
- Developing a resilient architecture framework
- Assessing risks associated with each technology and domain integration
By systematically linking inventory dynamism with the radio network life cycle — from planning through deployment — CSPs can better manage complexity, ensure regulatory compliance, optimize costs, and enable more efficient and flexible network evolution.
ZTDD: A new standard for network design and deployment
The ZTDD approach propagates agile based planning on a continuous basis.
The planning process considers seasonal and environmental variations (temperature, moisture, wind speed, wind directions), traffic pattern variations, subscriber mobility patterns, roaming traffic pattern, and so on, all of which are dynamic in nature.
We see the following as the key principles of the zero-touch approach (see Figure 1):
- Continuous planning and continuous design (CPCD)
- Centralized spectrum planning and strategy
- Data and analytics driven
- Smart antenna planning
- Seamless system and service integration
- Automation-first approach
- Guaranteed QoS and QoE
- Densification of coverage and capacity
- Boundary-less design
Figure 1:
The principles of a ZTDD approach
Figure 1:
Efficient core network architecture and deployment strategies with ZTDD
Continuous planning and continuous design (CPCD): CPCD ensures networks evolve continuously with changing demands and technologies. ZTDD enables agile, real-time adjustments in planning and design phases. It empowers CSPs to stay future-ready with minimal disruption.
Centralized spectrum planning and strategy: This is a unified approach in managing spectrum requirements for both CSPs and telecom regulatory authorities (TRAs). It entails using a single, comprehensive platform or system, often referred to as a pane of glass, to streamline and oversee spectrum allocation, utilization, and planning. This centralized system ensures efficient coordination and collaboration between service providers and regulatory bodies, optimizing the use of available radio frequencies for effective communication services.
Data and analytics driven: There are rich data sources from the brown field networks of CSPs, such as real-time user element (UE) performances, key performance indicators (KPIs), key quality indicators (KQIs), and crowdsource data, which can be leveraged in big data and analytics platforms to build insights and intelligence for advanced planning.
Smart antenna planning: Using advanced antenna systems with beam forming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (mimo) antennas, antenna integrated radios, antennas for in-building coverages, and repeaters require advance planning for CSPs.
Seamless system and service integration: Seamless integration is critical for operational efficiency and fast service rollouts provides a unified platform that bridges systems, vendors, and technologies. It simplifies integration and accelerates end-to-end service delivery.
Automation-first approach: Automation reduces manual tasks and operational complexities in Networks, drives an automation-first model using AI-ML for faster and error-free execution. This leads to scalable, resilient, and cost-effective operations.
Guaranteed QoS and QoE: Consistent quality is key for network performance and customer satisfaction’s ensures proactive monitoring, dynamic resource optimization, and service assurance. It helps CSPs guarantee superior QoS and QoE across diverse environments.
Densification of coverage and capacity: Densification is needed to meet increasing data demands and 5G readiness. ZTDD supports intelligent site selection, design, and deployment automation. It optimizes coverage, capacity, and user experience efficiently.
Boundary-less design: Boundary-less design demands flexibility across technologies and domains creates an open, adaptable architecture supporting seamless connectivity. It enables CSPs to innovate faster and expand networks without constraints.
Architecting the future with ZTDD
ZTDD will help telcos introduce new network technologies, business lines, and services into their landscape with relative ease.
Real-time insights derived from data enrichment and analytics enhance decision making, enabling the network to respond effectively to evolving demands and challenges. Leveraging precise 3D models and algorithms enhances the understanding of network dynamics, aiding in more accurate planning and design processes ( see Fig 2 ).
Figure 2:
The network planning and design process with zero-touch design and deployment
Figure 2:
Figure 2: The network planning and design process with zero-touch design and deployment
ZTDD will help CSPs restructure their processes and business models to cater to the network of the future, characterized by virtual, dynamic, and automated capabilities.
The framework offers the following benefits:
- Lowered operational expenses and the ability to offer end-to-end service and network automation suite
- Accelerated time-to-market with a standardized, centralized catalogue for services and network model onboarding
- Decreased total cost of ownership (TCO) through multi-cloud support and adhering to standards of institutes such as TM Forum, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF), Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP), and Linux Foundation
- Minimized risk through the leveraging of ZTDD's deep domain expertise and proven track record, resulting in tangible advantages
- Enhanced customer satisfaction through reducing mean time to repair and ensuring service level agreement (SLA) compliance
- Prevention of vendor lock-in due to flexibility and vendor neutrality, along with seamless integration with leading vendors
The way forward
The ZTDD framework offers transformative opportunities for optimizing radio network planning, design, and deployment
By addressing critical challenges such as complexity management, integration hurdles, and the need for real-time analysis, ZTDD enables CSPs to achieve seamless operations with minimal manual task execution. This approach not only streamlines processes but also accelerates project timelines, empowering CSPs to adapt swiftly to shifting market demands and evolving network requirements. The reduction in manual configurations enhances reliability, significantly reducing the risks of costly errors and inconsistencies. Additionally, ZTDD fosters innovation by minimizing time-to-market, addressing operational complexities, and mitigating transformation risks, positioning CSPs for sustained growth.
By adopting the ZTDD framework, CSPs can deliver faster, more reliable network deployments, enhancing customer satisfaction and driving long-term business success. ZTDD aligns with the demands of modern communication services, ensuring operational excellence and scalability in an increasingly dynamic industry landscape.
