• Nokia collaborated with analyst research firm Analysys Mason to quantify the benefits from network automation at the domain controller layer for operators providing IP services
• Analysys Mason collected over 60 data points from operators worldwide on their achieved or expected benefits from their network automation journeys
• The study focused on the operator’s service fulfilment, network lifecycle management, and network and service assurance processes implemented on a network automation platform, such as the Nokia Network Services Platform (NSP

Nokia, in collaboration with research firm Analysys Mason, today revealed operators can expect up to a 65% cost avoidance after implementing IP network automation across threeoperations categories. This is one of several key findings from Nokia’s commissioned study.

Network automation is a key driver for improved network services agility, greater operational efficiency and increased network availability. To quantify the benefits from network automation at the domain controller layer, Analysys Mason interviewed a group of global operators on their network automation strategies and results, collecting more than 60 data points.

Analysys Mason then extrapolated the quantified benefits that can be expected from automating IP networks. This study focused on network automation implemented for the operator’s service fulfilment, network lifecycle management, and network and service assurance processes with the Nokia NSP. NSP is the domain controller for multivendor IP, optical and microwave networks, enabling operators to automate a plethora of network management processes. According to Analysys Mason, Nokia’s market share ranks as one of the leading vendors in the network automation and orchestration space.

Analysys Mason found cost avoidance at the domain controller is the result of multiple factors:

• Process automation reduces the labor time requirement for manual workloads by up to 68%.
• Consequently, the time needed to roll out new services is reduced by up to 88%.
• Less manual tasks also means less human errors and higher predictability. The use of a standardized scenarios reduces the frequency of order fallout and issues that require manual correction. Overall, the time spent to process errors is reduced by up to 85%.
• Automating alarm correlation and root cause analysis offers a significant improvement to the mean time to repair (MTTR) – up to 71%.

Larry Goldman, Chief Analyst and Project Director, Analysys Mason, said: “Our study shows clear benefits at the domain layer, and we highly recommend operators automate network management processes for their IP services. Network automation will be critical to enable future network slicing-based business models. Operators should also look for a network automation platform such as the Nokia NSP to reap the benefits of automation and ensure the efficient and automated management and control of network slice-based services.”

Mike Thompson, Head of IP Network Automation at Nokia, said: “While we have seen significant network automation gains for service delivery, the greatest savings are achieved by automating network lifecycle management. There are still many manual tasks in the areas of network and service migrations, device provisioning, and upgrades that can benefit significantly from network automation. Automation not only improves operator productivity but significantly reduces outages caused during maintenance windows. Network and service assurance automation enables operators to identify root cause, automate restoration, and fix network issues significantly faster.”

Nokia and Analysys Mason will participate in a webinar on October 20 entitled, “Quantifying and collecting the benefits of IP network automation,” to discuss the study and resulting benefits.