Recognizing that service providers are heeding the hue and cry to automate or die, Light Reading has created a new online marketplace, Automation Exchange, the only portal created to help communication services providers (CSPs) navigate their options as they embrace automation.

Automation Exchange already boasts more than 2,100 companies, 2,400 products and 470 industry organizations that are involved with automation, as well as automation news and resources, including free access to Heavy Reading reports. Companies and products on the site are broken into 25 indices that relate to automation, including networking solutions, application enablement, IoT products and platforms and performance and service assurance.

Additionally, Automation Exchange is seeking to partner with companies on the forefront of automation. As such, Cisco recently became the first such sponsor partner. Scott Miles, director for SP automation with Cisco, says the partnership with Automation Exchange is an opportunity to help guide, educate and share what the company is learning and developing with its partners and customers.

"Currently, high-opex operational models paralyze growth and limit capex spend, and existing automation tools and methodologies are antiquated," Miles says. "There is increasing pressure to remove time from service delivery, which traditional automation practices do not affect. Cisco believes a modernized approach will automate operations to new levels of brain work, including faster and more accurate diagnosis, incident prevention, better decision making, dynamic learning and adaptation.

"The journey to automation will be a shared one -- enabled by many vendors and with the goal of elevating the industry to the next level. And with more vendors and customers involved, the better and faster we'll all get there."

Automation Exchange enables users to gain valuable insight into automation in several ways, including:

Jonathan Keller, managing director of Light Reading, says Automation Exchange helps CSPs better understand their options as they transform their networks and incorporate automation into each area of their business.

"As virtualization and digitization continue to disrupt the way communication services are configured and delivered, CSPs increasingly will rely on automation," Keller says. "Automation Exchange connects CSPs to market-leading vendors, products and organizations, while also providing a single destination for the most recent and relevant news and research that they need as they move toward fully automated networks."

Companies and industry organizations interested in partnering with Automation Exchange have a number of options for doing so. To learn more about Automation Exchange, contact Denise Culver at [email protected].

— Denise Culver, Director of Online Research, Heavy Reading