A fresh look at automating transport networks

The management of transport networks is evolving from static environments defined by manual processes and proprietary protocols to open environments increasingly controlled and managed dynamically through automation. Tight integration between the IP and the optical layers is making the need to automate transport networks more urgent but also introduces some new challenges.

In July and August, Heavy Reading conducted the Year 2 iteration of the Open, Automated, & Programmable Transport Networks Market Leadership Survey with project partners Fujitsu, Infinera and Viavi. The 2023 survey attracted 86 qualified network operator responses from around the world, sharing their views on transport automation timelines and requirements, optical systems, IP over DWDM and testing and assurance.

This blog is the first in a three-part series highlighting the key findings from the survey. It addresses the major drivers and challenges of transport automation and then looks specifically at automation in IP over DWDM (IPoDWDM).

Drivers and challenges

Reducing human error and increasing reliability are the top two drivers for transport network automation, selected by 44% and 43% of survey respondents, respectively. Second-tier drivers include improving quality of service (QoS)/customer experience, faster turn-up and revenue acceleration and operational simplification and opex reductions.

Similar questions asked in other recent Heavy Reading surveys have shown that automation is driven by a mix of internal and external factors. In this case, reducing human error and increasing reliability are internal, or network-centric outcomes, while improving customer experience and revenue acceleration are external, or customer-focused goals. The broad applicability of automation across so many functions is one of its greatest strengths.

What are the primary drivers for automating your transport networks?

(Source: Heavy Reading)

The complexity of integrating automation tools within the existing ecosystem stands out as the top barrier to transport automation (selected by 56% of operators surveyed). Other significant barriers are the risks of impact on operations (selected by 47%), lack of business case (44%), high costs (43%) and technology immaturity (42%).

What are the primary barriers to automating your transport networks?

(Source: Heavy Reading)

Further analysis of barriers among automation early adopters (those who report transport automation today) yields further insights into the challenges of integration. The early automation adopters are — by definition — further along than the general population of network operators in automating their networks. Interestingly, while early adopters have less concern about a lack of budget and making the business case for the technology, they rank the complexity of integrating automation tools far higher than the full population.

70% of transport automation early adopters rate integration complexity as a primary barrier, compared to 48% for the rest of the respondents. It is telling that those with the greatest expertise cite complexity the most, suggesting that less experienced communications service providers (CSPs) may not fully appreciate the difficulties of this challenge. This expectation gap at least partially explains why operator automation project tends to take longer than planned.

Automation and IPoDWDM

Coherent pluggables optics on routers (a.k.a. IP over DWDM) is arguably the hottest topic in optical networks in 2023. Naturally, much attention is paid to the coherent pluggable optics modules and their related standards bodies, but coherent modules are also part of complex systems. Automation will play a crucial role in the mass adoption of these new integrated systems and architectures.

Operators surveyed report that end-to-end service provisioning and activation and consistent management across diverse hosts are the top automation requirements for IP over IPoDWDM, selected by 55% of respondents and 47% of respondents, respectively.

Management across multiple hosts is an important aspect of integration complexity that also highlights the systems nature of the IP over DWDM architecture. Multi-vendor interop requires standardized and automated methods of managing pluggable optics from various suppliers.

For this reason, the industry focus on standardized management across hosts has increased sharply. The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is leading the standardization of the Common Management Interface Specification specifically for coherent optics. The Open XR Forum is also active in the management of coherent pluggables and has published a dual-management architectural specification that includes host-independent management.

What features need to be automated to scale coherent optical pluggables’ deployment in any host (routers and servers, i.e., IPoDWDM)?

(Source: Heavy Reading)

With a diverse and clear set of market drivers, network operators are increasingly automating transport network functions. But the industry still has work to do, as heterogeneous networks always create integration complexity. Suppliers must deliver the automation tools their customers need while also helping to manage the complexity.

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This blog is sponsored by Infinera.