The automation journey – step 1: scale virtualization

Many operators have indeed already started this journey. But for those that haven’t, we’re now going to delve into the first of these steps: virtualization. If you haven’t implemented virtualization in your network yet, the time really is now.

• Step 1 : Scale virtualization
• Step 2 : Data Center Transformation
• Step 3 : Distributed Cloud and network slicing

The first step of the journey

The first step is often driven by the challenges of higher total cost of ownership (TCO) and long lead times for testing and deploying a service. To tackle these hurdles, operators are deciding to move towards virtualization, which means migrating from Physical Network Functions (PNFs) to Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). This migration starts with core applications, like vIMS or vEPC, and moves towards the edge with radio applications, like vRAN.

The benefits of driving automation in virtualization

By automating the testing and life cycle management of virtual network functions, we are able to increase agility by launching applications faster in a virtualized environment, and to simplify operations also by launching applications faster.

 A tier 1 operator in Asia reached 10% capex reduction and 30% opex reduction. If you have already implemented virtualization, you now have a hybrid network (that will be discussed in our next blog post.)

Why Ericsson is the best partner for automation & orchestration

Dynamic Orchestration is the Ericsson solution that drives automation in virtualized environments. Ericsson today has more than 50 contracts and more than 15 systems in live operation.

But wait, there is more! Watch the video "The automation journey - Virtualization at scale" featuring Andreas Havdrup, Head of Delivery in Solution Area OSS, to learn more about the first step of the journey.

Read more about accelerating your automation journey with Ericsson Service Automation with Dynamic Orchestration.

Read the first blog post of this series, 5G orchestration: The automation journey

Read Henrik Bäckström’s blog post about Automated NFV operations – two key use cases