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Automation

Network automation replaces manual configuration and operations with software-driven processes, ranging from scripted tasks to fully autonomous, self-optimizing networks. Driven by the complexity of 5G standalone, cloud-native architectures, and multi-vendor environments, operators are pursuing higher autonomy — often framed against the TM Forum’s autonomous networks levels — to cut costs, speed service delivery, and improve reliability. Automation increasingly relies on AI and closed-loop systems that sense, decide, and act with diminishing human intervention. For operators and enterprises, the practical path runs through incremental autonomy: automating well-defined tasks before attempting end-to-end self-operation. This channel covers network automation across RAN, core, and operations — including orchestration, closed-loop control, and the AI techniques behind autonomous networks — with analysis of where automation is delivering measurable results and how operators are progressing toward higher levels of autonomy.

Telecom Inventory Management | Top 9 Trends 2024

Telecom Inventory Management | Top 9 Trends 2024
Discover the top 9 trends transforming telecom inventory management in 2024. From predictive analytics and blockchain technology to AI-driven insights and IoT integration, these trends are optimizing operations, enhancing customer satisfaction, and promoting sustainability in the telecom industry.

Generative AI for Business: Insights from Eugina Jordan

Generative AI for Business: Conversation with Eugina Jordan
Explore the transformative impact of Generative AI across various industries through an engaging conversation with Eugina Jordan on TeckNexus. Learn about the top business use cases, challenges, and future trends of Gen AI in marketing, customer service, and finance.

Nokia’s Private Wireless Networks: Enabling Digitalization

Nokia’s Private Wireless Networks: Enabling Digitalization
Unlocking the potential of industrial digitalization with Nokia's vision for private wireless networks. Based on the 2024 Industrial Digitalization Report, this article explores the evolution, benefits, and future potential of private wireless and edge infrastructure. Discover how Nokia's solutions are driving operational efficiency, cost savings, and sustainability across industries.

Blackfoot Communications Selects FNT Software to Enhance Network Management

Blackfoot Communications Selects FNT Software to Enhance Network Management
As part of its partnership with FNT Software, Blackfoot Communications will utilize the FNT Command Platform and FNT GeoMaps application to document and manage its extensive communications network. As a centralized, integrated system for the management of all network and service resources, FNT Command provides all the information and functionality needed for planning, engineering, service fulfillment, and service assurance processes.

KPN Launches Private 5G Solutions for Dutch Enterprises

KPN Launches Private 5G Solutions for Dutch Enterprises
KPN launches KPN Campus, a cutting-edge private 5G network designed for large Dutch enterprises. Targeting industries such as industrial, logistics, and healthcare, KPN Campus merges private and hybrid cellular solutions with on-premise computing for enhanced security and reliability.

Ericsson Texas Smart Factory: Sustainable and Energy-Efficient

Ericsson Texas Smart Factory
Ericsson's smart factory based in Texas, US builts 5G and advanced antenna systems radios. The smart factory is 25% more energy-efficient, produces 17% of required power on-site via solar panels, uses 40,000-gallon tanks to collect & reuse rainwater, and reduces shipping distance up to 5 times.

Orchestrating to $100 Billion, with Itential’s Chris Wade | Episode 32

Orchestrating to $100 Billion, with Itential's Chris Wade
Telcos are right to look to enterprise customers for near term growth. But that growth will see them selling new kinds of services, and is dependent on a new level of self-serviceability. In this episode Robert and Grant are joined by Itential CTO Chris Wade to discuss how the next big wave of digital services - an incremental revenue potential of $100B for telcos - can be enabled.

Tesla Expands Private 5G Networks at Berlin Gigafactory

Tesla Expands Private 5G Networks at Berlin Gigafactory
Tesla is advancing its global footprint by integrating private 5G networks at its Berlin Gigafactory, aiming to enhance connectivity for both its electric vehicles and the Optimus robot. This strategic move into private 5G underscores Tesla’s commitment to connectivity solutions that could further improve the future of automotive and robotics industries.

Navigating the Waves of Telecom: From CapEx Booms to Strategic Spending | 5G Guys

Navigating the Waves of Telecom From CapEx Booms to Strategic Spending
The 5G Guys podcast hosts, Dan McVaugh and Wayne Smith, introduce a new series titled 'Storytelling and Predictions,' aimed at sharing their extensive experience and insights into the telecommunications industry without overshadowing their guests. They dive into the impact of 5G on capital expenditure, noting a significant increase in spending to roll out 5G networks, which is now adjusting back to normal levels. The discussion transitions into the differences between CapEx and OpEx spending, emphasizing the shift towards maintenance and optimization of networks post-major rollouts. The hosts reflect on past downturns in the telecom industry, comparing them to the current market dynamics and predicting future trends, such as vendor consolidation and the strategic deployment of mid-band spectrum for 5G. The episode highlights the unique position of the telecom industry amidst economic fluctuations and the evolving landscape of network development.  

Connectivity in Financial Services: The Evolution is Underway

Connectivity in Financial Services: The Evolution is Underway
Few industries have been as fast and far-reaching as financial services in their response to the opportunities of the digital economy. Legacy connectivity models, once the cornerstone of the financial sector, now present challenges regarding speed, cost, flexibility, and security. The cracks are beginning to show. This article examines the role of Closed User Groups and the strategic shift that could disrupt banking operations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between automation and AI in a telecom context?
Automation, in its traditional form, generally follows pre-defined rules and scripted logic: a specific condition triggers a specific, predetermined response, with no real interpretation or judgment involved beyond what was explicitly programmed in advance. AI adds the capacity to learn from data, recognize patterns that weren’t explicitly anticipated, and make more nuanced decisions about what action makes sense in a given situation, even one the system hasn’t seen in exactly that form before. In practice, most modern telecom systems combine the two: AI analyzes a situation and decides what should happen, while automation infrastructure actually executes that decision reliably and consistently across the network, a combination often described as the foundation for agentic AI.
What is ‘zero-touch’ network operation, and how close is the industry to achieving it?
Zero-touch network operation describes the long-term industry goal of running networks with minimal direct human intervention, where the network itself handles configuration, fault recovery, and optimization automatically and continuously. It’s a meaningful aspiration rather than a fully achieved reality; the industry is progressing toward it in stages, with specific functions, like automated fault detection or dynamic capacity adjustment, achieving meaningful levels of automation well before the broader vision of an entirely self-managing network becomes reality. Standards bodies including ETSI have working groups specifically dedicated to defining the requirements for zero-touch network and service management, reflecting that this remains an active area of ongoing standardization rather than settled, widely deployed technology.
Why is automation considered essential for managing modern 5G networks specifically?
5G networks are substantially more complex than earlier generations for several compounding reasons: they rely heavily on virtualized network functions running across cloud infrastructure rather than fixed dedicated hardware, they support network slicing, meaning managing multiple distinct virtual networks with different performance guarantees simultaneously, and they often combine equipment and software from multiple different vendors rather than one integrated supplier. Traffic patterns also shift constantly and unpredictably as device density and application types continue to grow. Attempting to manually manage this level of complexity at the scale of a national or global network simply isn’t realistic, making automation effectively a practical requirement for operating a modern 5G network reliably at all.
How does automation relate to network orchestration?
Automation and orchestration are closely related but distinct concepts. Automation generally refers to executing a specific task without manual intervention, like automatically restarting a failed process or adjusting a configuration parameter. Orchestration refers to the broader coordination of multiple automated tasks and virtualized network components across their full lifecycle, deciding where different network functions should run, how they should scale, and how they interact with each other to deliver a complete service. In practice, orchestration systems often rely on underlying automation capabilities to actually carry out the individual tasks they coordinate, providing higher-level coordination while automation provides the lower-level mechanism for reliably executing decisions.
What are the risks of relying heavily on automated network systems?
Heavy reliance on automated systems introduces specific risks alongside its clear efficiency benefits. If an automated system makes an incorrect decision, that error can potentially propagate quickly and broadly across the network before a human notices and intervenes, compared to a manual process where mistakes tend to be more contained. There’s also a risk of reduced visibility and understanding among human staff over time, since heavily automated systems can create a gap between what the network is actually doing and what engineers fully understand about why, particularly as AI-driven decision-making becomes more involved. Operators generally manage these risks by maintaining careful guardrails for automated actions, expanding autonomous scope gradually as confidence grows.
How has automation changed the day-to-day role of network engineers?
Automation has shifted network engineers’ day-to-day work away from repetitive, manual configuration and troubleshooting tasks and toward higher-level responsibilities like designing automation policies, overseeing AI-driven systems, and handling more complex or novel problems that automated systems aren’t yet equipped to resolve independently. Rather than manually configuring each new service or personally diagnosing every fault, engineers increasingly spend time defining the rules, guardrails, and escalation criteria that govern how automated systems behave, then stepping in directly for situations that fall outside those parameters. This represents a meaningful skills shift, with growing demand for engineers comfortable working with automation platforms and AI systems alongside traditional networking expertise.
What’s ‘closed-loop automation,’ and why does it matter?
Closed-loop automation refers to systems that don’t just execute an automated action once, but continuously monitor the result of that action, compare it against the intended outcome, and adjust automatically if the result doesn’t match expectations, creating a self-correcting cycle without requiring a human to manually verify and re-trigger each step. A closed-loop system managing network capacity, for example, might automatically increase resources in response to rising traffic, then continuously monitor whether that adjustment actually resolved the congestion, and make further automatic adjustments if it didn’t. This concept is considered a meaningful step toward the zero-touch network vision, since it moves automation beyond simple one-off actions toward genuinely self-managing behavior based on real-world feedback.
The next evolution of Ciena’s DCOM: OOB management for diverse data center needs
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