Telecom networks are at one of their great technology junctures as Communications Service Providers make the leap to end-to-end, Standalone 5G: New, cloud-native networks that demand service assurance that is both fluid and resilient, granular and scalable.
But what does “cloud-native” mean, and how do you know if a service assurance solution truly is cloud-native? It’s easy to call something disruptive, and much harder to disrupt the economics and static nature of traditional probe-based assurance.
Here are seven essential qualities to look for that tell you a service assurance offering is truly cloud-native, based onInfovista’s experience in serving the most advanced networks in the world.
–A distributed architecture. A detailed demonstration of Infovista’s KLERITY
service assurance solution in a 5G network walked through the deployment of the solution, via Azure Kubernetes Services, with regional/edge and central clusters that can be manipulated or moved at will, rather than fixed hardware determining an architecture. The architecture’s primary focus now becomes the matters of bringing intelligence to more points, the relationships of clusters and the ability to instantiate new services on-demand, anywhere. This approach is key to delivery and monetization of 5G services, particularly in the ability to scale so that 5G service turn-up can move away from bespoke configuration and service delivery. 5G is itself highly distributed, and a truly cloud-native service assurance solution embraces that characteristic while delivering scalable technology and scalable economics. It doesn’t attempt to retrofit legacy solutions to work with edge-based services that have completely new performance characteristics.
–Functional disaggregation, because truly cloud-native service assurance means far more than reverse-engineering probes into software. Separation of user plane/control plane data collection and correlation is key here. Infovista’s KLERITY edge clusters only need to send about 4% of incoming traffic on to central clusters, which correlate and report a comprehensive view of the network.
–Elastic scalability, to support both the CSP network with billions of IoT devices and the enterprise scenario, such as a manufacturer or mining operation, with its own private network and depending on business-critical, low-latency applications. Can your service assurance solution both scale up and scale down sufficiently to support new 5G business models?
-Along with elasticity should come multi-tenancy support to make the most efficient use of resources while supporting multiple services or enterprise networks—yet their essential separation must be maintained. Multi-tenancy support should also include the capability for varying levels of enterprise self-service, because it can turn service assurance into a value proposition. The ability of a business to conduct first-step triage through an online portal is valuable both for the business end-user and the service provider: The portal itself is a service, and when enterprises take on more of their own network management, the CSP can put its own resources to their most efficient use for further growth. Offering enterprises deeper visibility into the performance of tiered services represents an additional service that can be monetized.
–Self-orchestration across a variety of hybrid environments, with automation taken as a matter of course. A cloud-native service assurance solution must be able to follow the services, wherever and however they are spun up or down, without missing a beat. In a world of network slices, services are no longer monolithic – so your service assurance architecture can’t be monolithic, either.
-The final two cloud-native qualities are seamless upgrades and CI/CD, with the ability to either automate or selectively upgrade on your own terms, with zero down-time. CI/CD is a cornerstone of the necessary flexibility for NetDevOps. No-one knows exactly what use cases and requirements will emerge as 5G matures, but the ability to flexibly and selectively open up your network technology to other ecosystem partners means you’ll be ready with evergreen functionality when you need it.
Ultimately, a true cloud-native approach seeks a unified and agile technology stack. That’s a major strategic change for telecom—but it’s time, finally, to put an end to silos once and for all.
There is undeniable urgency here: CSPs need rapidly design, deploy, test and operate 5G Standalone so they can get to the business of monetization. To support the complexity of the 5G network environment and satisfy the demands of services, service assurance needs to be every bit as cloud-native as 5G Standalone itself. Learn more about the seven critical building blocks of true cloud-native customer experience assurance in this white paper from Infovista.
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