Keynote talk at IEEE CSCN 2018 Conference on Standards for Communications and Networking. Highlighting challenges and directions of zero-touch and automation in the networking industry and providing insights on recent standardization activities.

1. © 2017 Nokia1
Recent Advances in Network
Automation Standards
Laurent Ciavaglia
October 2018
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2. © 2017 Nokia2
• Focus on “elephant” mass-
market services that can justify
the cost & time
• Expensive and slow to get new
service to market due to
complex OSS/BSS systems, and
manual processes
The future of digital service delivery from Digital Service Providers (DSPs)
New Markets | Faster New Services | Faster Time to Revenue | Higher Customer Satisfaction
• Webscales deliver rapid,
personalized, on-demand
services - leverage cloud
automation but mainly over
the top delivery
• CSPs starting to evolve with
NFV/SDN to speed the
delivery of network services
Traditional CSP
Cloud Transformation
Future DSP
• Digital experience: broad array of
new services that combine cloud
services and network resources
• Tailor virtual networks for each
use case: latency, bandwidth,
security, choice of functions
• Agile network: services are rapidly
trialed, deployed & scaled
• Open platform: ecosystem of
cloud and network players
Source: Analysys Mason
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3. © 2017 Nokia3
The economic incentive to find new revenue sources is clear for today’s CSPs
Value creation lies in novel services where network service performance is critical
Cloud Services ($B) have strong
growth but value captured by
CSPs has been limited
Future DSP markets ($B in 2025)
offer revenue expansion for CSPs
2015
1,000
556
234
207
2019
997
479
322
200
Data
Voice
TV
Traditional CSP service
revenues in mature
markets* ($B) are flat
* Western Europe, Canada, USA, Japan,
South Korea, Singapore, Australia, and NZ
Source: Gartner
359
41
68
19
25
3139
79
2015
194
Cloud
Advertising
2019
VOD/streaming
Cloud
Infra aaS
SaaS
BPaaS
61
56
134
Health 1590
Factories
Worksites
Cities
Logistics
& Transport
1660
850
1210
930
930
560
170
3700
160
Estimated 2025 value creation potential of the IoT
- McKinsey Global Institute
Low Estimate High Estimate
Source: Gartner
BPaaS = Business Processes as a Service
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4. © 2017 Nokia4
Network Slicing - The foundation for future value creation
Network slices are end-to-end ‘virtual private services’
Composable Network
& Service Resources
Application
Logic
Virtual Network
Functions
Cloud
Infrastructure
SW-Defined
Connectivity
Service
Request
Slice Request
Attributes
Latency:
Throughput:
Reliability:
Mobility:
Geography:
Security:
Analytics:
Cost profile:
…
Network & Cloud
Orchestration
Service Specific Network Slices
4K,VR
Automated
composition
& operations
Service
Delivery
High performance
localized delivery
UEAccessCore TransportApplication
E2E virtual network optimized for specific tenant, service or service class with dynamic
adaption and automated monitoring and control
Augmented
Services
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Network and Service Automation are essential to DSP economics
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Source: Bell Labs Consulting
Without E2E automation NFV/SDN & network slicing add significant cost and complexity

6. © 2017 Nokia6
The shift: Transformation from CSP to DSP requires a new automation stack
Evolution
DIGITAL SERVICE
LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT (LCM)
OPERATIONAL SUPPORT
SYSTEMS (OSS)
BUSINESS SUPPORT SYSTEMS (BSS)
PHYSICAL
RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
DIGITAL STOREFRONT
CUSTOMER AND BUSINESS AUTOMATION
VIRTUAL & PHYSICAL
RESOURCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE
CLOUDINFRA&IT
PROPRIETARYTELECOM
TRADITIONAL DIGITAL Service Provider
Managing complexity and agility of digital services requires fully automated delivery platform
• Service operations
• Network & cloud resource management
• Data layer management
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7. © 2017 Nokia7
The future architecture: What are we aiming for?
Service operations and network domain management with closed loop automation
DIGITAL SERVICE
LIFECYCLE
MANAGEMENT (LCM)
DIGITAL STOREFRONT
CUSTOMER AND
BUSINESS AUTOMATION
VIRTUAL & PHYSICAL
RESOURCES AND
INFRASTRUCTURE
DIGITAL Service Provider
Service Operations &
Cross-Domain Orchestration
Fixed Access Domain
IP Routing DomainNetwork Domain Management
IP/Optical Domain
Fixed Access Domain, etc.
Shared & Domain
Specific Data
Two level architecture, each with
similar operations functions
including:
• Orchestration and fulfilment
• Topology and inventory
• Assurance and analytics
• DevOps
(physical or virtual)Virtual & Physical Resources
Areas of focus for this discussion
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8. © 2017 Nokia8
From silos and custom integration to full multi-domain automation
Perspective: Evolution of network management architectures
1980 - 2000
Single-Vendor Domains
2000 - 2012
Multi-Vendor Domains
2012 - 2018
Network Virtualization
Beyond 2018
Network Automation
A new architecture is required to enable network and service automation
Increasing operational complexity Operational agility and efficiency
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9. © 2017 Nokia9
Network automation
Multi-level automation
Automation: the action of making a
task executable without human
intervention
Automation applies from individual
functions to orchestration of entire
chain of automation i.e. workflows
Automation must apply inside and
across domains e.g. enabling end-to-
end slice provisioning
Automation challenges
Diversity. How to design automation
patterns applicable to the heterogeneity of
devices and components
Reliability. How to avoid massive error
propagation when extreme automation is
deployed
Uncertainty. How to automate when faced
with lack of knowledge or variability of the
environment or conditions
Automation means
Measurement
using streaming telemetry and analytics to
generate actionable insights
Learning
using machine learning to identify patterns
and enable predictive operations
Decision
using cognitive and adaptive closed
control loops to produce effective
(re)action plans
Management
using powerful, declarative abstractions
(e.g. intents)
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10. © 2017 Nokia10
From reactivity to zero-touch automation
Perspective: Evolution of network management automation
Zero-TouchProactiveReactive
Network/service
operations
Closed-loop network and
service automation
Partially automated processesLow: single task
Level of
automation
Prescriptive analytics &
machine intelligence
Predictive analytics,
e.g. for maintenance/repair
Descriptive & diagnostic
analytics, for example
anomaly detection
Intelligence
Fully programmable with
embedded software control
More dynamic with partial
software control overlay
Static networkNetwork agility
Past Present Future
Source: adapted from Analysis Mason
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11. © 2017 Nokia11
Closed-Loop “Zero-Touch“ Network Automation
OODA – Observe, Orient, Decide, Act - Closed Control Loop
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12. © 2017 Nokia12
Modular, extensible and scalable architecture, optimized for closed-loop
Nokia vision of future network and service automation architecture
Service operations:
• Service-level automation driven by service intelligence and
orchestration across all domains
• Self-ordering processes automated via catalogues and open APIs
Network domain management:
• Domain-level automation driven by network intelligence and
orchestration across all network functions
• Model-driven resource assurance and control
• Cross-domain data exposure and optimization enabled by a
network data service
• Cloud-native VNFs
Closed-loop automation is applied on service management and domain management levels
Shared & Domain
Specific Data
Network Resources
(physical or virtual)Network Resources
(physical or virtual)
End-End Service Operations
Fixed Access Domain
IP Routing Domain
Domain Management
Multi-Vendor Network Resources
(physical or virtual)
Fixed Access Domain
IP & Optical Domain
Wireless Domain
Network Intelligence
Service Intelligence
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13. © 2017 Nokia13
State of the industry
Currently there are multiple inconsistent management frameworks in the industry, many
silos, a lack of alignment and a lack of interoperability.
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It is essential to move to an environment that leverages
synergies and achieves alignment through convergence on a
single end-to-end network and service management
architecture.

14. © 2017 Nokia14
ETSI ISG ZSM
Formed in December 2017; first meeting in January 2018
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14 founding members
Formed under the auspices
of the ETSI ISG
Key objective
Enable future operational
processes and tasks to be
executed automatically, end-to-
end
Industry convergence
Facilitate collaboration with the
relevant open-source projects,
standardization bodies and fora
Goal
Accelerate the definition of the
end-to-end service management
architecture, spanning both legacy
and virtualized network
infrastructures
Interoperability
Provide a common foundation to
enable a diverse ecosystem of
open source groups to produce
interoperable solutions

15. © 2017 Nokia15
The ISG ZSM continues growing in a steady and healthy pace
58 members; 17 operators
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Industry alignment: ETSI ZSM has a central role in the automation ecosystem
• ETSI Zero touch network and Service
Management (ZSM) has a pivotal role in
bridging between holistic end-end
automation and other standardization bodies
or open source projects
• Requirements derived from use cases
• Architecture for management/automation
• Open-source projects like ONAP should focus
on implementation and validation
• Alignment discussion with LNF and ONAP
already started
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17. © 2017 Nokia17
Note: the ZSM DRAFT specifications are publicly available via the ZSM open area (Link).
ZSM deliverables
Work item Title
ZSM 001 Use cases and requirements (specification)
ZSM 002 Reference Architecture (specification)
ZSM 003 End to end management and orchestration of network slicing (specification)
ZSM 004 ZSM Landscape (report)
ZSM 005
Means for Automation (report)
ZSM 006 Proof of Concept Framework (specification)
ZSM 007 Terminology
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ETSI GS ZSM 001: Purpose, Goal and Approach
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19. © 2017 Nokia19
ETSI GS ZSM 001: Modus Operandi
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20. © 2017 Nokia20
ETSI GS ZSM 001: What We Have
Scenarios identify business-oriented and automation-related challenges faced by operators and
vertical industries
Scenarios analysis derives architectural, functional and operational requirements
Currently: 31 scenarios and 90+ requirements contributed
Ongoing consolidation:
Group similar or related scenarios together
Refine requirements: identify redundancies and reword where necessary
Will improve quality, consistency and readability of ZSM 001 specification
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21. © 2017 Nokia21
* Link to ZSM_RefArch DRAFT specification
ZSM architecture (ZSM 002*)
ZSM baseline architecture
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Architectural principles:
• Modular, flexible and extensible service-
based architecture
• Separation of concerns: network domain
management and end-to-end cross-domain
service management; resources in multiple
domains can be managed separately.
• Open interfaces
• Model-driven service and resource
abstraction
• Adaptive closed-loop management
automation, with rule and policy driven
automated decision-making mechanisms
• Stateless functional components
• Design for reliability

22. © 2017 Nokia22
What next?
• The ISG will conduct a gap analysis to ensure that existing activities are not
duplicated and that the barriers to end-to-end automation are addressed
• If a gap can be addressed by an existing body, that body will be encouraged to
do the work to avoid duplication. The ISG will work to fill the remaining gaps.
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23. © 2017 Nokia23
Additional information
• ZSM Terms of Reference (Link)
• ZSM technology page (Link)
• ZSM blogs (Link)
• ZSM Wiki, pointing to information related to ZSM PoCs (Link)
• ZSM FAQ (Link)
• List of members (Link)
• Operators’ white paper (Link) on the necessity of automation in
end-to-end network and service management
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24. © 2017 Nokia24 © 2017 Nokia24 © 2017 Nokia24
Epilogue
– We have just embarked on an exciting journey towards the automation
transformation that will help operators to meet user expectations for service
agility and create new business opportunities.
– The ISG intends to drive a highly focused and agile industry effort involving key
players spanning the breadth of the ecosystem.
– The ISG is open for both ETSI members and non-ETSI members. The different
players in the value chain are welcome to join the ISG effort, contribute to the
development of the specifications and demonstrate Proofs of Concepts (PoCs).
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25. © 2017 Nokia25
Thank you!
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