重度阅读 2023年5G网络分析与自动化运营商调查

Heavy Reading’s 20235G Network Analytics &Automation Operator Survey A Heavy Reading white paper produced forFujitsu, NETSCOUT, and Spirent AUTHOR: RUTH BROWN, PRINCIPAL ANALYST, HEAVY READING INTRODUCTION AND KEY FINDINGS This report presents the results of the Heavy Reading5G Network Analytics andAutomation Operator Surveyconducted in May 2023. Heavy Reading’s first surveyfocused on this topic provides insight into network operator views on 5G networkautomation and analytics. 5G RAN, cloud native technology, and disaggregation introduce agility, scale, and flexibilityto the network, but they also present complex challenges for mobile operators. Advancedanalytics and automation systems are fundamental to providing real-time servicemanagement, generating operational insights, and supporting lifecycle changes. The 5GRAN and 5G core analytics and automation ecosystem are diverse and evolving rapidly. 5G service operation has demanding requirements. To gain real-time actionable insights,operators require the ability to analyze and process numerous network data feeds efficientlyacross the entire network. Analytic and automation solutions driven by artificial intelligence(AI) and machine learning (ML) will simplify and enhance operational efficiency and supportdemanding performance requirements. Furthermore, continuous software release cycles in5G will rely on automation and analytic processes to support the cadence of cloud nativenetwork functions and to compute infrastructure updates. This report aims to help the industry better understand the status of network analytics andautomation and provide insights into operators’ strategies. Key findings A combined 58% of respondents say their company will provide public wide-areanetwork support for 5G standalone (SA) within 12 months based on where it is“already supported” (28%) and will be “within 6–12 months” (30%).This is moreoptimistic than the present worldwide outlook. Heavy Reading interprets these timelines asincluding some of the recent and upcoming 5G SA soft launches to restricted numbers ofusers and/or to smaller geographic areas before full rollout. It also likely reflects that surveyrespondents primarily work for technically advanced operators. Nevertheless, it is a clearsign that 5G SA public wide-area network launches are starting to occur more frequently. Mobile broadband (MBB) is the most attractive 5G service for revenue growth,ahead of private 5G and network slicing in second and third place, respectively.Enhanced mobile broadband is already available with 5G non-standalone (NSA) and is generating revenue as many operators work to deploy 5G SA and its services, such asnetwork slicing and private 5G. Smaller operators have different opinions than largeroperators on the revenue growth question. Mobile operators with less than 9 millionsubscribers ranked private 5G first. This result perhaps indicates that smaller operators feelthey are already exploiting MBB services and see little scope for revenue growth with 5GSA. Roughly a third (36%) of respondents believe performance management is thehighest priority for network automation, followed by a quarter (24%) who willprioritize network and service testing.There is enthusiasm for automated network andservice testing, validating the growing maturity and understanding of automated softwaredeployment cycles (CI/CD, or continuous integration/continuous delivery) and their role within service agility. Only 9% of respondents prioritized fault management, perhapssuggesting operators are still exploring options. The right selection of automation technologies, such as orchestration, CI/CD, andcontainerization, will be critical to network scalability and agility as operators plantheir networks.Orchestration and CI/CD rank closely as the most critical automationtechnologies. Containerization is third, with dynamic resource allocation (fourth) and closed-loop control (fifth) scoring lowest. Respondents’ high ranking for orchestration indicates thecurrent importance of managing networks and new services, possibly in hybridenvironments. CI/CD receives further endorsement as a fundamental and defining featurefor software deployment. Enthusiasm for network API exposure (e.g., via functions such as the networkexposure function [NEF]) is high, with a combined 83% indicating it is “extremelyimportant” (31%) or “important” (52%) to their network automation strategy.Importance within the US is even greater, with a combined 100% of respondents determining it to be “extremely important” (44%) or “important” (56%). This unequivocallyreveals that network APIs will play a significant role in automation strategies. However, it isprudent to accept timescales, and widespread practical implementations may still take a fewyears. AI/ML network automation strategies will be driven by the RAN.The RAN domainhas a strong business case for the prioritized adoption of AI/ML due to its scale, complexity,and recognized optimi