Network automation

Simplify and transform the way you build, control and operate your network

What is network automation?

Network automation is the use of software tools and processes to design, configure and manage network infrastructure and services in a programmatic way.

Automation reduces or eliminates the need for manual intervention, which increases the productivity of operations teams across a wide range of tasks. These include provisioning new devices, configuring and securing network services, monitoring and optimizing network and service performance, and anticipating and troubleshooting problems.

Why we need automated networks

Almost every aspect of human life now relies on digital technologies. The networks that power these technologies have become very dynamic and extremely complex. More things are connected and more can go wrong.

But networks are expected to respond instantaneously, scaling to meet petabyte shifts in demand. They also need to provide high levels of service reliability to meet the requirements of many mission-critical processes.

You can’t deliver these fast response times and meet other rigorous demands in the network by relying on manual processes. It’s time for automated networks.

On this page

Automation of every network
A journey towards AIOps and autonomous networks
What are the benefits of network automation?
What’s the best starting point for network automation?
Automate networks to remove your pain points
What do you need to automate networks?
Key network automation technologies
Why choose Nokia for network automation?
Customer success stories

Automation of every network

A true end-to-end approach is required to harness the benefits of network automation. Nokia provides automation solutions for every network domain.

Core networks

5G Core Automation

The road ahead is connected. Make ground-breaking technology work for everyday life.

Data center networks

Event-Driven Automation

Reliable, simplified and adaptable data center network operations

End-to-end network and service lifecycle automation

Digital Operations Center

End-to-end closed-loop operations for autonomous networks

Fixed networks

Fixed access network automation

Automate your next-gen network for next-gen demands.

IP networks

IP network automation

Reduce risk and speed up implementation with prepackaged software and services

Optical networks

Optical network automation

Optical transport networks form the backbone of the global communications infrastructure.

Mobile networks

Radio access network automation

Designed to optimize 5G mobile radio network performance, quality and energy efficiency with AI-powered automation

A journey towards AIOps and autonomous networks

Automation is a journey towards fully autonomous networks that involves multiple stages.

Many repetitive and time-consuming tasks can be automated using basic scripting or workflows. This speeds up execution and reduces the risk of human error. More advanced levels of network automation involve continuously monitoring and adjusting the network to maintain optimal service performance.

Autonomous networks with artificial intelligence and machine learning elevates network automation to handle complex activities that require fast decisions, or tasks that are too information-heavy for humans to process. AIOps can be augmented with Generative AI to help network engineers configure network parameters using everyday language, and to assist programmers so that they code better, not just faster.

A graph showing the steps of the network automation journey.

What are the benefits of network automation?

Ultimately, network automation helps you create new service opportunities, improve customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

Improved network service agility

Rapidly deploy network services and updates and respond faster to changing customer demands.

Greater operational efficiency

Lower the cost of repetitive tasks and simplify complex operations.

Increased availability

Reduce human errors and system outages and deliver consistent, predictable outcomes.

What’s the best starting point for network automation?

The best way to build a network automation roadmap is to focus on the business outcomes you are trying to achieve. Examining and prioritizing these outcomes will help you determine what to automate and when. Some key business outcomes to consider include:

Accelerating revenue growth

Automate equipment configuration and network service provisioning so you can respond to customer needs faster.

Getting the most from network assets and investments

Automate traffic optimization to maximize network performance and utilization.

Protecting revenue and avoiding losses

Automate network and service assurance to guarantee performance, improve customer satisfaction and reduce churn.

Reducing OPEX

Automate network lifecycle management so you can complete operational tasks faster, more efficiently and without errors.

When you have identified your automation priorities, you can begin to adopt network automation in achievable, incremental steps that maximize your return on investment.

Automate networks to remove your pain points

Network automation solutions help you resolve pain points at every stage of the network lifecycle, from accelerating service delivery to improving performance and streamlining operational tasks.

Plan and evolve

Simplify and accelerate the deployment, backup and upgrade of network equipment and configurations.

Slice

Create and assure multiple virtual networks over a common physical infrastructure.

Heal

Rapidly troubleshoot network and service issues and fix the root causes of failures.

Secure

Protect your network and services from unauthorized access, misuse, denial-of-service attacks and other threats.

Discover and visualize

Discover and depict network and service topology, inventory and performance in real time.

Predict

Anticipate future outcomes based on current and historical data to avoid congestion and service interruptions.

Fulfill

Provision your network and services in a quick and predictable way.

Assure

Measure and monitor conformance to customer expectations.

Optimize

Increase network utilization while improving service performance.

What do you need to automate networks?

Network automation isn’t just about implementing new tools. It requires an operational transformation that impacts people and processes, too. Ignoring the human and procedural aspects can make it harder to adopt, implement and realize the full benefits of automation.

To succeed with network automation, you need a holistic approach that drives a shift in your skill set, method of procedure and technologies.

A graph showing that network automation requires an operational transformation that impacts people, processes and technologies.

Tools

You need some key technology building blocks to support network automation in a multilayer, multidomain and multivendor environment. Our flexible and open tools make it easy for your engineers, architects, programmers and operations team to automate your network.

People

The skills that will help you integrate and use automation technologies effectively in your network environment can be rare and expensive to acquire. Our services team provides the consulting, project management, deployment, integration and customization expertise you need to succeed with network automation.

Processes

Our network automation solutions give you the flexibility to take a do-it-yourself approach, deploy a turnkey solution or combine elements of both. Whatever your preference, our experts can work with you to transform your processes, define measurable business objectives and customize software to achieve your network automation goals.

Key network automation technologies

The introduction of network automation is a continuous activity that depends on significant technology innovations. This evolution is driven by a fundamental change from static, hardware-centric networks to dynamic, open and programmable software-centric networks.

The increasing use of software tools that feature less proprietary and domain-specific functionality and abstract network complexity fosters network innovation and enables higher levels of automation. This leads to more efficient operations, faster service implementation and optimized real-time performance.

What is software-defined networking?

Software-defined networking (SDN) makes it possible to separate the control and data planes. This enables you to programmatically control and manage your network to make it more adaptable and responsive to changing requirements. SDN uses a centralized controller that communicates with the network to optimize traffic flow in real time, allocate resources efficiently and improve network performance.

What is intent-based networking?

Intent-based networking (IBN) uses a declarative approach and model-driven management principles to abstract network service characteristics, simplify and automate network and service management, reduce integration efforts and decouple network innovations from service evolution.

Declarative programming drives operations efficiently and consistently. This enables you to focus on your end goals instead of how to achieve them. Programmatic interfaces and data models mediate interaction with network elements to enable multivendor support and rapid onboarding of new equipment releases and types. IBN accelerates service deployment and improves service availability by ensuring the actual configuration is aligned with your intent.

What is cloud-native networking?

Cloud native networking uses IT-centric tools and techniques to operate the network like software. Every aspect of the network will eventually be coded and programmable, making it easily consumable. Using common tools across all ICT infrastructure (apps, compute, storage and networking) with limited per-domain specialization reduces skillset requirements, fosters innovation and enables greater collaboration. The use of agile NetDevOps processes with continuous integration and deployment is common practice for faster onboarding of new technologies and network functions.

Why choose Nokia for network automation?

Nokia is the right partner to accompany you on your journey to network automation. We can help you build extremely agile, efficient and reliable networks using best-in-class management, technologies, IT solutions, design practices and expertise in all network domains.

With our solutions, you can maximize network performance, lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and succeed in the ever-changing digital economy by using automation to:

Improve the customer experience and keep up with evolving demands with fast, agile service delivery
Reduce the operational complexity that comes with innovative, flexible technologies such as virtualization and containerization
Meet the requirements of 5G, IoT and mission-critical services by taking capacity, low latency and availability to new levels.

Offering leadership in networking in combination with algorithms and expertise from Nokia Bell Labs, we are in a unique position to help you simplify and transform the way you build, control and operate your network.