More automation, tooling and policy management standardisation
Kevin Peters, executive VP, AT&T’s Global Network Operations, has called for telecoms software providers to provide more innovative tooling and automation on their products, to enable operators to drive operational cost down.
Peters said operators are faced with having to provide “end to end performance assurance” from the network and IT layers out to devices and users.
“Traditional network and IT infrastructures are coming together,” he said, “and there is increasing complexity across the device, applications and network layers. We are heading to an applications and service operations environment, as opposed to IT and network operations environments.
“We are headed to a new operational model , where there will be a need for end to end performance management. That is the domain in which we operate and we need the monitoring and measurement tools to manage it.”
Peters said this new world would also mean a need for “correlation engines far beyond what we have today.”
He also envisaged a need for standards to be developed for the policy management of endpoint devices, and said that current Element Management Systems are “insufficient”.
“Suppliers need to see the signals of what is required to deliver. We need to work within the basic concepts of standards and co-operation and get on with preparing ourselves for this operational environment.”