The vendor will digitise optical and IP service delivery, automate network visualisation and reduce costs for Deutsche Telekom (DT) in Germany.
DT engaged Netcracker Technology to deliver optical and IP service automation after a series of successful proofs of concepts and test cases, following at least 12 competitive bids for the contract.
Netcracker’s Network Domain Orchestration solution is to be delivered collaboratively to automate:
• multi-domain network discovery and visualisation;
• multi-layer traffic optimisation; IP and optical backbone provisioning; and
• multi-vendor network orchestration.
By digitising these functions, DT aims to gain end-to-end network insight, automate service provisioning processes, massively reduce the cost, time and effort involved in provisioning and thereby improve customer experience.
The solution will be delivered in phases, with the first phase scheduled for completion in December. The programme of work will begin with automating network discovery and visualisation to gain end-to-end network insights.
Leadership and internal changes
Ari Banerjee, VP of Strategy at Netcracker said in an interview, “I think the bigger part of it is looking at how Deutsche Telekom is also pushing the boundaries, moving towards the whole cloud-native approach, adopting a whole agile way of working…and they have the leadership to do that because it also means a lot of changes internally.”
He added, “What DT wants and what we will provide for them when we go live in December is this automation, which is expected to reduce provisioning time and effort by over 50%.
“That is the area which becomes a bottleneck typically for operators when they’re trying automate in the service domain. So that’s where we are playing and helping DT.
“The next part of it is part of is intelligent network planning and assimilation. Another is enhancing the whole assurance bit with AI.”
Adding 5G to the mix
DT began rolling out 5G in July in the cities of Berlin, Bonn, Darmstadt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Munich. It intends to have more than 300 5G base stations live in more than 100 locations by the end of this year, and then to address the 20 largest Germany cities during 2020.
Rainer Steege, VP IP Core at DT, said, “A combination of innovation, solution quality and ability to work using agile/DevOps in a collaborative fashion demonstrated Netcracker’s value as a strategic partner as we work together to revolutionise the way network services are delivered through end-to-end automation.”
OSS experience
Netcracker has worked with DT on both BSS and OSS for many years, and on DT’s Pan-net infrastructure across Europe.
The company also works with Vodafone on its ambitious OCEAN virtualisation initiative, which is being implemented across 46 of its operating companies. OCEAN’s aim is to simplify and speed up the delivery of services to customers.
Banerjee concluded, “All these references are very helpful, but when it comes to it, [DT] goes through all the processes themselves to make sure it’s the best platform”