ZTE has announced technology designed to bring automation to the process of upgrading core network elements. The vendor said its One-Key upgrade solution helps operators overcome technical and time constraints during the traditional core network upgrade process by automating a large proportion of the work required.
“This new solution is a significant step forward for intelligent network upgrades,” said ZTE Core Network Product Line Manager Mr. Liu Jianhua. “With the One-Key upgrade, we can help operators reduce operations and maintenance costs and increase efficiency.”
So what exactly does ZTE mean when it talks about automating the upgrade process, and which elements are involved? Mobile Europe asked ZTE just those questions:
What does the process automate? How?
Using the One-Key solution, ZTE Core Network (CN) V4 products are uniformly connected to the EMS (Network Element Management System) through the OMM Server (Operation & Maintenance Module Server), and the EMS manages lower-level network elements (NEs), such as MSCS (mobile switching centre server), SGSN (serving GPRS support node), and HLR (home location register).
The upgrade process is completed automatically. That is, after the upgrade tasks are set up on the EMS, the EMS sends commands to the OMM servers on the lower-level NEs according to the time and operation steps set up in the tasks, and the OMM server automatically completes: pre-upgrade preparations (including data backup and checks); upgrade steps; post-upgrade checks (including checking the status after the upgrade; checking key KPIs (and comparing alarms with those before upgrade); and upgrade rollback processes.
What elements are we talking about?
All ZTE CN V4 products (MSCs\MGW\GGSN\SGSN\HLR etc) have been equipped with the One-Key upgrade capability. Thus, as long as the onsite version is above the baseline version, the entire upgrade operation process can be accomplished automatically.
What is happening when we talk about automation in a core network upgrade?
The successful application of a One-Key upgrade for ZTE CN V4 products is a mark that CN products are striving toward all-round automatic and intelligent operations. Through the new upgrade mode, upgrade efficiency is improved by around 50 percent. If several offices in the same project need to be upgraded at the same time, the One-Key upgrade mode saves more on time and human resources. In addition, compared to traditional manual upgrades, the automatic upgrade process significantly reduces the possibility of operational errors.