ISE Magazine, August 2019

AUGUST 2019 WWW ISEMAG COM 73 NETWORK AUTOMIZATION experience CSPs need to embark upon a customer centric journey Lets examine the differences between KPIs and KQIs by taking a close look at video QoE A movie streamed on 4G networks may meet a certain KPI But the customers perception will vary depending on whether they are watching from a TV or a small mobile device If your KPI is aimed towards mobile customers your TV viewer will not be satisfied If you aim for TV viewers both types of customers will be happy but you will be over provisioning and wasting valuable network resources Recovering wasted bandwidth in 4G LTE networks may well be the current CLA killer app Our survey results indicate that DDoS Detection Mitigation and Congestion Management are the top 2 use cases that CSPs would like to address using CLA In addition those CSPs that currently practice DDoS mitigation want to implement CLA for rate congestion management And vice versa The survey also showed that DDoS Detection Mitigation is the most widely budgeted use case for 2019 47 of CSPs Clearly CSPs see bandwidth recovery as a leading driver of CLA The need is understood and the ROI is straightforward CSPs realize that money is being wasted by sub optimal utilization of deployed infrastructure IoT Security The Next Killer App The arrival of 5G promises support for both Massive Machine Communication MMC and Critical Machine Communication CMC services as well as extreme mobile broadband Hence the industry anticipates an explosion of scale in IoT based devices and services CLA will have an important part to play Despite the industry hype other studies show that security concerns are in fact the leading factor preventing widespread IoT deployment Enterprises and CSPs are rightfully worried by the exponentially larger attack surface that widespread IoT presents The media fuels those fears with frightening stories about compromised IoT devices wreaking havoc on networks around the world This would explain why more than two thirds of our respondents strongly agreed that CLA has an important role in the growth of both Security and IoT Services ahead of both CapEx and OpEx savings They are clearly aware of the high vulnerability associated with IoT Combined with the issues of scale this makes a strong case that CLA should be a leading force for effectively mitigating IoT based threats today and more importantly as we move to 5G CLA The Bridge Between Today and Tomorrow Its clear that CSPs are busy planning for a future with 5G During the transition they must get the most out of their 4G infrastructure in order to cope with the constant increase in network traffic Automation can maximize profitability during the transition So where along the journey towards 5G does CLA fit To find out we asked where CLA provides the greatest value Do CSPs see CLA adding the most value in 4G networks during the transition from 4G to 5G or perhaps only once they have fully migrated to 5G Despite the benefits that CLA provides in 4G networks three quarters of respondents feel that CLA will be most important in either the transition period 50 or once they have fully implemented 5G 25 This is consistent with the commonly held view that during every technological transition automation helps maximize profitability CSPs clearly understand that they need to get the most out of existing 4G infrastructure while reallocating resources during the transition to 5G These findings may also indicate that CSPs understand the need to prepare for 5Gs inherent CLA capabilities by gaining experience during the transition That way they can more easily apply it when they reach 5G