Zero-touch network & service provisioning

Dominique De Paepe

While automated provisioning definitely has been around for a while, there have often been a large volume of resources where it was either not yet implemented, impossible, or simply unnecessary.

More recently, with many resources being virtualized or cloud-based, and even the simplest traditional resources becoming fully programmable, very few solutions can be used “out of the box”. That’s why it has become a top priority for our customers to fully automate processes across the board.

The implementation of the “zero-touch” fully automated provisioning process significantly reduces the workload and operational expenses (OPEX) associated with these activities. Beyond this compelling advantage, there are even more reasons for our customers to favor this approach:

• First, each resource has a specific provisioning and configuration process, and it’s common for customers to deal with tens or even hundreds of resource types, and often with thousands of instances. An automated process helps avoid errors or inconsistencies that would otherwise be inevitable.
• Second, with all these resources spread across different security zones, using templates that are pre-tested for compliance with security regulations is another important benefit of the automated process.

Our DataMiner platform provides all the necessary functionalities to support this activity across a wide range of use cases, with the exciting opportunity to embed its workflow into a larger workflow, as illustrated by the sample use case below.

Use case: Sunrise LLC

Sunrise LLC, the largest private telecommunications company in Switzerland, relies on DataMiner for the fully automated provisioning of their latest generation of Converged Interconnect Network (CIN) and Remote PHY nodes.

These nodes are located at the outer edge of the company’s new Distributed Access Architecture. They are crucial components in Sunrise’s transition to a software-defined network approach for their DOCSIS network, which serves a large part of their residential and business customers.

DataMiner’s Process Automation engine enables zero-touch provisioning by using templates that are pre-tested for accuracy, compatibility, and compliance with security regulations.

With plans to deploy more than six thousand nodes, it is crucial for Sunrise LLC to integrate this process into their existing OSS environment. This enables their installers, engineers, and network planners to leverage their current tools and platforms to initiate the DataMiner workflow.

USE CASE DETAILS

This graph illustrates a subset of the provisioning workflows associated with this deliverable. It includes additional information regarding the trigger, the sequence of activities, and whether the workflows are typically executed as individual activities (e.g. provisioning after resource installation or replacement) or in batches (e.g. for system or service updates).

Requests for (re)provisioning individual nodes are typically linked to specific plant activities and are triggered by an installer, operator, or engineer, executing immediately. In contrast, volume reprovisioning is usually linked to bigger events (e.g. service updates), performed on a schedule, and triggered by the top-level OSS itself.

This schematic illustrates that, while waiting for the CIN elements to support IEEE802.1X authentication, the provisioning workflow also manages the CIN port activation, updates to the trusted ports list for the backhaul interface, and the necessary joins with the VLANs or MC S/G associated with that node element.

All workflows are implemented using the DataMiner Process Automation framework. While the industry-standard BPMN structure facilitates the integration into an even larger process, the highly modular design will also reduce the time and cost associated with testing and formal release of each of these workflows.