Infovista, the global leader in Network Lifecycle Automation, announced the launch of its rApp program to support the automation of Network Design and Optimization (NDO) as part of its ongoing integration of cloud-native microservices into the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform which was unveiled Tuesday. The platform is an open service management and orchestration product that will help communications service providers optimize network performance, enable operational efficiency and deliver enhanced customer experience. The platform delivers service management and orchestration functionalities in line with Open RAN principles, taking automation forward with support for diverse vendors and multiple radio access network technologies. Starting with Infovista Planet, the world’s first AI-powered planning solution to design 4G and 5G radio networks across the world, the Infovista rApp program will integrate cloud-native technology and algorithms and leverage 30+ years of expertise in radio planning and optimization to support multi-vendor and multi-technology 5G networks by design.
The first Planet-based NDO rApp from Infovista will allow an operator to automate network planning related activities such coverage, throughput analysis, RAN optimization and, in turn, can enable capabilities such as auto-commissioning of sites and automation of other workflows which needs planning information and/or algorithms. The combination of AI and automation drastically improves network planning productivity to accelerate 5G rollouts. Infovista is already working on future micro-services rApps which will cover service / experience assurance, optimization, fault management, performance management and configuration management domains.
“The world of 5G Standalone is cloud-native, multi-vendor and multi-tech, making the alignment of network investments with business objectives a real headache for operators. End-to-end automation will be critical to solving this because every task and action taken in the 5G network has many ramifications,” said Muhannad Alabweh, VP Solutions Engineering, Infovista. “Together with Ericsson we share the same vision of enabling faster, simpler and cost-efficient networks through automation and are delighted today to be unveiling our rApp program to help operators take an important stride towards streamlining, automating and integrating planning, deployment and operations of their 5G-era networks across the full network lifecycle.”
“Ericsson’s service management orchestration platform, the Ericsson Intelligent Automation Platform, comes with an advanced software development toolkit designed to facilitate the development and onboarding of rApps. For Ericsson, third-party developers are key in building an ecosystem of innovative use cases and we are enthusiastic to work with a company like Infovista that shares our vision for an open platform to drive automation across both purpose-built and Open RAN networks,” said Peo Lehto, Head of Solution Area OSS, Ericsson Digital Services.
Infovista Network Lifecycle Automation (NLA) is an open, unified, cloud-native portfolio of network and service management applications, capable of deploying transversal use cases that streamline, automate and integrate planning, deployment and operations of CSP networks. The company’s open software solutions for design, planning, testing and service / experience assurance all work across new and existing radio access networks (RAN) and support multi-vendor and multi-technologies, from 2G to 5G, by design.
Based on a cloud-native architecture with high flexibility to scale, supported by containerized microservices that can be shared across each of the applications and providing common components such as data models and KPIs, Infovista’s microservices can be integrated as rApps on an Open RAN-compliant service management and orchestration (SMO) platform.
