Huawei's Sam Wang: Technologies, Solutions, and Services Drive the Growth and Success of the Autonomous Networks (AN) industry

On September 20, 2023, TM Forum hosted the Autonomous Networks Summit in Copenhagen as part of the Digital Transformation World (DTW) conference. Representatives from TM Forum, Vodafone, Telefonica, China Mobile, AIS, MTN, EANTC, and Huawei delivered keynote speeches at the summit.

Sam Wang, General Manager of Huawei ADN Solution, delivered a keynote speech titled "Building an AN System to Continuously Lead Network Evolution". In his speech, he shared the advancements in the autonomous networks framework (ANF) and highlighted Huawei's groundbreaking scenario-based solutions and services enabled by autonomous networks (AN).

The Maturing ANF Becomes the Key to AN Implementation

Communications service providers (CSPs) require a structured framework to guide their network evolution and upgrades. The existing framework lacks network evolution objectives and fails to define the pace of evolution, thus hindering CSPs' network upgrades and transformation efforts.

To address this challenge, the industry has developed an ANF based on the four key elements for AN implementation. These elements, namely, key effectiveness indicators, AN levels, target architecture, and AN map, have gained global recognition. The ANF framework comprises three main components: the four key elements, strategic planning, and CSPs' AN journey. Strategic planning and business practices work in tandem to guide CSPs in formulating upgrading strategies, business plans, and operational practices. Furthermore, the industry has introduced a third-party assessment to independently assess CSPs' service level and suppliers' solutions.

The four elements play a critical role in the ANF framework. Building upon these elements and leveraging years of practice and research, Huawei has developed an out-of-the-box AN toolbox to facilitate efficient AN deployment for CSPs.

Sam Wang said, "The release of TM Forum's AN white paper 5.0 at this summit offers a mature ANF, which is crucial to transforming AN from a mere strategy to actual implementation. This framework will be further explored and enhanced through industry practices."

Huawei Is Committed to Establishing a Strong Technical Foundation for the Continuous Development of the AN Industry

To achieve higher-level AN and build an L4 AN foundation, Huawei is committed to establishing a strong technical foundation and facilitating breakthroughs in various fundamental technologies, including converged sensing, digital twin, intelligent decision-making, and human-machine symbiosis.

High-precision, real-time network data provides a solid foundation for upper-layer automation. For instance, the optical power sensing duration can be shortened from 15 minutes to milliseconds.

Based on a large amount of converged sensing data, high-precision digital twins are generated to implement real-time network simulation, facilitating network planning, construction, maintenance, optimization, and operations. For instance, online simulation can prevent and eliminate network faults caused by manual configuration errors.

Based on high-precision digital twins, intelligent algorithms are employed for decision-making across the network from a global perspective. For instance, single-objective optimization has evolved toward multi-objective collaborative optimization, achieving an optimal balance between multiple objectives, including network energy efficiency, rates, and coverage.

One of the key features of L4 AN is its intent-driven capability, which relies on foundation models. Huawei is committed to making breakthroughs in applying foundation models to telecom networks and creating a novel form of human-machine collaboration.

Telecom Foundation Model Promotes Breakthroughs and Application of Fundamental Technologies

The telecom network is a vast repository of live network data. By fostering industry openness and collaboration, a fundamental telecom foundation model can be developed and applied to more refined scenarios such as the wireless, core, and transport network, thereby enhancing the application of AI in the telecom network. Huawei has developed a three-layer foundation model architecture comprising the Pangu general model, Pangu telecom model, and scenario-based application. This architecture facilitates the breakthrough and application of fundamental technologies, unlocks the potential of AN, and generates significant business value for CSPs.

Additionally, Huawei provides consulting and enablement services for CSPs to enable them to develop AN strategies and plans, implement the AN Journey to continuously improve AN capabilities, and optimize AN organizations and processes.

Concluding his speech, Sam Wang emphasized, "To promote AN development, Huawei will continuously develop more fundamental technologies and scenario-based solutions and leverage AN to enable more services. Furthermore, to develop AI foundation models for the communications industry, we should adopt an open and collaborative approach to developing a communications foundation model with industry partners and support more business application scenarios."