Bell Canada has implemented its first automation use case using the Linux Foundation's Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) as part of the telco's Network 3.0 transformation initiative.
With an initial focus on its data center network infrastructure, Bell Canada is working with its network integration and back-office partner Amdocs to reduce costs and delivery capabilities.
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During the process of automating more of its network, the service provider will leverage the ONAP-based network service orchestration platform to introduce new services faster to its enterprise and customers. This includes automating its tenant network provisioning on ONAP to automate the operations of its data centers.
Bell said it is focused on providing its operations teams with tools to automate life cycle management of both physical and virtual network functions, incident management and service assurance.
Key focuses of Bell’s Network 3.0 transformation initiative are technology, process and people—with a strong emphasis on advancing the use of DevOps. This involves building a team to support a cross-organizational DevOps model and creating a culture of Continuous Integration/Continuous Development.
One specific element that came out of this approach was the service provider’s development of software that serves as the foundation for ONAP Operations Manager (OOM), which helps simplify deployments, reduce footprint and enable continuous delivery. The software has been contributed to the open source ONAP community to help others embrace ONAP.
As more parts of the company look to adopt ONAP for their own functions, the development of the OOM feature enables Bell Canada to allow these groups to independently develop applications that are relevant to their roles in the service provider. OOM repackages ONAP into containers orchestrated through Kubernetes, which enables the service provider to deploy applications quickly.
“Even though we have a relatively small team, we needed everyone to use this and execute their user stories without stepping on each other’s toes,” said Tamer Shenouda, director of Network Transformation for Bell, in an interview with FierceTelecom. “OOM is a way to do that.”