AT&T and EXFO talk real-time 3D analytics and its transformative impact on virtualized networks

TIA Now recently discussed the transformative impact service assurance and real-time analytics have on NFV and 5G networks with Andre Fuetsch, President of AT&T Labs and CTO at AT&T, and Philippe Morin, COO at EXFO, during Mobile World Congress 2017.

“As we know, 5G is just right around the corner here, and one of the core tenets of 5G is network function virtualization. Anything regarding 5G that is really critical to the network, there will be a virtualization component to it. It’s very high on the list and [to] everything we are doing at AT&T and many of the other service operators out there that have aligned with us,” said Mr. Fuetsch.

Mr. Morin added: “The idea of how you assure a service in a virtualized way becomes very, very critical because this new network will be an on-demand, real-time movement [where] VNFs come into play, and especially 5G where you’ve got to make sure as well that latency and certain KPIs need to be monitored, so the service assurance and analytics will play a really critical role as networks from AT&T and other service providers start virtualizing and transforming.”

AT&T and EXFO also discuss why operators need to boost the IQs of their networks and focus on leveraging real-time analytics to improve their bottom lines and overall subscriber experience.

“The intelligence of the network is important on a couple different levels,” said Mr. Fuetsch. “One is, you want to get as much as you can out of your assets, so the utilization of a lot of these network components is going to rely on having really good analytics. The other aspect is that IQ is paramount to customer experience. Getting real-time analytics in place so that you can adjust depending on network conditions, that’s what’s it’s going to be all about. And that’s really what is going to differentiate one network from another: how well they use the IQ they’re getting.”

AT&T’s CTO and EXFO’s COO provide even more insight for operators to consider when transitioning to 5G and NFV.