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    Service management and orchestration (SMO)

Service management and orchestration (SMO)

The next evolution of autonomous operations

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Communication Service Providers (CSPs) today face many challenges, but the two toughest challenges they face are managing cost pressures and delivering a differentiated service experience for their customers. Through utilizing cloud, automation, and AI, CSPs can address these challenges and deliver the benefits of new revenue streams whilst addressing the people and skills gap that exists within their organization.

Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) is a key part of this, and we’ll explore this on this page.

What is service management and orchestration (SMO) and why is it critical to your future success?

Cellular networks have evolved rapidly since they were first digitized to create 2G and we now stand at the cusp of the rollout of Open RAN (O-RAN). O-RAN brings disaggregation and enables operators to mix and match components and goes one step further by opening the interfaces inside the base station. Such an open environment expands the ecosystem and fuels innovation, but it also brings more complexity to manage the O-RAN with its distributed architecture. This drives the need for a new management paradigm called Service Management and Orchestration (SMO). SMO utilises intelligence and automation to simplify the complex operation and maintenance of O-RAN networks at scale. These O-RAN networks will not be deployed in a greenfield manner, which means for meaningful and seamless operations, this will also include the management of the traditional RAN. SMO also provides the capability of managing the O-Clouds as well as providing support for the orchestration of the platform, the application elements, and workflow management. SMO is a critical enabler for intelligence across the network and also a cornerstone of programmability, which is an area that is becoming increasingly important particularly as it relates to 5G; Analysys Mason predicts that 5G-related spending in the SMO segment will reach USD1.3 billion by 2028. 

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SMO evolution

The concept of SON for radio network management has been around for a while and has been proven to support radio network configuration, optimization, and self-healing. The prime focus has been on taming complexity by automating common approaches to network management, fault management, and optimizing coverage, as well as capacity and network performance. SMO introduces the Non Real-Time RAN Intelligence Controller (Non-RT RIC)  to take this narrative to the next level by bringing critical enablers of openness through a standard approach to use-case development, broadening the horizon of innovation. It leverages the use of data analytics and AI/ML to bring additional insights and higher efficiency to the decisions that drive RAN optimization. It also offers means to simplify the management of radio networks with the introduction of policies and intents so that the management focus is more on the outcome or the result.

Since its inception, the definition of SMO has been expanding to go beyond just O-RAN to include the traditional RAN and Cloud RAN as well as grow from the purpose of pure network performance improvement towards a service performance improvement to enhance customer experience (QoE). SMO aims to go beyond traditional network management to service management, orchestration, and assurance to become more comprehensive. It enables an API-based approach to support extensive use case development and brings intelligence-driven automation to drive monetization, improve quality efficiency and operations, and drive down operational costs. 

The true value of SMO lies in its intelligent automation capabilities, which enable operators to enhance network availability and performance, improve customer experience (QoE) and net promoter score (NPS), reduce total cost of ownership (TCO), and increase energy efficiency. This is done through leveraging wider data sets, using intent management and AI, and incorporating standardized interfaces. 

What benefits does it bring?

This approach to SMO brings a multitude of benefits to CSPs. 

Reduced management complexity

Flexible and simplified management architecture based on Service Based Management Architecture (SBMA) principles to enable easy interworking, extensibility for new functions, and support multivendor operations

Improved QoE

Enable proactive optimization and healing actions by leveraging AI, faster troubleshooting in complex cloud environments and assurance actions

Network monetization

Deliver new services spanning multiple domains such as network and service automation and closed-loop service assurance

Reduced TCO

Enabling dynamic operations for effective resource utilization, higher degrees of automation to reduce need for manual intervention

Openness to build broader and richer ecosystem of usecases

Unlocking the ability to innovate through enabling new use cases leveraging AI/ML with richer insights and data correlation, with the standards-based APIs enabling the portability of rApps built on different vendor platforms

Effective network management

Differentiation as needed by operators in managing their networks giving the ability to do ‘what they need’ 

To RAN, O-RAN and beyond

As mentioned, SMO was originally seen as a solution to manage RAN and O-RAN solutions. This is a driver, as CSPs need an integrated, standardized management layer that enables communication and control of varied network elements, especially when it comes to O-RAN. 

However, SMO’s capabilities and benefits extend beyond this to cover traditional and next-generation radio and are not tied to O-RAN deployment. Many CSPs are looking at a broader SMO definition as an encompassing platform based on a simplified architecture model that will be responsible for managing a vast variety of network types (mobility RAN and Core including Fixed Wireless and Small Cells, Transport, etc.) and provide a framework to facilitate delivery of advanced use cases such as network slicing. It also provides a simplified and automated way to manage and operate the network, incorporating intent-based operations and orchestration to automatically translate customers’ business needs into service and network requirements.

This multi-domain SMO, extends beyond the conventional RAN-focused approach, supporting CSP network management needs today, and providing a solution to support their future needs as well.

SMO architecture

SMO will follow a cloud-based, vendor-agnostic, and API-based approach based on microservices architecture. By decoupling software components, it will enable extensibility, scalability, and resiliency. 

Standardised interfaces and OAM services to interwork with Core, Transport and RAN (e.g., O1, O2, R1 ) and with the ability for CSPs to extend for custom non-standards based API integrations 

Platform components to support aspects like security and log management 

Cloud Management and Orchestration related services for lifecycle management

Data Management solution with a data catalog for efficient processing, sharing, and exposure of data for application and service needs

Non-RT RIC, rApps, and needed management functions for operations and introduction of new use-cases

Slice management functions

Intent-based service orchestration to enable cross-domain use-cases

AI-powered service assurance to address observability and closed-loop automation 

Additionally, SMO enables Innovation with an extensible marketplace with a catalog of Apps for monetizing and enabling collaboration with a wide developer ecosystem.

Our approach to SMO

Nokia SMO offers a cutting-edge, open, interoperable solution based on a cloud-native architecture aligned with the 3GPP framework. Our SMO platform has openness in its DNA to enable the delivery of innovative use-cases leveraging a rich dataset over a multivendor, multidomain network with a clear focus on autonomous operations. It utilizes advanced intelligence and automation to streamline the complex operations and maintenance of large-scale networks with secure operations. 

This expanded SMO capability to go beyond the O-RAN network and offer comprehensive automation with analytics, security, service orchestration, inventory, and AIOps-driven assurance, together with API platform linkage, emphasizes that stitching the entire network is essential to deliver encompassing services with a holistic approach to management.

The Nokia MantaRay SON solution is a market-leading solution deployed by more than 115 CSPs around the world. It has led the industry by providing an unmatched solution for radio network automation proven to perform in multivendor networks. Nokia’s SMO solution will leverage SON use-cases as rApps, as well as utilize SON components to provide value-added SMO services and offering differentiated value in the operation of radio networks. 

Although the move to 5G network operations based on O-RAN may take years to evolve, operators can get started on the path of a next-generation approach for autonomous management of networks today, by starting on full-scale automation. Nokia’s SMO brings a unifying framework for cross-domain network management (extending beyond RAN management) by consolidating diverse data sets and employing analytics capabilities and intelligence to significantly bring differentiated services, reduce costs, bring agility to deliver new services and technologies, and enable future readiness.

Unique

  • Our solution is the industry’s first multidomain SMO, supporting radio, core, transport, and edge/cloud, leveraging Nokia’s rich domain know-how. As 5G extends beyond radio technologies, deep into the cloud and across mobile and transport layers, it will be paramount to combine data from RAN and non-RAN sources and introduce market-leading (rated #1 by Appledore in AI Ops) AI machine learning-enabled automation to create algorithms for use cases that operate across all these data sources.
  • Supported by our strong offering for autonomous operations with Orchestration, Assurance, and Inventory with a proven record in multivendor multidomain operations.
  • We leverage Nokia’s rich experience and market-leading position in multivendor centralized SON (cSON), as well as enablers for monetization, with our Network as Code platform and marketplace, which offers OTS use cases (rApps) that drive innovation and collaboration.

Modular

  • Our solution is fully modular, enabling customers to leverage the available building blocks from orchestration and assurance into the SMO and “Add-on” the new components related to onboarding and supporting rApps, supporting new interfaces for O-RAN and offering an open solution for new use case definition.
  • Nokia has focused on the flexibility of catering to the needs based on the network evolution and operational needs. For example, the components in the SMO can be tailored to just Radio management if needed for operations of traditional radio networks and then evolve for O-RAN management as networks expand with newer technology.

Comprehensive

  • Comprehensive O-RAN solution with near-RT RIC and SMO to cover a diverse range of use cases.
  • Provides a framework to deliver automation, analytics, machine learning, and dynamic service provisioning as well as facilitating delivery of advanced use cases such as network slicing.
  • Operators will be able to achieve near-zero-spend network operations, putting more of their effort into promoting new applications and services. This will also allow operators to shift their focus and resources from (legacy) network operations to service operations to create new business opportunities.
Simplified Diagram

Nokia O-RAN leadership

Nokia has been a player in Open RAN standards development since its inception. Today, Nokia is the largest contributor to O-RAN standards, producing approximately 17% of all Open RAN technical contributions over the past three years. Our active involvement spans nine of the 11 O-RAN ALLIANCE working groups, where we are driving definition of many key specifications. Nokia co-chairs three pivotal working groups in the ALLIANCE – the maximum number permitted by a single vendor – focusing on the fronthaul interfaces, the near-real-time RAN intelligent controller and operations and maintenance (OAM).

 

O-Ran Alliance

 

For more information on our O-RAN leadership, visit our page here.

Key terms

RIC – RAN Intelligent Controller is a new network element introduced in O-RAN that enables new services to be introduced into the Radio Network, e.g. software that optimizes the performance of the network. The RIC works by exposing an API (Application Programming Interface) that allows new use-cases to be defined in a standards-based approach. There are two types of RIC – Non-RT RIC, which sits in SMO and does non-real-time control of the RAN elements, and Near-RT RIC, which sits closer to the radio and handles real-time control of the Radio via fine-grained actions.

rApps – Modular applications that leverage the functionality exposed via the Non-RT RIC (Non-Real time RAN Intelligent Controller) Framework’s R1 interface to provide value-added services relative to RAN operations.

SBMA – Service Based Management Architecture is a term from 3GPP Release16 which addresses an architecture paradigm involving RESTful Management Service components for building 5G management and orchestration solutions enabling improved operability and automation of 5G radio and core networks and services.

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