As many CSPs have come to realize, service assurance is the missing link to bringing commercial-grade products to market that can continue supporting existing SLAs. They are also realizing that when service assurance is offered as a commercial application visibility product, it can complement CSPs’ NaaS portfolio, allowing them to increase the monetization potential of their business services. 

In order to maintain customer satisfaction, and ultimately secure a successful transition to NFV-based services, companies that are armed with a carrier-grade, multi-tenant, elastic and open performance assurance platform will be best positioned to capitalize on this disruptive industry transition. However, it is important to bear in mind that performance management tools designed for the enterprise IT market lack the unique capabilities required by CSPs, including having technology that can scale in real time. Meeting these demands requires CSPs to partner with companies that focus on designing and continuously enhancing solutions that mirror their precise requirements.

Service performance assurance requirements are maturing

The adoption of NFV/SDN will push service performance assurance requirements even further. For starters, these solutions must be able to dynamically model CSPs’ and MNOs’ services and monitor end to end SLAs established on-demand and delivered over complex multi-vendor hybrid network infrastructures. In that context, an innovative vendor-agnostic solution to process KPIs and KQIs in real-time becomes a must.  A carrier-grade performance assurance platform must also include RESTful APIs that allow automated and real-time exchange of network intelligence with orchestrators, controllers and other OSS and ETSI MANO components.

As CSPs’ businesses integrate in a world of distributed computing services, they need to support Service APIs and align with information models defined by industry standards such as TM Forum and MEF.

As CSPs and MNOs move ahead with NFV/SDN, service assurance strategies must sit at the center of their preoccupations. Successfully launching NaaS services will rely on the ability to understand which services can be offered at a given time (based on current infrastructure utilization levels), and their ability to monitor complex SLAs. With orchestrated service assurance, CSPs can effectively bring these innovative services to life.