The Power of Automation in Open RAN Networks
ZTP stands for zero-touch provisioning, meaning a mobile operator does not have to perform any manual tasks to configure the cell sites. Sites are configured quickly and automatically. Once sites are configured, continuous integration and continuous development (CI/CD) is utilized to automate updates and reduce any manual labor involved on site or in the data center. By reducing or eliminating the need to send engineers on-site, the ongoing maintenance costs will be reduced for mobile operators.
ZTP will be critical for dense 5G deployments when hundreds of sites will need to be configured.
CI/CD frameworks have been used in IT and enterprise spaces for years. There are two important factors to keep in mind as CI/CD is adopted for Open RAN. The first factor is the disaggregation itself, as hardware and software components are coming from different vendors. The second consideration is around physical components (servers, radios) in the RAN.
These components power different functions across the network. When applying CI/CD models to RAN upgrades, they need to holistically feed into the overall CI/CD strategy across all network segments, such as RAN, transport, and core. So, in addition to creating a cohesive RAN CI/CD strategy, a mobile operator needs to create an overall network CI/CD strategy.
DevOps requires a mindset shift, as traditionally separated departments within an organization now need to work very closely together. They will need to implement a set of new automation tools to be used across the group for monitoring and testing the application and keeping it secure.
DevOps and CI/CD enable fast changes to software to deliver on and meet business and end-user needs. The updates delivered to sites can be monitored to evaluate how they impact end users, and
whether they are achieving the pre-determined business goals.
The integration, software upgrades, and lifecycle management of these disaggregated software components running on COTS hardware are enabling a new testing model in which software from the
different groups within an organization is not tested in silos, but rather under an overall CI/CD umbrella. As a result, CI/CD will significantly reduce development time from hours to minutes of
effort, eliminating most of the manual tasks.
This approach will help with creating CI/CD blueprints for future deployments in several ways.
Creating an interconnected ecosystem
By implementing CI/CD, mobile operators embrace greater collaboration between different ecosystem members, which fosters innovation. It supports multi-vendor, cloud-native network function onboarding and lifecycle management. This approach minimizes risk through frequent delivery of new features and new optimizations while increasing efficiency via automation that leads to the faster introduction of new services to keep end users happy.
The mobile operator’s maintenance team can be enabled with these open automation tools, which enable access to vendor-neutral sets of applications.
Combining the power of containers and CI/CD
Agile DevOps simplifies automation by providing validated stack templates for containers to host microservices. These upgrades will be automated with CI/CD. The combination of software being pushed via CI/CD to containers allows MNOs to easily define their own architecture and make Open RAN easier and more cost-effective to deploy and maintain. The main benefit will be in sites running as a service with software updates being pushed to hundreds of sites automatically instead of
