In this outlook we profile 10 market leading suppliers in the journey toward intent based networks.
– “If you don’t implement intent properly, you will constantly lag on automation, cost and agility.  It’s not a technology, it’s an operational necessity.”
– Intent is critical because more than half of network opex can be drastically reduced through automation, and IT spend can be curtailed through simplified maintenance; yet this demands well-implemented intent.  Without intent, or with improper intent, these $ billions in savings will not be realized.  Success means a competitive cost structure, and therefore the ability to maintain, and even grow market share.  Failure means an inability to compete effectively with those that truly automate.  And yet, neither network operators nor suppliers have demonstrated a strong appreciation for the importance of intent – exemplified by early “Fat VM” instances of virtualized network functions.
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– So, here is the big question:
– “Do CSPs – who control money and deployments – actually care about intent?”
– Intent can unleash order-of-magnitude improvements in cost and agility.  Intent has proven itself, being at the heart of success in public cloud and robotics.  But at the same time, it demands radical change in operations organizations/structure, and management metrics.  It also only pays dividends if a) we let the network manage itself, and b) we actually intent to innovate – and apply that agility.  Se here’s the question: “do we?” The chart below summarizes the business case:  intent based networking costs more up-front, and then yields savings and agility forever. Do we plan to be to the right of the break-even point? Historical norms say “no”.  Future success demands “yes”.
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– Contents
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– EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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– INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
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– WHAT’S AT STAKE?
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– Size of impacted Network Automation Software market segments
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– Ongoing IT development, Maintenance and (re-) integration savings
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– Operational Savings and Agility Enhancements
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– WHERE DO NEWORK OPERATORS’ DEPLOYMENTS STAND?
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– Cloud native implementations lag aspirations in CSPs
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– CTO vs COO – Tomorrow vs. Today
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– Public Cloud Providers
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– NETWORK AUTOMATION SOFTWARE VENDOR POSITIONS
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– Historical gaps, but recent progress
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– ONAP
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– Amdocs
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– Ericsson Orchestrator
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– Cisco NSO
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– Ciena Blue Planet Orchestrator and Suite
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– HPE Service Director
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– Huawei
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– IBM Telco Network Cloud Manager
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– Microsoft Azure
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– Netcracker
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– Nokia
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– Technology domain management is leading on the road to intent
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– USE CASES
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– SUMMARY
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– RECOMENDATIONS
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– BIBLIOGRAPHY / FURTHER READING
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– ABOUT THE AUTHORS
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