This report, “Principles of Network Autonomy, Part One,” serves as a reference blueprint and a call to action for the telecom industry to achieve successful network automation. It argues that the current siloed and static OSS environments are inadequate for the dynamic, software-centric networks required today. A “perfect storm” of technological advances and market demands necessitates a radical rethinking of operations.

The document proposes a new architecture for autonomous, self-managing networks, drawing principles from control theory and cloud-native systems. At the core of this blueprint are eight essential best practices. These practices, such as the Orchestration Trinity, Model Driven Orchestration, Intent, Multiple nested loops, Fast and slow loops, Distributed real-time inventory, Modern software principles, and Industry standard interfaces, are interdependent and must all be adopted for success.

While requiring a fundamental shift, the transition can be gradual and incremental to mitigate risk. The key motivations are reducing cost, increasing agility, managing network complexity, and unlocking significant new revenue opportunities from digital services and NaaS.