The rise of autonomous networks

Following the recent publication of the Autonomous Networks – Architecture Framework, the University of Glasgow’s Dr Paul Harvey discusses why this is important for business, and the university’s role in the standardisation piece.

Dr Paul Harvey

Can you provide an overview of autonomous networks as a concept?

Telephone networks are large distributed and interconnected systems, composed of many different elements. To ensure that telephone networks enable our phones to access emails, stream videos, and call for help requires hundreds or thousands of skilled engineers to fix problems, perform maintenance, and update technology.

To keep our networks running, without seeing our monthly bills skyrocket, automation of the management of the network is increasingly used. Here, repetitive tasks are replaced by software, freeing skilled engineers to focus on more challenging tasks.

The holy grail at the end of this automation journey is known as autonomous networks. [That is] networks which can monitor, operate, heal, optimise, reconfigure, and govern themselves.

What work has the university been doing in the field, and does the acceptance of the ‘Autonomous Networks - Architecture Framework’ as a standard mean in real terms?