CHALLENGE
One of the nation’s largest wireless telecommunications companies was faced with 10,000 annual network updates and just 1,000 hours of open maintenance windows to perform them. They needed a network automation solution that could simplify its network maintenance related Methods of Procedures (MOPs) to speed updates dramatically without destabilizing the network.
SOLUTION
The company implemented the Itential Intelligent Network Automation Platform (Pronghorn), a multi-tier platform designed to improve network operations.
RESULTS
The telecommunications giant was able to increase the number of routers upgraded in a single maintenance window from 2 to 90 due to a drop in cycle time per router from 4 hours to 45 minutes. A typical upgrade cycle involving 800+ such devices resulted in more than $200,000 of cost savings per upgrade cycle executed.
So Many Network Updates, So Little Time
With more than 100 million subscribers and more than 100,000 employees relying on its network, this leading wireless telecommunications provider can’t afford downtime for network upgrades. Every year, the company allotted just 200 fivehour maintenance windows for network updates. At one point, its operations team faced 10,000 network maintenance jobs with only 1,000 hours of available time to perform them.
A typical manual router upgrade, for example, would take hours to complete with device tests before and after updates. If employees increased their pace, they risked introducing mistakes that could drastically impact the company’s critical network areas, such as its core router site. In addition to excessive demands for network updates, the customer faced impending OPEX restrictions that reduced employee resources to complete the changes manually. In response, they began delaying upgrades.
The company’s operations staff needed an automated solution that could take the pressure off its employees and supercharge its maintenance capabilities, while reducing the risk of significant network failures.
Itential MOP Automation Solution Tackles Major Router Updates
Having trusted Itential on a previous project, the customer chose the Itential MOP Automation solution to automate the upgrade of more than 800 mid-sized routers in one month. The manual benchmark to beat was one router every 2.5 hours.
They also tasked the solution to automate changes to the company’s core router site; a single manual update in that environment typically required more than four hours to complete. Speed, in this case, was not the only requirement. Company engineers needed assurance that faster updates would not introduce mistakes that could compromise the integrity of the network.
Itential was also used to automate the deployment of new virtual route reflectors to improve communications between routers. In addition, Itential introduced its Gold Standard Configuration software to improve the telecommunication company’s configuration compliance efforts.
Faster Router Updates Outspace Supply
Upon deployment of the Itential MOP Automation solution, the customer witnessed an accelerated rate from just two router updates in a five-hour maintenance window to more than 90 — a 4,400 percent increase! This increase has the potential to produce more than $200,000 of cost savings per upgrade cycle. At that pace, the customer began to consider if it could provide enough routers to meet demands.
Itential also helped the customer reduce manual update times to its core routing site from four hours to 45 minutes, while eliminating the potential for human error that could crash the network. This approach includes automation of the pre- and post-checks on all data and devices to ensure faster and more accurate upgrade deployments. Now, if something begins to go wrong during the update, engineers can pause or roll back their steps, which was much more difficult to do in manual mode.
Itential also enabled the full automation of virtual route reflectors with virtual devices. Now they can automate turn-ups with a simple press of a button to set up new reflectors on a new or existing network in half the time without manual intervention.
The customer also worked with Itential to automate its network configuration compliance efforts, which had relied on an expensive software application paired with manual efforts around data that was potentially out of date. With Itential, they can define standards and automate device checks against those standards. If a device is found to be out of compliance, a workflow is generated to correct it with a push of a button.
With the increased speed, accuracy and strides made in automating the operations and oversight of its networks, this massive wireless telecommunication company is planning to expand Itential’s capabilities to other parts of its business.
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