Tier 1 Service Provider Accelerates 5G Deployments by 75% through Backhaul Network Automation & Orchestration with Itential
INDUSTRY
Communications Service Provider
GOALS
- Accelerate 5G Rollout
- Minimize Cost of Automation
- Increase Engineer Productivity
USE CASES
IP Backhaul Router Automation
INTEGRATIONS
Key Results
Integrated with multi-vendor technology stack and custom-built automation solutions to avoid disruption.
Accelerated 5G cell site router deployment by 75%.
Decreased network engineering manual effort by 50%.
Integrated configuration management activities with 5G deployment automation.
The Need to Accelerate 5G Deployment
In today’s connected world, communications service providers (CSP) across the globe are on a race to 5G. The promise is high, but the reality is that it’s a complicated endeavor if not done right. A top Tier 1 global wireless service provider needed to accelerate their 5G network deployment by introducing a new vendor to support advanced 5G capabilities and to accelerate the deployment of 5G cell site routers, an essential component of their 5G architecture.
We were spending too much time performing manual activities to deploy new 5G sites, causing us to fall behind our competitors. It was hard to find something that could integrate with everything we needed.
Senior Manager, Network Planning
Why They Chose Itential to Automate their IP Backhaul Router Rollout
This service provider looked at multiple options including Cisco NSO, Cienna Blue Planet, and custom internal IT development to support the deployment and configuration lifecycle of the new and existing cell site router infrastructure. However, none of these solutions were able to provide the level of flexibility and integration needed to accelerate their 5G deployment.
They selected Itential due to our significant advantages in efficiency, ease of use, and speed to deploy new services. By leveraging the Itential Automation Platform, they were able to seamlessly integrate their existing environment of multi-vendor and multi-domain network technologies with their custom-built, home grown IT solutions, thus avoiding any project disruptions that would be required by other alternatives due to lengthy and costly integration and development cycles.
- Rapid integration capabilities that enabled the customer to easily introduce new vendors, capabilities, and functionality without having to rip and replace or start from scratch.
- Open library of pre-built assets that allows users to start automating immediately, dramatically reducing the time associated with deployment and operations.
- Low-code ease of use, no need to retrain team further accelerating the project timeline and increasing internal adoption.
- Integrated configuration management with 5G automation and orchestration capabilities.
Without the robust integration capabilities of Itential, we would have fallen behind on our 5G deployment. Their products and team made it possible for us to get ahead of schedule, ensuring our end users are always connected.“
Senior Manager, Network Planning
What They’ve Achieved Using Itential to Deliver Self-Serve Networking
The company adopted Itential primarily to tackle two goals: maximizing uptime and eliminating error.
They have already been able to automate their entire enterprise switching infrastructure: endpoint management, software upgrades, configuration management, asset port management, VLANs, and more. More recently, they have extended their automation reach to their SD-WAN rollout, which is automated per site using workflows built by the team.
The result? All of their standard changes and upgrades are now error-free, and the device rollout and migration of sites to SD-WAN has seen 100% reliability in deployment. They’re able to deliver changes more consistently, without errors, significantly reducing the number of incidents for a large percentage of network changes.
Because of that consistency, they’re able to deliver those changes to others in the organization to self-serve with complete confidence, including those without networking expertise. Workflows are consumed as network products, and they can be delivered almost instantly via end-to-end orchestration.
Going forward, their goal is to offer all standard network services via the self-serve platform, turning the network into a driver for efficiency across the organization — with Itential as the underlying platform facilitating it.
