P.I. Works Partners with Google to Drive Transformation towards Zero-Touch Network Management for Hybrid O-RAN and Traditional RAN Networks Using its State-of-the-Art EVO Platform on Google Cloud

Networks are becoming increasingly complex, with the introduction of new and innovative services deployed over emerging technologies such as 5G. These complexities are resulting in a growing shift towards ‘zero-touch’-centric network performance management. P.I. Works’ EVO Platform, deployed on Google Cloud, enables operators to optimise their networks more efficiently, bringing network performance management to the next level. 

As a leading provider of AI-driven mobile network planning, management and optimization solutions, P.I. Works combines its field-proven expertise with a diverse portfolio of products and services to enable mobile network operators to accelerate their 5G transformation journey, as well as improve user experiences on their networks. P.I. Works has seen successful deployments of its solutions for over 62 mobile network operators in 44 countries, and is a member of the O-RAN Alliance as well as a strong contributor to 3GPP Standards.  

P.I. Works’ single network management platform, EVO, will be deployed on Google Cloud to support existing vendors as well as multiple technologies, including more recent use cases such as O-RAN.

P.I. Works EVO Platform supports all the radio access (RAN), transmission (TN) and core network (CN) domains. The platform leverages an in-house ETL framework to process big data from a network, which, when coupled with its Open APIs, enables mobile operators to develop their own automation use cases. P.I. Works EVO Platform uses AI algorithms to drive network quality and efficiency across 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks.

With AI-powered algorithms, P.I. Works EVO Platform correlates crowdsourced, geolocated call trace, RF Propagation and customer experience management (CEM) data as well as Network KPIs and KQIs to determine the best set of actions, providing operators with the ability to improve and maintain mobile user experience while driving operational efficiency. 

An Introduction to the P.I. Works’ Solution Suite

The P.I. Works EVO Platform provides fully-automated centralized self-organising network (cSON) functionalities as one integrated solution, which combines advanced network optimization, network planning, geolocation-based services, network performance management, and advanced configuration management functions.

Among the solutions offered on the platform, P.I. Works’ EXA enables fully-automated multi-vendor and multi-technology network optimization capabilities. As an industry-leading and widely-deployed offering, EXA ensures customer experience and service quality are maximised, while keeping network management costs at the minimum. This is delivered using its integrated and AI-based automation engine that correlates network performance data with third party data sources, such as CEM, CRM, and crowdsourced systems.

Having been deployed by leading mobile operators and telecom authorities around the globe, our next-generation network performance monitoring product, VantagePM, is second to none in offering cost-effective and highly-scalable network and service quality monitoring capabilities. With its easy-to-use interactive dashboards, AI-based data forecasting, reporting and alarm functionalities, VantagePM provides an integrated view of the entire network, and allows for the seamless extraction and reporting of network analytics or business intelligence findings without the need of any technical, programming or SQL knowledge.

P.I. Works’ SmartPlan tool is instrumental in driving an operator’s network expansion strategy. With the help of AI predictions, the tool offers the ability to develop the most accurate capacity expansion plan and helps operators find the optimum number of required sites. The solution boasts advanced machine learning algorithms and a combination of multiple data feeds including CEM, geolocation system, crowdsourced, radio access and backhaul network data. SmartPlan’s accuracy is further enhanced with its network traffic prediction capabilities that help operators make well-informed infrastructure investment decisions.

Experia is a geolocation tool that helps mobile operators visualize their network quality and customer experience geographically. Geolocated data is visualized on a heatmap by precisely estimating the location of network events through smart positioning algorithms. Geolocated problem areas are then shared with P.I. Works’ EXA to take customer- and service-centric optimization actions.

Configurex maintains the integrity of network parameter settings. It performs frequent checks on network parameter inconsistencies and fixes them automatically - based on the operators’ policies and a set of golden settings. It also offers cross-technology and cross-vendor configuration parameter analysis including interactive dashboards, report scheduling, historical change detection, configuration audits and golden parameter compliance checks. Configurex reduces OpEx by eliminating the need for resource intensive troubleshooting activities such as drive testing and cell base optimization.

Preparing Your Network for 5G: Delivering Superior Customer Experiences with Google Cloud

5G is poised to enable a host of enhanced mobile services, as well drastically improve user experiences. As such, 5G is not just about higher mobile data speeds - it essentially involves the introduction of new services that necessitate different Quality of Service requirements. Ensuring the quality of each and every 5G service is a major challenge, as each service has its unique capacity, speed, and latency requirements. This is where network slicing comes into play, as an important driver of service-driven network operations that will be instrumental in delivering a guaranteed Quality of Service for different services and customer groups.

By definition, network slicing is a form of virtualization that allows multiple logical networks to run on top of a shared physical network. This enables the on-demand allocation of virtual network infrastructure resources - from radio, transport, and core networks - to specific mobile services, thus facilitating the faster introduction of new services with different performance requirements.  

As part of the broader network automation portfolio, the automated management of network slice orchestration will not only drive network efficiency and quality, but also redefine and revamp the way 5G networks are operated. P.I. Works is committed to delivering best-in-class network automation solutions that facilitate this, to mobile operators around the world in order to help them deliver on the promises of 5G. Likewise, offering these solutions on Google Cloud have been key in strengthening our commitment by enabling further cost efficiencies and scalability.

The P.I. Works EVO Platform, in particular, leverages the use of open-source technologies and Google Cloud for the fast and scalable deployment of new use cases to support complex multi-vendor and multi-technology networks. It also boasts a high degree of flexibility and interoperability that allows developers to integrate other O-RAN technologies. In totality, with a comprehensive suite of cSON, PM, CM, and geolocation tools to offer, the P.I. Works’ EVO Platform on Google Cloud will enable operators to optimise their multi-vendor and multi-technology networks efficiently, and effectively.