Symphonica’s Automated Provisioning Revolutionizes Metro-Ethernet Services

The demand for metro-ethernet services is on the rise, with the global market poised for substantial growth in the coming years. Research and Markets projects that the market will more than double from $35.7 billion in 2020 to $79.8 billion by 2027. To capitalize on this exponential growth, ethernet service providers are increasingly focusing on automating provisioning processes to enhance their B2B growth, digital operations, and customer experiences. Symphonica, developed by Intraway, emerges as a compelling solution that streamlines the provisioning, orchestration, and activation of metro-ethernet services at scale.

This white paper explores the potential of Symphonica – a true cloud-native, no-code orchestration, service activation, and provisioning solution – in automating the provisioning of metro-ethernet services. With the global market for metro-ethernet services projected to more than double by 2027, service providers are seeking to capture a greater share of this tremendous growth. Automating provisioning, orchestration, and activation at scale has become central to their B2B growth, digital operations advancement, and customer experience strategies. Symphonica presents a path to network slicing, offering a robust solution for provisioning and managing complex, secure, logical services in the metro-ethernet landscape.

A path to network slicing

In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the demand for efficient and secure communication networks has never been greater. Metro-ethernet services have emerged as a popular solution for establishing logical, private networks between offices or data centers, catering to the needs of businesses that handle large traffic volumes. As we delve into the realm of 5G technology, the concept of network slicing takes center stage, presenting a new paradigm for provisioning and managing complex, secure, logical services.

Drawing inspiration from the capabilities of metro-ethernet services, Intraway’s groundbreaking solution, Symphonica, emerges as a game-changer in the realm of automation. Symphonica offers an out-of-the-box ability to automate the provisioning of metro-ethernet services, paving the way for a potential model for automating network slicing in the immediate future.

Let’s take a closer look at the revolutionary features of Symphonica—a true cloud-native, no-code orchestration, service activation, and provisioning solution. We will explore how Symphonica streamlines the provisioning process for the most common metro-ethernet service, e-line. By leveraging its powerful automation capabilities, Symphonica enables the creation of robust, configurable, point-to-point, private metro-ethernet connections between sites.

To illustrate the practical application of Symphonica, let’s consider a hypothetical scenario where a customer already possesses the necessary physical connectivity infrastructure. This infrastructure serves as the foundation over which orders for services like ethernet can be seamlessly provisioned. Symphonica steps in, leveraging its intuitive and user-friendly interface to automate the activation and provisioning of these services, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual processes.

By embracing Symphonica’s cutting-edge automation capabilities, businesses can unlock a multitude of benefits. The provisioning process becomes significantly faster and more efficient, enabling organizations to meet their communication needs swiftly. The inherent scalability of Symphonica allows businesses to adapt and expand their metro-ethernet services as their requirements evolve, ensuring future-proof connectivity solutions.

Symphonica’s automation eliminates the possibility of human errors that can occur during manual provisioning, enhancing the overall reliability and security of the network. With its advanced orchestration capabilities, Symphonica ensures seamless coordination between various network components, delivering a seamless end-to-end experience for users.

Start with an order

Starting with an order, the provisioning process in Symphonica involves receiving the order from an external system, typically a BSS or CRM. This order can be passed to Symphonica through various means, such as Postman in our demos, or any other external system that utilizes Symphonica’s TM Forum 641 service order API.

To initiate the provisioning of an Ethernet service, the Intraway Tech Assist App comes into play. Using this app, a technician can claim the task or tasks associated with provisioning the said service. To successfully configure the service, several components or domains need attention.

First, the service domain requires configuration to define the specifications of the service itself. This involves setting up parameters such as bandwidth, service type, and any other relevant details specific to the Ethernet service.

Next, the workflow domain comes into play, enabling the technician to configure and monitor the workflow and rules governing the fulfillment of the service. This domain ensures that the provisioning process follows the desired sequence of steps and adheres to predefined rules to guarantee a smooth service activation.

The resource domain plays a crucial role in the provisioning process. Here, the technician configures resource inventory, specifications, orders, and commands. This domain provides a comprehensive view of the available resources and their utilization in delivering the Ethernet service.

Now, let’s focus on the first task at hand: installing a demarcation device. Symphonica’s connector establishes communication with this device using various options, including APIs. In this particular case, the SSH protocol is utilized for secure remote login to the demarcation device.

Working based on the order specifications, Symphonica identifies and configures each of the ports required for the Ethernet service. This includes setting up the aggregator port, which enables the aggregation of multiple ports, the Link Aggregated Group (LAG) that connects the ports together, and finally, the demarcation port that serves as the interface between the service and the customer’s network.

By successfully completing these initial provisioning tasks, Symphonica sets the stage for further configuration and activation of the Ethernet service, ensuring its seamless integration into the customer’s network infrastructure.

Configure the service

To configure the service, the next crucial step involves fulfilling the access and direct-internet-access (DIA) service orders. These two component orders are closely tied to the overall composite order.

When configuring services like access and direct internet access (DIA), following industry standards and best practices is vital in ensuring efficient and reliable deployments. Organizations such as MEF (Metro Ethernet Forum) and 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) have developed several frameworks and templates to guide the modeling and configuration process.

By following MEF service definitions, service providers can ensure that the services they configure meet industry-accepted norms and can seamlessly interoperate with other compliant networks.

In addition to MEF, 3GPP has also introduced the concept of Generic Slice Templates (GST) as part of their 5G network slicing work. Network slicing enables the creation of virtualized network instances tailored to specific service requirements, such as latency, bandwidth, and reliability. GST is a set of attributes that can characterize a network slice/service type.

GST on DIA services brings standardization, interoperability, ease of deployment, alignment with network slicing, and future-proofing capabilities. It establishes a common framework and language that benefits service providers, vendors, and customers in deploying and managing DIA services.

The inception of DIA can be attributed, at least partially, to the increasing bandwidth demands of enterprises as they outgrew conventional T-1 lines. These enterprises sought a layer 2 solution that could be easily customized and managed, while avoiding the complexities associated with layer 3 multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) services.

Whenever an order is received by Symphonica, the service provider assigns a unique token to it. This token is then attached to the header of every component order, request, or input associated with the composite order. This practice is of significant importance, particularly when dealing with composite orders that involve multiple component services and intricate sequencing. By utilizing the Tech Assist app, a technician gains the ability to review and execute all the component orders that collectively constitute the composite E-line service.

View execution in real-time

With Symphonica’s advanced capabilities, users can experience the power of viewing execution in real-time. As each aspect of the service component is fulfilled, Symphonica presents a dynamic visualization of the processes through its intuitive console or Tech Assist app. This allows stakeholders to effortlessly track the live status of every provisioning step, ensuring transparency and efficiency throughout the entire operation.

By leveraging the process visualization tool, users gain invaluable insights into the execution flow as it happens. The tool employs a simple yet effective color coding system to denote the status of each process block. A green process block indicates completion, signifying that the corresponding task has been successfully executed. Conversely, a black process block represents a task that is pending and has not yet come into play. Additionally, a yellow block signifies a process that is in progress but requires further action, such as manual equipment installations.

To streamline the workflow, Symphonica empowers users with the ability to click on the “complete task” button once all processes have been successfully accomplished. This action finalizes the order, marking a significant milestone in the provisioning process. At this crucial point, the process visualization tool seamlessly grants access to relevant information from any component involved. Users can explore details such as input data, output results, and comprehensive logs that record the intricate messaging exchange between Symphonica and the network. This granular visibility not only aids in troubleshooting but also simplifies the validation process, ensuring that commands were accurately transmitted to the network.

All the important information captured during the service execution journey persists within Symphonica’s service and resource inventory. This comprehensive inventory serves as a centralized repository, housing all the intricate details of executed orders. Within the service inventory, users can easily locate a wealth of information related to activated and suspended services associated with any specific customer. It provides a comprehensive overview of each component comprising the composite service, including their respective service characteristics, sub-characteristics, and their intricate relationships with other components. This comprehensive inventory acts as a valuable resource, facilitating efficient management, analysis, and optimization of services within the Symphonica ecosystem.

Don’t write code

In Symphonica, the entire process described can be accomplished without the need for writing any new code. All aspects of this scenario can be efficiently designed and automated through configuration alone. This means that no additional coding efforts are required to provide these services. Instead, Symphonica offers a comprehensive configuration interface where operations can be set up and sent to the network seamlessly. All the pertinent information, gathered from both the service order and the network, is conveniently stored within Symphonica’s inventory.

The remarkable advantage of this approach lies in its automation and repeatability. Symphonica enables the swift issuance of suspend, restore, and cancel orders for this intricate service with incredible ease. The user can simply access the customer’s service, click on the suspend option, and the rest of the process unfolds automatically. Similarly, restoring the service or initiating its termination can be accomplished just as effortlessly.

By eliminating the need for manual code development, Symphonica empowers users to effortlessly manage complex services with its intuitive configuration capabilities. The streamlined automation provided by Symphonica significantly enhances operational efficiency and simplifies the execution of various tasks, ultimately leading to a seamless user experience.

Reap benefits and repeat

Reap benefits and repeat, that’s the power of Symphonica. With its user-friendly facilitation, Symphonica brings automation to the forefront, not just for metro-ethernet services, but for all types of composite services, including the cutting-edge technology of 5G network slicing. The advantages for Communication Service Providers (CSPs) are abundant.

First and foremost, Symphonica accelerates the order-to-cash processes, allowing CSPs to reap the benefits of faster service delivery. The time taken from the initial order placement to the final payment collection is significantly reduced, leading to improved efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Moreover, the implementation of new services and features becomes a rapid and streamlined process. CSPs can roll out innovative offerings to their customers swiftly, keeping up with the dynamic market demands. This agility in service deployment gives CSPs a competitive edge, enabling them to stay ahead in the industry.

One of the key advantages of Symphonica lies in its ability to lower operational costs and overhead for every provisioned order. The automation capabilities eliminate the need for manual interventions, reducing human errors and minimizing resource requirements. This not only saves costs but also increases operational efficiency, allowing CSPs to allocate their resources more effectively.

Furthermore, the enhanced customer experiences provided by Symphonica cannot be overstated. The platform offers process visibility, timely notifications, and automated fulfillment, ensuring that customers are kept informed and satisfied throughout the service lifecycle. The seamless and efficient provisioning process translates into superior customer experiences, leading to increased loyalty and retention.

Symphonica’s fundamental capabilities cater to the comprehensive needs of service providers. It empowers them to design, provision, activate, and manage complex network services at scale. Whether it’s E-line services or the exciting realm of network slicing in 5G, Symphonica provides the necessary tools and automation to make it happen.

The flexible nature of Symphonica allows for the configuration, repetition, and scalability of component and composite service models. This means that CSPs can swiftly adapt to evolving market demands and deliver new automation capabilities rapidly. With Symphonica, complex services like 5G slicing can be efficiently implemented, opening up a world of possibilities for service providers.

In conclusion, Symphonica is a game-changer in the telecommunications industry. It brings forth a range of benefits for CSPs, from faster order-to-cash processes and rapid service rollouts to reduced operational costs and enhanced customer experiences. With Symphonica’s automation capabilities, service providers can reap the rewards and continually repeat their success in delivering advanced services to their customers.