VMware taking on service assurance as operators deploy 5G

5G is inherently complex–the network is complex, the network management is complex, the services that ride on top of it are complex and making sure those services are working the way they’re supposed to–service assurance, is, you guessed it, complex. During Mobile World Congress Los Angeles last week, VMware announced a new Smart Assurance solution meant to allow operators “to have a holistic view of the network from core to the edge to the radio access network.” VMware is working on the tech with Cellwize, which specializes in RAN automation wherein machine learning techniques facilitate a “zero-touch deployment, configuration, optimization and healing” process. The whole idea of zero-touch networks is tied to automation, what EXFO VP, SASS Division, Abdelkrim Benamar called “extremely powerful if you make the right decisions but if you start to make wrong decisions, automation only increases the damages.