For as long as any of us can remember, fulfillment and assurance were two independent processes, mostly because they were conceived, operated and purchased by separate departments. As Alfred D. Chandler demonstrated in his classic book “Strategy and Structure,” operations and even business structure follow organizational charts and vice-versa. Fulfillment and assurance are no exceptions, with those organizations driving processes and supporting software purchases. While many know that its not ideal, the situation has mostly worked.
Virtualized networks promise agility and OPEX cost reductions, along with other significant benefits. But – a big but — these gains demand highly efficient, hands-off automation. One of the things we learn from control theory – which is one branch of engineering associated closely with real-world automation, is that there must be a single control method – and what we think of as “assurance” is simply an input (feedback) into that method. One method, not two, nor three.
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