One of the greatest challenges associated with large-scale infrastructures, characterized by their complexity in virtualization and automation, is the management of the software products deployed within them. These products enable the correct implementation of the different architectures that support various network domains and processes.
The VIVO team is advancing towards autonomy across all network planes. Within the Telco Cloud domain (V.T.C. – VIVO Telco Cloud), the Smart VTC platform has been developed to drive the automation of operational processes and software asset management. This initiative is part of the company program: ANJ – Autonomous Network Journey.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence opens new opportunities to improve efficiency and scalability, especially in those Smart VTC processes that involve compatibility and interoperability analysis required for software upgrades. For this reason, Smart VTC is being enhanced with intelligent capabilities to manage the software within VIVO’s Telco Cloud platform in a safer, more controlled, agile, and proactive way. These capabilities make up the Software Management solution called: ClaudIA.
Identified need
The Smart VTC project highlighted the need to manage recurring upgrades across multiple components of the Telco Cloud environment, covering both software and hardware resources and including key products from strategic vendors in the telecommunications industry.
The environment’s technological diversity, with hundreds of instances and their deployed software products, requires precise and automated management to ensure version compatibility, operational security, and efficiency in maintenance processes.
Implementation challenges
Implementing Artificial Intelligence in a large-scale environment like this presents multiple challenges. One of the most critical is achieving cloud autonomy (Telco Cloud) within telecommunications applications running in production, where zero downtime is required.
Cloud + AI Solution: ClaudIA
The ClaudIA solution uses specific workflows for each product/component to collect software documentation. It applies AI with customized instructions and maps interoperability by correlating products and versions within the Telco Cloud infrastructure. It generates version matrices, which are used to correlate vendor dependencies and compare them with the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), enriched with hardware data.
Based on AI analysis and the compatibility matrix, the system recommends new software versions and validates prerequisites for upgrade planning. Its main functionalities include:
Key benefits for VIVO
The main benefits resulting from the development and deployment of these functionalities are:
• Reduced time required for the preparation and deployment of new software versions.
• Lower risk through automated validation, eliminating human errors.
• Improved real-time visibility of network status and the resulting impacts of any software upgrade.
• Increased efficiency and assurance that upgrades and patches optimize VIVO’s current standards.
According to Samuel Schmalfuss Weege, Solutions Architecture Manager at VIVO team:
“ClaudIA is increasing automation and autonomy in the assurance and change management processes of the V.T.C. infrastructure software, thereby transforming complexity into clarity and effort into measurable impact. The system allows the areas involved to operate more efficiently. The Digital Transformation we are implementing is an important step in the journey towards autonomous networks.”
With this solution, VIVO Brazil not only improves the efficiency of software upgrade processes within the Telco Cloud domain but also enhances security by reducing potential errors associated with the manual validation of multiple software products that make up the ecosystem. It represents another step towards achieving network autonomy.
