The telecommunications industry’s long-sought vision of self-healing, self-optimizing networks is now moving from a distant theoretical goal to a concrete operational reality, driven by a new collaborative initiative. As network complexity skyrockets with the rollout of 5G, edge computing, and IoT, the traditional model of human-led network management has become unsustainable, leading to slower response times and increased operational costs. In response to this challenge, Iquall Networks and VIAVI Solutions have introduced a joint blueprint designed to provide Communication Service Providers (CSPs) with an actionable, standardized path to achieving Autonomous Network Level 4 (ANL4). This level of autonomy, where the network can make and execute complex decisions with human supervision rather than direct intervention, represents a pivotal shift. Critically, this framework is not merely a conceptual exercise; it has already been successfully deployed and is currently in production within a live Tier-1 operator’s network, demonstrating its immediate practical value and signaling a new era for network operations.
The Core of the Collaborative Framework
Fusing Intelligence with Actionable Automation
The foundation of this advanced blueprint is the deep, synergistic integration of two powerful technology platforms: VIAVI’s NITRO® AIOps portfolio and Iquall Networks’ MAT Suite. This combination creates a potent operational engine where advanced analytics and governed automation work in concert. VIAVI’s platform serves as the central nervous system, providing deep network intelligence through real-time monitoring, data correlation, and predictive analytics. It detects anomalies, identifies root causes, and generates actionable insights from the vast streams of data flowing through the network. However, intelligence without action is incomplete. This is where Iquall’s MAT Suite provides the critical “hands” of the system, translating those insights into secure, automated actions. By leveraging its strengths in orchestration and policy-driven automation, the suite executes resolutions, such as reconfiguring network elements or rerouting traffic, within a strictly governed framework. This creates a highly productive “closed-loop” system that can autonomously identify an issue, correlate all relevant events, trigger a pre-approved automated resolution, and log every step with full traceability, a non-negotiable requirement for maintaining control and security in complex Tier-1 environments.
The concept of “governed automation” is central to the blueprint’s success and its appeal to CSPs, who are historically cautious about ceding control to fully autonomous systems. The framework addresses this concern by ensuring that every automated process is executed within a secure, policy-defined environment. Iquall’s MAT Suite acts as a safeguard, ensuring that all actions align with the operator’s business rules, security protocols, and operational best practices. This is not simply automation for its own sake; it is trusted, auditable automation. In today’s multi-vendor, multi-technology network landscapes—spanning from the radio access network to the core—a single unverified automated command can have unforeseen and cascading consequences. By enforcing strict governance and providing complete visibility into every action taken, the solution de-risks the transition toward higher levels of autonomy. This allows network operations teams to build confidence in the system, gradually expanding the scope of automated tasks from simple, repetitive functions to more complex, dynamic decision-making processes, thereby accelerating their operational maturity in a controlled and predictable manner.
A Standardized Approach to Autonomy
A key element that elevates this collaboration beyond a proprietary solution is its firm grounding in the TM Forum CLADRA (Closed-Loop Automation, Data, and Reporting Architecture) reference framework. Adherence to this industry standard is crucial for fostering widespread adoption and ensuring long-term viability. By building the blueprint on an open, standardized architecture, the companies provide a model that is both replicable and interoperable, preventing the vendor lock-in that has historically plagued the telecommunications sector. This standardized approach establishes a common language and set of principles for designing and implementing closed-loop automation systems. Consequently, CSPs can integrate this solution into their existing environments with greater ease and confidence, knowing it aligns with industry-recognized best practices. This not only simplifies deployment but also encourages the development of a broader ecosystem of compatible tools and services, spurring further innovation and giving operators more choice and flexibility as they evolve their autonomous operations.
The practical benefits of adopting this standardized, integrated blueprint translate directly into measurable improvements in operational performance and business outcomes. For CSPs, the most immediate impact is a marked reduction in the mean time to resolution (MTTR) for network faults and performance degradations. By automating the entire lifecycle of incident management—from detection and analysis to remediation and verification—the system can resolve issues in minutes or even seconds, a process that would typically take hours for human teams. This rapid response capability significantly enhances service reliability and directly improves the customer experience, a critical differentiator in a highly competitive market. Furthermore, the substantial increase in operational efficiency driven by automation leads to a significant reduction in operational expenditures (OpEx). By freeing skilled engineering teams from routine, manual tasks, the blueprint allows them to focus on higher-value activities such as network planning, service innovation, and strategic optimization, fueling a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement and advancing the organization’s overall maturity toward the ultimate goal of zero-touch operations.
From Proof of Concept to Industry Standard
Validated Success in Real World Scenarios
The credibility of this autonomous network blueprint is solidified by its successful application in demanding, real-world environments, moving it far beyond the realm of theoretical proposals. The most compelling evidence of its viability is its current production deployment within a major Tier-1 operator’s live network. This implementation serves as a powerful testament to the solution’s stability, scalability, and ability to deliver tangible results under the pressures of a commercial-grade infrastructure. Beyond this in-service validation, the blueprint was rigorously tested and showcased as part of the TM Forum Catalyst 2025 project, titled “CX Optimization via AI-driven SOC over Autonomous Networks.” Catalyst projects are collaborative, rapid-fire proof-of-concept initiatives where industry leaders come together to solve pressing challenges. By successfully demonstrating its capabilities in this high-profile forum, the joint solution proved its effectiveness to a broad audience of industry peers, analysts, and standards bodies, validating its architecture and its capacity to address critical operational pain points faced by CSPs globally.
The specific focus of the Catalyst project—optimizing customer experience (CX) through an AI-driven Service Operations Center (SOC)—highlights the blueprint’s direct impact on business-critical outcomes. The demonstration involved advanced use cases where the integrated system proactively identified potential network degradations that could negatively affect end-users. For instance, the system could detect deteriorating video streaming quality for a group of subscribers, correlate it with localized radio network congestion, and automatically trigger a traffic management policy to rebalance the load—all before a customer complaint is ever filed. Another use case might involve predicting an impending equipment failure and autonomously migrating services to a redundant path to prevent an outage. By linking network performance directly to customer-centric metrics, the project illustrated how autonomous networks can shift operations from a reactive, network-focused model to a proactive, experience-driven one. This validation under the TM Forum’s purview provided irrefutable evidence that the blueprint is not just technologically sound but also commercially relevant.
Charting the Course for Future Development
The momentum generated by the successful deployment and Catalyst demonstration is set to continue, as the collaboration is not a static endpoint but the foundation for an evolving framework. Both companies have committed to participating in Phase 2 of the Catalyst project in 2026, signaling a long-term vision for expanding the blueprint’s capabilities and applications. The next phase will focus on broadening the scope of automation to encompass new and emerging network domains. This includes extending the closed-loop automation principles to the 5G core, multi-access edge computing (MEC) environments, and the rapidly growing market for private enterprise networks. By tackling these new frontiers, the project aims to develop and validate additional use cases that address the unique challenges of these modern architectures, such as network slicing assurance, low-latency service delivery, and dynamic resource allocation. This continuous development ensures the blueprint remains relevant and powerful as the telecommunications landscape evolves, solidifying its position as a comprehensive and adaptable model for end-to-end network autonomy.
Ultimately, the overarching objective of this ongoing collaboration extends beyond the success of individual deployments or projects. The mission is to furnish the entire telecommunications industry with a proven, open, and standardized blueprint that can serve as a definitive reference guide for any CSP embarking on its journey toward high-level autonomy. By openly sharing the architectural principles, integration patterns, and best practices validated through the TM Forum, the initiative aims to democratize the path to autonomous operations. This approach makes advanced automation accessible not only to the world’s largest operators with extensive research and development budgets but also to smaller and mid-sized providers. By providing a clear and reliable model, the blueprint reduces the perceived risks and uncertainties associated with a large-scale operational transformation. This is expected to accelerate the industry-wide transition toward more efficient, intelligent, and customer-centric networks, fostering a new wave of innovation built upon a foundation of trusted automation.
A New Operational Paradigm Emerged
The collaborative effort between Iquall Networks and VIAVI Solutions did more than just introduce a new technology stack; it established a credible and actionable pathway for the telecommunications industry to achieve Level 4 network autonomy. The successful production deployment in a Tier-1 network, combined with the rigorous validation within the TM Forum Catalyst program, provided the tangible evidence needed to shift the conversation from future possibilities to present-day realities. This initiative demonstrated that the sophisticated fusion of AI-driven analytics and governed, closed-loop automation was no longer a distant ambition but a practical and deployable capability. It offered Communication Service Providers a standardized and de-risked model for fundamentally transforming their operational frameworks, bringing the long-held industry goal of a self-managing, predictive, and highly resilient network infrastructure firmly within reach.
