Building Simpler, Resilient, and AI-Ready Networks

I sat down with senior leaders from Colt, stc Group, and Swisscom to hear these innovative service providers’ strategies for the delivery of digital experiences in an AI-powered world. We talked about how they are simplifying their networks to meet growing customer demands and how they are embracing assurance, automation, and autonomous networking to transform their operations, ensure the resiliency of their services, and drive new revenue streams.

Q: Jason Teller—Yasser, congratulations on the success of the 2024 Esports World Cup. Share with us the approach and technologies stc implemented to ensure a seamless experience for players and viewers.

A: Yasser Alkholaif, Transport Operations Director, stc Group—Given the scale of the Esports World Cup, there was a lot on the line. To ensure a seamless experience for players and viewers we needed real-time visibility across the network so we could proactively handle issues before gamers even noticed.

We set up a specialized operations center equipped with advanced monitoring tools integrated with Cisco Provider Connectivity Assurance (formerly Accedian Skylight) and ThousandEyes. We built custom dashboards, configured real-time alerts, and established automated ticketing for critical metrics—latency, packet loss, and link utilization.

This gave us AI-powered issue detection and proactive assurance across our infrastructure, international carriers, and cloud provider networks. In the end, we delivered a top-tier gaming experience for all 2024 Esports World Cup participants, with no major disruptions throughout the event.

Q: Teller—That’s an amazing achievement, especially given the huge amount of pressure involved with global sports events. Martin, I’m keen to hear your thoughts on the importance of quality of service for Swisscom. How has it impacted the way you manage and operate your network?

A: Martin Gysi, System Architect for IP Networks and Network Automation, Swisscom—We are critical infrastructure for Switzerland. Our network is the foundation for the country’s emergency services. Tens of thousands of businesses depend on us to be able to operate effectively and serve their customers, and our mobile and residential customers expect flawless digital experiences.

Previously, our infrastructure was incredibly complex, with four purpose-built networks for mobile, business services, residential services, and data centers—all operated by different teams. To simplify our infrastructure, we’re consolidating these four networks and teams into one, which will drive operational efficiency and resiliency. Segment routing and having a single IP partner—Cisco—play a key role in that.

We now approach the network as if it was a piece of software, and our ambition is to automate everything. For example, we’ve automated all our test cases and now configure the network through Cisco Crosswork Network Automation. We are also adopting network as a service (NaaS), with a clearly defined set of services that can be ordered through APIs. We’re at the start of a long journey but we know it will pay off—for us and our customers.

Q: Teller—Simplicity, visibility, and control over services are all crucial for resiliency. Bart, you have brought it all together in Colt’s NaaS offer too. Tell us about your NaaS journey to date.

A: Bart Janssens, Principal Packet Architect, Colt—The NaaS innovation journey on our IP network started in 2021. As the biggest pan-European aggregator, we needed simplicity, capacity, and scalability, while managing CapEx and OpEx and ensuring the power efficiency of our infrastructure. This led us to Cisco Routed Optical Networking. We were the first service provider to adopt it on long distance core spans.

We then deployed a software-defined networking (SDN) stack to control our hardware and differentiate our services, and unified APIs to our OSS/BSS to orchestrate them. After deploying Cisco Crosswork Network Automation and Provider Connectivity Assurance to collect data across our network, we created our own NaaS enhancements that we call Intent-Based and Sustainable Networking.

We know that network demand will grow because of AI. Customers will want more capacity and stringent SLAs for AI-powered chatbot agents, collaboration tools, hybrid workloads, on-premises and multicloud, storage management, and learning models.

Our Intent-Based Network gives business customers unprecedented visibility and control in real time from anywhere. They can see and control an intended path hop-by-hop, by latency, and by its carbon footprint depending on where routers are located and the power they use. Customers can decide what type of service best meets their needs based on what is important for their business—be it SLAs, cost, or sustainability.

Q: Teller—Automation and assurance capabilities in Colt’s NaaS have transformed how you serve your customers. Yasser, stc has embraced automation too, and is now moving toward a more autonomous network. Tell us about the outcomes you seek.

A: Alkholaif—We have two goals: reducing operational costs and enhancing customer experience. Through AI-driven insights and proactive automation, we look to minimize manual interventions and streamline service assurance.

This will not only reduce overhead but also improve reliability, leading to fewer disruptions and faster issue resolution. We are already seeing results from pilot initiatives, pushing us closer to a self-optimizing and self-healing network that delivers a robust, responsive customer experience, while keeping operational costs in check.

Q: Teller—TM Forum measures the maturity of autonomous networking with levels from zero (manual operation) to five (full autonomy). TM Forum estimates 84% of service providers are at level 1 (assisted operations and maintenance) or level 2 (partial autonomous network), while 61% aim to achieve level 3 (conditional autonomous network) or above by 2028. Martin, what is the one learning you would share with other service providers?   

A: Gysi—You need to have perseverance and a clear purpose. If you start without knowing exactly what your goal is, who you are designing a new system for, and all the related dependencies, you will likely end up with a system that adds complexity rather than eliminates it. If you approach automation step-by-step, you will get there eventually.

Really think about what you want to achieve from a business and technical perspective. Make sure you clearly understand your current systems and processes, and how people work—then determine the best way to automate it all.

Q: Teller—Service providers’ networks are critical to connecting AI applications. Without these networks, there is no AI. Bart, what advice would you give to other service providers to ensure their networks are ready for AI? 

A: Janssens—The sooner that service providers get ready for AI, the better. You need the right building blocks for your network and the right software stack to orchestrate and refresh your network. You need data and analytics to make it intelligent and the right components for transporting data at scale.

Given the data traffic growth driven by AI, you need to manage the power efficiency of your network—because of OpEx and because your customers have Scope 3 sustainability goals to meet. Continuous NaaS innovation remains important.

Customers are everywhere, but none of us can connect the whole world singlehandedly, so we need to work together. The more we work together and expose APIs, the better positioned we are to serve our customers and make money from AI too.

The pace of AI innovation is nothing like we’ve seen before. We all need to start redesigning our networks now to ensure that we’re not left outside of the growing AI ecosystem, but a key part of it.

how AI is shaping the evolution of IP networks.

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