From Sci-Fi Dream to Self-Managed Reality: The Era of Autonomous Networking

It’s 6:17 a.m. in Seattle or Seoul, Copenhagen or Cairo, and a hidden glitch takes down a communications network. Suddenly, it’s impossible to perform a search or send texts or make payments — and emergency calls won’t go through. The effects are far-reaching.

Recent years have seen this very scenario play out multiple times around the world. Missed software updates, obscure faults, or cybersecurity events have blacked out internet and mobile services for millions of people — sometimes for hours.

As networks grow more complex with 5G, internet of things (IoT), and virtualized cores, the stakes are even higher. The tiniest of errors can ripple into widespread outages that disrupt the digital tasks we take for granted every day. And when that happens, costs for service providers climb.

Just how big is the problem? Our research uncovered that communications and media companies rack up an average of $143 million in downtime-related costs per year, with nearly one-quarter ($32 million) stemming from lost revenues.

But now, next-generation autonomous networks promise a better way: self-directed, self-healing systems that find and fix problems fast. For customers, that means critical services stay operational, without even a hint that something went wrong. And communications and media providers avoid unplanned downtime and unnecessary costs.

Not long ago, autonomous networks sounded like science fiction. But today they’re on the horizon — and the industry is ready to forge ahead. At the recent TM Forum DTW event in Copenhagen, industry-leading telcos and partners like Cisco and Splunk shared progress on solutions for network resilience, agility, and efficiency. What I heard underscored that we’re in the autonomous network era.    

Why Autonomous Networks Matter Now

Networks are getting more complex, with billions of devices connected every day. And customers expect faster speeds with flawless service.

Labor-intensive manual network management can’t keep up. However, with autonomous networking, it’s possible to predict issues before they occur and orchestrate changes without waiting for humans to intervene — keeping networks operational and quality of service high.

But that’s not all. Autonomous networks solve many of the challenges of conventional network management, from scalability constraints to cost inefficiencies.

Communications and media companies know that autonomous networking is the future — and are eyeing investments in the years ahead. The autonomous networking market is predicted to grow from $8.6 billion in 2024 to $38.5 billion in 2032 — that’s a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.5%.

The Road to Autonomous Networking Starts with Full-Stack Visibility

For teams mired in manual work today, achieving full autonomy can feel like a lofty goal. But to move forward, communications and media companies can focus on essential building blocks:

• Focus on simplifying networks. Legacy infrastructure, siloed systems, and rigid architecture make automation nearly impossible. That’s why companies are looking to modernize by moving to cloud-native technologies and modular, open designs.
• Automate every step of their stacks for seamless communication. This foundation supports intent-based orchestration — which involves setting a high-level goal and letting the network figure out the best way to achieve it in real time.
  
• Deploy AI and ML — and ultimately agentic AI and generative AI — so you can create intelligent workflows to access the right data at the right time, coordinate between multiple AI applications, and trigger actions to support closed-loop automations.

With these core factors in mind, organizations can pursue different paths to their network automation goals. For some, zero-touch provisioning may lead the way, while others focus on automating security responses.

Whatever direction they take, these three advancements guide the way:

1. Automated monitoring and anomaly detection: With AI-fueled data analysis, the network can identify a baseline, flag anomalies, and prevent disruptions.
2. Root cause analysis and troubleshooting: Automated tools can detect and correct issues without manual intervention, freeing up teams to focus on strategic network improvements.
3. Remediation and reporting: Detecting and resolving faults automatically is the key to continuous network operation. Speed is especially critical for security incidents — and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) tools can fast-track threat detection and response. Automation can also accelerate reporting.

These shifts are possible with Splunk’s cross-stack visibility that delivers monitoring, anomaly detection, and root cause analysis — all in one place. What’s more, this unified approach ensures that AI and ML tools can access the data needed for proactive incident management and network performance optimization.

And those disruptive glitches that knock out service? Autonomous networking can make them a relic of the past. With constant network monitoring and automated detection and fixes, issue resolution can happen before a single person notices.

No dropped calls. No undelivered texts. No frozen payments.

Just seamless service, heightened customer satisfaction, and digital resilience that provides a foundation for a future full of innovation.

Discover how Splunk empowers communications service providers to reach their business goals:  visit our industry web page for more insights.