Network Lifecycle Management

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀… 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁! Every system, product, and infrastructure has a lifecycle—from concept to retirement. Yet, too often, organizations treat Configuration Management (CM) as a necessary evil rather than an enabler for managing the configuration information across the lifecycle. The reality? CM isn’t just about tracking assets or achieving regulatory compliance—it’s about controlling their evolution to minimize risk, reduce costs, and ensure long-term operational success. Consider these scenarios: ✅ In 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 & 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, CM ensures baselines are defined and changes are intentional—not chaotic. ✅  In 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, it prevents undocumented changes that lead to system failures. ✅  In 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 & 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲, it keeps configurations aligned with evolving requirements, reducing outages and security & compliance risks. ✅  In 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 & 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, it ensures informed decision-making rather than costly surprises. Without structured CM, companies face: ❌ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 from untracked changes and inconsistent configurations, leading to configuration drift. ❌ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 due to a lack of traceability. ❌ 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 from rework, system failures, and inefficiencies. 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀: 🚀 A healthcare provider experienced critical system failures due to 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁, leading to inaccessible electronic health records and disrupted patient care. The inconsistencies in database configurations across multiple servers resulted in data synchronization issues and system crashes. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: https://bit.ly/4bseiTg 💡 NASA has identified poor Configuration Management as a 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀—especially during integration and testing. When configurations aren’t properly controlled, small discrepancies become failures. 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: https://bit.ly/43qTv0I 𝗜𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲—𝗼𝗿 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗜𝘁? The best companies don’t leave lifecycle success to chance—they use 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. How is your organization leveraging CM to drive resilience and efficiency? Let’s discuss! Don't forget to follow me: https://lnkd.in/ezftZPJ7 and subscribe to the newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eyyXe3DS Note: the CM is… series posts are not intended to limit the scope of Configuration Management but to create awareness of the breadth of CM. Each of these elements is part of good Configuration Management Practice. #ConfigurationManagement #LifecycleManagement #PLM #ProductLifeCycleManagement #ChangeControl #MDUX #CM

Still managing hardware assets with spreadsheets, crossed fingers, or triggers from a ticketing system? That approach may work—right up until an off-network laptop misses a critical patch and becomes an attacker’s way in. Your hardware isn’t just equipment; it’s a living attack surface. The moment a device is forecasted, it starts accumulating risk, yet many teams wait until deployment to record it—and stop tracking once it drops off the network. That gap is where most breaches begin. The Ultimate Guide to Hardware Asset Management flips the script with an 11-phase lifecycle framework that keeps every asset in view before it’s online, while it’s online, and long after it leaves the network. You’ll learn how to: - Automatically ingest asset data at the forecasting stage, not weeks, months, or years later - Maintain end-to-end visibility—from initial forecast through final depreciation - Eliminate blind spots caused by shipping, storage, or off-network use - Reclaim idle devices and slash unnecessary CapEx and OpEx - Keep audit-ready records and prove compliance at every stage Why this matters: Because blind spots aren’t just accounting errors—they’re open doors for attackers, audit failures, and budget overruns. When your asset platform integrates with procurement and financial systems from day one, you gain continuous visibility, which leads to stronger security and tighter cost control. Hardware shouldn’t be a black hole of risk and expense. With end-to-end lifecycle tracking, it becomes a strategic advantage. ============== Download the guide to see how leading organizations are closing off-network device visibility gaps (link in comments).

📡 A new survey on Large Language Models (LLMs) in Network Operations & Management (NO&M) offers a comprehensive look at how GenAI is being woven into the fabric of telecom infrastructure. LLMs are no longer just generating text—they’re auto-configuring networks, translating high-level intents into CLI commands, optimizing resource allocation, and detecting anomalies in real time. The survey highlights how LLMs are impacting every phase of the NO&M lifecycle, including design, automation, optimization, and security. One of the most useful contributions is a practical seven-stage workflow for implementing LLMs in network environments: 1️⃣ Task Definition – Identify the network objective (e.g., deploy low-latency slice). 2️⃣ Data Representation – Preprocess logs, policies, and configs into LLM-compatible formats. 3️⃣ Prompt Engineering – Tailor telecom-aware prompts for precise outputs. 4️⃣ Model Training – Fine-tune or adapt models like GPT-4, LLaMA, Mistral. 5️⃣ Tool Integration – Interface with orchestrators, telemetry, and simulators. 6️⃣ Deployment – Cloud, edge, or hybrid—depending on latency, energy, and privacy needs. 7️⃣ Validation – Use KPIs, digital twins, and policy checks for feedback and tuning. But alongside progress, there are open questions we as an industry need to confront: 🤔 Are LLMs ready for zero-trust, safety-critical environments like the RAN? 🤔 How do we ensure explainability and compliance in AI-generated configurations? 🤔 And are we building the right datasets and open benchmarks to train truly telecom-native models? The direction is clear: LLMs are becoming the interface layer between operators and dynamic, self-optimizing networks. The challenge now is scaling responsibly—with trust, transparency, and domain alignment at the core. 🧠 Paper: A Survey on Large Language Models for Network Operations and Management AI-RAN Alliance #TelecomLLM #GenAI #LLM #NetworkAutomation #AIonRAN #IntentBasedNetworking #GreenAI #TelecomAI #FutureNetworks #ExplainableAI #TrustworthyAI

Network Function Virtualization, Management & Orchestration – 5G Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) in 5G decouples infrastructure from 5G network functions virtually. Infrastructure with physical nodes for compute, networks and storage are virtualized using hypervisor makes virtual machines known as NFV Infrastructure (NFVI). NFVI resources are controlled and managed by Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM). Network functions such as 5G core node functions can be deployed on the underlying virtual machines known as Virtual Network Functions (VNF). Lifecycle management of these functions such as Instantiate VNF (create a VNF), Scale VNF (increase or reduce the capacity of the VNF), Update and/or Upgrade VNF (support VNF software and/or configuration changes), Terminate VNF (release VNF-associated NFVI resources and return it to NFVI resource pool) are managed by VNF Manager (VNFM). NFV Orchestration (NFVO) coordinates the lifecycle of VNFs that jointly realize a Network Service. It is responsible for the Network Service lifecycle management including operations such as: On-board Network Service, i.e., register a Network Service in the catalogue, Instantiate Network Service, Scale Network Service, Update Network Service, Terminate Network Services. VNF instantiation flow below depicts the process of identify and reserve virtualized resources for VNF and instantiate it. Note: Here virtualization involves proprietary software functions and Infrastructure as a service with a granularity of virtual machines. Going forward cloud native solution with the granularity of containers/dockers and introduction of Kubernetes will help to provide more flexibility, scalability, and efficiency with some challenges for telcos and will be discussed in upcoming posts. Reference - ETSI To learn more, visit - https://lnkd.in/eSYuK9V7

Fact: Data Center fabrics are difficult to implement and manage. Complexity is increasing with: ✅ Growth in the volume of data, ✅ Increased diversity of the workloads (do you have AI workloads yet?), ✅ The hybridization of environments, ✅ Shifts towards SDN and NFV, ✅ And not to mention additional security needs! That's why Cisco released HyperFabric, utilizing the new Cisco 6000 switch, with the goal of simplifying the deployment and management of your data center fabrics. Here are 5 highlights of a Cisco HyperFabric deployment: 1️⃣ Cloud-Managed Fabric-as-a-Service: Cisco Nexus HyperFabric offers a cloud-managed solution that simplifies the design, deployment, and scaling of data center fabrics globally, reducing the need for deep networking expertise. Think "Merakification" of the DC. 2️⃣ Automation and Ease of Use: Designed for IT generalists and DevOps teams, HyperFabric automates the lifecycle management of network fabrics, from design to deployment and monitoring, ensuring efficient and error-free operations. Reduce those fat-finger-errors and get consistency across the environment. 3️⃣ High-Performance and Scalable: Supporting port speeds from 10 to 400 Gb, HyperFabric enables the deployment of high-performance, scalable network fabrics that can adapt to various data center needs, including edge and remote locations. Don't let the network be the bottleneck in your AI operations! 4️⃣ Comprehensive Lifecycle Management: The solution includes automated software upgrades, assertion-based monitoring, and a cloud controller that provides a single point of administration for all fabrics, streamlining operations and maintenance. Reduce the time you spend managing firmware. 5️⃣ Flexible Licensing Options: HyperFabric offers subscription-based licensing with tiered packages to accommodate different use cases, ensuring organizations can choose the best fit for their general-purpose or AI fabric needs. Bringing it full circle, organizations are trending BACK to on-prem workloads, and they need cloud-managed, automated solutions to drive the results they're looking for. If you'd like to know more, dip your toe in the HyperFabric datasheet: https://lnkd.in/geHNDKnd ✌😊