NTTDATA Unlimited Future

12 LOOKING AT THE FUTURE 03 New Standards of Sustainability, through Smart Operations Transforming Operations & Maintenance To deliver on the promise of targeted, customizable solutions, networked across global connectivity, it is essential to look critically at how current operations are managed, and ask how we can improve them. From building infrastructure through to continuous improvement, every procedure, capability and asset management approach can and should be improved. So where do we start? Neutral infrastructure The obvious start point is with the towers that form mobile infrastructures, which is why NTT DATA has teamed up with American Tower Inc, the world’s largest operator of mobile connectivity towers, to rethink the ways in which we can use space and energy more efficiently in the design, build and run phases. By using a neutral provider approach, we can make it possible to reduce the total number of towers required dramatically, while cutting energy use and carbon emissions by orders of magnitude. In a world where sustainability is quite rightly a top priority for every industry, this enables networking companies to enable smarter working (leading to less travel and lower emissions) through smarter infrastructure. Smarter network management This approach extends through the entire lifecycle of the networks, themselves, as we embed automated systems throughout to optimize performance. Network management solutions bring together some of the components we have highlighted earlier to transform operational excellence. • IoT devices provide a continuous flow of data to reveal potential issues, trends, patterns of activity they may require intervention or provide opportunities for improvement. • Analytics form the natural next stage requirement for managing IoT, as the use of (increasingly AI-enabled) analytical output create the insights needed to trigger changes in management processes, potential intervention and increased control at the centre while- • AI & ML Algorithms can be deployed at the Network Edge to enable automated responses within defined parameters. The goal here is to fix issues and enhance performance as a basic function of management systems, without the need for further action. This approach is also key to- • Proactive and Predictive Maintenance , which is now a fact of life in many other industries, enabling better scheduling of essential work to reduce (or eliminate) downtime and make most efficient use of scarce resources. This same approach is now being used to improve networking reliability.