In Skynet We Trust

By Robert Bell

 

In the Terminator films, an artificial intelligence system called Skynet is put in charge of the US nuclear deterrent.  After some consideration, it reaches the not-unreasonable conclusion that human beings are dangerous.  Cue Armageddon, followed by a long mopping-up operation to ensure that humans will never pose a threat to a world now run by machines.  

 

Something similar is happening in satellite ground segment – but the ending is much, much happier.  After years of piecemeal adoption, today’s teleports are going all-in on automation and orchestration – and making major gains in quality of service, productivity and value-add to customers.  WTA recently published a report, Service Automation and Orchestration for Teleport Operators, that tells the story in detail.

 

Automation and Orchestration

 

In an earlier report published in 2018, Automating the Teleport, WTA found that control of pointing, frequency, power, polarization and other satellite communications basics already had been moved from manual control to network management systems. Manual playout was transitioning to content management and scheduling systems. The teleport was in the process of being transformed from the traditional antenna farms into data centers with dishes that layer on value-added capabilities and services.  Today, both automation and orchestration are well established and growing among teleport and satellite operators

 

Automation, a staple of networks operations for decades, means completing a single task or function without human intervention. Incorporating automation into a network can improve the performance and efficiency of time-intensive, manual processes, reduce staff workload, remove the risk of human error and drive down costs for network operators. 

 

“Automation has played a huge role in providing services to broadcast customers and supporting mission critical data operations for years,” a teleport operator executive told us. “This automation can be as simple as making sure that, in the event of a fiber break, the content is switched to a redundant network path immediately with no noticeable interruption of services. More recently, automation has provided the ability to remotely monitor networks, enabling operators to have full visibility into what is happening across the entire network from a single location rather than having control rooms in various facilities spread around the globe.” 

At the same time, growing customer demands are driving teleports to improve their use of automation. The next step for many is orchestration, the process of linking together a series of automations. This can mean not just deploying an application but also integrating it into the network so it can immediately communicate with other applications and end users. Orchestration is more complex than automating a single task, but the benefits can also be exponentially greater for both operators and their customers, expanding the ability to bring new services and new opportunities to the market. 

 

“The world is changing very fast,” a satellite operator executive said.  “The mindset of the customer has changed in the last few years. For a satellite company, where major changes have taken 10 to 15 years, the change that we’ve had is amazing. People and their technology are more networked, and there is more remote work. A few years ago, there was no need to have return capacity, just forward. Now everyone needs the internet connected to their house.”

 

“I remember distinctly, five years ago, that customers already wanted much more dynamic ability to request bandwidth,” a service provider executive said. “They wanted to change their CIR [committed information rate] levels on the fly. Today, with automation, it’s much easier to support these types of requests. We can increase the bandwidth for a customer for a week, and if you can automate the process, it makes it easier to handle that customer request, especially for customers that are moving around.” 

“The ability to automate and the benefits it provides teleport operators have improved immensely throughout the past five years,” said a teleport operator executive. “It’s easier to get the network management systems preconfigured to an entire service. Before, we had to go to subsystems, but automation now is an entire service as opposed to a subsystem within the service.” 

 

Going Faster

 

The growth in satellite capacity that drove these automation improvements continues today at an even faster pace. The teleports that link the terrestrial and space segment are being asked to provide more services for more customers. Some are traditional users that understand the complexity of the teleport. Others are of a new breed of customer that do not need to understand what is happening behind the scenes and only care that the teleport operators provide uninterrupted, high-quality services. 

The move to orchestration is also a priority due to the large amount of collected data and analytics. High-value services, such as overall network availability, are the initial targets of orchestration, but the ultimate goal for most teleport operators is incorporating every aspect of service management into an orchestrated architecture. Among the areas being addressed are improving the customer experience to create an environment which anticipates and reacts faster to any customer need or service issue.  Customers experience improved flexibility of operations and more competitive services, while employees gain from efficiency in processes and reduction in manual work.  Leveraging orchestration will enable teleport and satellite operators to be the engine of continuous change for their customers.  

 

The Human Factor

 

The value that the engineers bring to the automation and orchestrations process may be why most of the companies in the sector do not see investments in these areas as leading to headcount reductions. A commonly shared view among executives is that increased capabilities in these areas will free up their skilled workers and highly trained engineers from having to focus on tedious tasks. 

“In a service company, this vision is less diffused than in a manufacturer company,” a satellite operator said. “The improvement of the quality of the operative worker is appreciated and shared. The people have clear day-by-day evidence on how the interaction with the customers is faster and more accurate than in the past.” 

 

As the customers expect more from their teleports and networks, and advanced layers of service and new businesses are introduced, these employees will be required for more critical projects. In many cases, the introduction of new technology and more advanced orchestration processes may even require further investment in employees and advanced training to meet the needs of end users. 

“Any automation we’re putting into the system is freeing up resources, not eliminating,” a technology executive said. “We’re not doing automation to remove headcount. We’re doing automation to alleviate some of the tedious tasks that allow the team to do more important things, like times they have to walk around the facility and check the fuel level in a generator or levels on the batteries. All the automation allows them to install new services and update hardware platforms and make sure we have the latest patches on the software systems. They are doing more customer-facing work.” 

 

“We’re a constantly growing company,” a satellite operator said. “As far as I know, we haven’t had a headcount reduction in more than a decade or 20 years. I think our employees are pretty comfortable knowing they won’t be replaced by a robot any time soon. Our employees understand if they bring forth improvements, they are not automating themselves out of a job. There will be more work to automate, especially the mundane tasks or repetitive tasks, but rather than being replaced, the employees can move on to doing value-added work.” 

And so, trusting in Skynet in this real-life movie has a surprise ending.  The companies, customers and employees all win – and the decades-old teleport business strengthens its competitive advantage in a global marketplace. 

 

Use Cases for Orchestration 

 

A teleport operator is helping reduce the digital divide in a country and orchestration is streamlining the interactions along the supply chain. 

It is improving the efficiency of capacity reservation systems, helping customers share transponder space across different service needs. 

Orchestration is helping teleport operators incorporate satellite capacity into their networks as the sector brings more high-throughput satellites online and the operations model transitions from hub-and-spoke operations to spacecraft that provide services via multiple spot beams. 

Orchestration is allowing for setting up broadband networks more quickly and efficiently in parts of the globe that are underserved or unserved. 

It enables demanding but infrequent users, such as yacht owners and operators, to have direct control of the levels of service provided to end-users depending on rates of demand.