AI to the rescue: self-healing networks make downtime disappear

Your network may be inconspicuous, but when your videoconference drops mid-presentation or your ecommerce site crashes during a flash sale, you’ll know all about it.

Modern applications need agile, responsive and secure networks. The problem is that legacy networks provide limited insights into key metrics such as application traffic flows. And traditional network management strategies often involve manual monitoring and troubleshooting, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error.

The need for a more innovative way to manage complex networks has led to the rise of self-healing networks. Using technologies and strategies like AI, machine learning and automation, they can look for, diagnose and recover from failures or disruptions without human intervention.

How do self-healing networks work?

Self-healing networks create a more resilient and reliable framework for data transmission and connectivity. Here’s a breakdown of how they use a combination of technologies to operate autonomously:

1. Continuous monitoring: Advanced monitoring tools observe the performance of network components and detect issues such as latency, packet loss or device failures in real time.
2. Automated diagnosis: When a potential issue is identified, AI and machine-learning algorithms analyze the data to diagnose the problem. These algorithms use historical data, patterns and behavior analysis to find the root cause of the disruption.
3. Self-recovery: After diagnosing the issue, the system automatically rectifies the problem. This may involve rerouting traffic, switching to backup systems or applying patches – all without human involvement.
4. Learning and adaptation: A core aspect of self-healing networks is their ability to learn from past incidents. By analyzing how previous problems were solved, the network can improve its responses and become intelligent over time.

How self-healing networks help your organization

Greater reliability and its spinoffs are the most obvious benefit of self-healing networks. Less downtime means more business continuity, which translates into productivity. You’re avoiding service interruptions and the opportunity cost of involving your IT team in troubleshooting and routine maintenance rather than focusing on higher-value activities.

And, if you work with a managed service provider like NTT DATA to modernize your network, you’re consuming network services as needed, on an opex basis. This frees up capital for core business functions without the burden of owning and operating extensive infrastructure.

For your employees, a self-healing network means fewer disruptions to applications that rely on high availability, such as cloud services or online transaction systems.

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Why you need constant access to expertise

Self-healing networks have many benefits, and your network team plays a vital role in realizing them. That’s because the transformation of your network involves not just implementing the tools but also continually refining them.

You still need human oversight to make sure the network keeps improving and adapting to your requirements. If you don’t have the in-house expertise to do this, working with a managed service provider will give you access to the skills you need so you can focus on your core business instead.

It’s not plug and play

Deploying self-healing networks is also not a one-size-fits-all solution. Integrating these systems with your unique network architecture demands a thorough understanding of the technology.

And, because self-healing networks rely on extensive data analytics, there are privacy and security concerns to address. Strong data management is also critical to the accuracy of the AI and machine-learning models used for monitoring and diagnosis. If these models are inadequately trained, they may misdiagnose issues and recommend the wrong recovery actions.

This is where NTT DATA’s consultative approach comes in: we don’t just rip everything out of your current environment. Instead, we first assess your environment to understand it better before we integrate newer technology as part of a tailored transformation roadmap that is aligned with your business strategy.

We help our clients transition from reactive network management to a proactive model with self-healing capabilities. This involves a shift in mindset and operational procedures.

Self-healing networks represent a significant evolution in network management practices.

While the technology is still developing, the benefits already far outweigh the hurdles – and innovating in this area will be key for organizations that want to stay ahead of their competition.

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