Discover the future of networking with Huawei’s groundbreaking Level 4 Autonomous Network!
In an exclusive interview with Steve Saunders at the 2024 Ultra-Broadband Forum, Wang Hui from Huawei reveals the journey and innovation behind their highly autonomous network solution. Huawei has been at the forefront of integrating AI into network management. This year, they launched the Level 4 Autonomous Network, capable of running itself with minimal human intervention.
Wang Hui explains how AI now solves 80% of network issues automatically, showcasing real-world applications in top institutions like Tsinghua University and major carriers like China Mobile. With intelligent network devices, a pioneering Network Digital Map, and the advanced NetMaster, Huawei’s technology is set to revolutionize industries worldwide.
Join us as we delve into the technology that makes this possible and the trust Huawei has built with its customers. Experience lower costs, better efficiency, and a seamless network experience.
Don’t miss out on this historic moment in the communications industry. Watch the full interview now and see how Huawei is shaping the future of connectivity!
Steve Saunders:
Huawei has a level four autonomous network product. That’s interesting. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Wang Hui:
Actually, we have started the autonomous driving network about eight years ago. From the beginning. Actually, from beginning, we used AI for the network area. And about three years ago, we launched the Level 3 autonomous driving network, which are used for many customers, especially for the education, for the financial industry. And by now, for this year, we released the Level 4 autonomous driving network solution.
Steve Saunders:
So who’s actually using them today?
Wang Hui:
Mostly from the enterprises. For example, for the Tsinghua University in China, it’s one of the best universities in China, actually, for their campus network, they’re using our autonomous driving network system. Actually, they already use it to manage the whole campus network. About 16,000 network devices are managed by our system.
Steve Saunders:
You mentioned China Mobile. Are they going to use it in a production network?
Wang Hui:
Sure, sure. And actually, from this year, they’re using it in Guangdong Province. And then, for the next year, they’re going to deploy the system for the whole country, and not only for Guangdong Province, but for the whole China. They all will use our system. And they’re planning to achieve Level 4 for the whole network in the next three years. And for the next year, they’re beginning to deploy it.
Steve Saunders:
Are there any industries where Level 4 autonomous networking can’t be used?
Wang Hui:
I think, finally, every industry will use it, finally. But it’s a process. From beginning, just from the education, from the retail, from the medical industry. And finally, for the financial industry. In fact, some banks are… We have the joint innovation program with some banks.
Steve Saunders:
I guess the big question for me is, which is more important? Is it the AI technology? Or is it having the trust of the customer to deploy it?
Wang Hui:
I think both the technology… Actually, we used AI for the network almost more than 10 years. At the beginning, we just used the AI algorithms to find anomalies in the networks, for example, for the attacks for the networks. And later, we used neural networks to predict the traffic of the network. And step by step, recently, we used a LAT (Latency-Aware Topology) model for their autonomous network. So for the technology, they’re moving forward. And another side is the trust. And to tell the truth, for the customers, if you tell them, you just trust their autonomous driving network from beginning, it’s difficult. But after you use it, after you use it, you will find it’s much easier to handle the problems. You have a better experience and lower cost. Step by step, the customer will accept it.
Steve Saunders:
That’s absolutely true. And I’ve been waiting for 10 years, since 2014, for this moment. And you’ve done it. It’s historic in the communications industry. Congratulations.
Wang Hui:
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.
Steve Saunders:
What’s the technology behind this achievement?
Wang Hui:
Actually, a lot of companies are using AI for different industries. And even the network area, we used the AI for several years. But achieving Level 4 autonomous driving network, just use the AI or use the LAT model is not enough. So actually, we have three very important components for the autonomous driving network. The first component is their intelligent network device. Not only provide more data, we can control it using the new protocols. And for some situations, they can make decisions by their device.
And the second part, we call it Network Digital Map. We released the first network digital map in the industry about two years before. And the network digital map actually is the digital trend for the network. We all use the Google Maps, right? So it’s similar with the Google Maps, it’s just used in the network. And the third part is, we call it the NetMaster. Not only used in a LAT model. A LAT model is just part of the NetMaster. We used a LAT model and other AI models, all this model integrated together to make decisions, for example, to generate the comparisons or to optimize the network. So all these components together, we can achieve the Level 4 autonomous driving network. And not just one technology. Actually, it’s a lot of technologies together.
Steve Saunders:
So, Huawei has been working on autonomous networking. Why is that important?
Wang Hui:
The network is more and more important for us. We all use the network at anytime and anywhere. Without network, almost you cannot do anything. If the network is down, all the services also will be down. So it really takes hours to solve the problem, due to the complexity of the network. So how to solve these problems? And with the AI, we can achieve the autonomous driving network. And with autonomous driving network, all the problem can be solved automatically. So I think for the cars, more and more people are buying their autonomous driving cars. And for the network, it’s moving forward to the autonomous driving network.
Steve Saunders:
People have been waiting for the first live autonomous network for a long time, and you’ve achieved that. Congratulations.
