With 6G on the horizon, operators need greater levels of network automation, and AI agents are here to deliver
We have entered the era of agentic AI, and it is here to deliver on the promise of autonomous network operations. Infovista just dropped a new agentic AI framework that is designed to deliver agent-based network automation for telco operators.
VistaAI seeks to move operators from being mere observers of network data to users of the same. To that end, it turbocharges traditional networking with agentic AI and intent-based networking. The result: operators define the intent and agents execute it.
The solution offers AI agents ranging from “advisory to fully autonomous”, cross-domain data analysis spanning the RAN, core, and transport networks, and a natural language interface for operators to query information conversationally.
“Operators need intelligence that acts. VistAI closes the gap between seeing a problem and solving it,” said CEO, Rick Hamilton.
The rise of intent-based networking
In the mid-2010, a handful of industry groups, led by HPE, came up with the concept of intent-based networking. The idea evolved from the need to move away from manual CLI-based network operations that frequently led to outages to a more efficient and error-free model. The goal was straightforward: design an abstraction framework that reduces the burden of network operators as they struggle with complex cloud networks.
Intent-based networking, when it came, allowed engineers to define intent — or business outcome — as declarative statements. The network converted those into configurations, eliminating the manual steps of coding and execution.
As the cloud infrastructure evolved, IBN stopped being a standalone concept and started being an ubiquitous function. It got baked into Kubernetes in the form of control loops that kept implementations aligned with network policies. It emerged as point solutions that gave enterprises ability to manipulate the overlay and underlay networks through high-level abstraction.
Now as the industry transitions toward sixth-generation (6G) wireless networks, the need for automated orchestration has never been greater. 6G networks need zero-touch orchestration, where high-level operational intents are automatically converted into executable configuration without human intervention.
But existing rule-based systems that power IBN have limitations when applied to the hybrid 5G/6G, edge, cloud and IoT environments. They have semantic gaps and interpretability issues.
Zero-touch management with agentic AI
Networking with agentic AI introduces a new paradigm. Perhaps, its most significant advancement is the agents’ linguistic adaptability. AI agents come with natural language understanding which makes it possible to define intents in natural language. The agents can still read and translate them into executable configurations without hiccups.
Cognitive agents can perform all steps of autonomous orchestration from start to finish. A multi-agent framework like Infovista’s allows in-house and third-party agents to collaborate across heterogeneous network environments, taking individual tasks from intent to execution in a smooth flow.
The agents’ genuine learning and reasoning capabilities are a great addition to the automation. Their superior decisions-making skill can allow them to detect issues and apply fixes proactively. The agents can analyze network states, generate recommendations, and execute configs the same way a domain specialist does. They can further validate intent objects, perform roll-outs or roll-backs, and limit the scope of errors and failures, ensuring improved operations and uptime.
However, on the flip side, AI agents can introduce biases that can manifest as systemic failures. To avoid that, experts recommend a hybrid approach where complex intents processed are processed by multi-agent systems, and straightforward, repetitive ones by lightweight ones.