Intent-Based Network Automation: The Future of Telecom Service Delivery

Tieto Tech Consulting and Inmanta have formed a strategic partnership with the goal of empowering communication service providers (CSPs) in their daily operations. By combining Inmanta’s industry-leading orchestration platform with Tieto Tech Consulting’s extensive expertise in network automation, system integration, and research and development, the partnership delivers a highly competitive service package designed to advance network automation and orchestration for CSPs. 

Understanding Network Automation, Orchestration, and Intent 

Network automation is the use of software to configure, operate, monitor, and repair networks without relying on manual work from engineers. In traditional networks, people log into individual devices, type commands, create configurations, and troubleshoot issues by hand. As networks get larger and more complex – especially in 5G, fiber, and cloud-based environments – this manual approach becomes too slow, error-prone, and expensive. Automation solves this by letting systems do most of the repetitive or complex work automatically. 

At its core, network automation can push consistent configurations to many devices at once. More advanced automation can perform entire sequences of tasks, such as upgrading software, scaling traffic capacity, or finding the optimal route for a B2B connection and configuring routers accordingly. Even more advanced systems constantly monitor the network, detect anomalies, decide how to fix problems, and automatically implement changes. This is often called “closed-loop automation”, or “self-healing” because the system observes the network, acts respectively, and then checks whether the results match expectations. 

A service orchestrator is essentially the central brain that coordinates many different automation activities. It acts like a conductor for a complex orchestra, ensuring that: 

• Various tasks (like data pipelines, microservices, or network provisioning) are executed in the correct order. 
• Error handling is managed. 
• The entire process runs harmoniously to deliver a complete service. 

This is crucial for creating unified, automated workflows in environments like telecommunications, cloud computing, and modern software development. 

The goal of a service orchestrator is to translate a business request into specific technical steps across multiple parts of the network. For example, a business customer might ask a CSP for a high-quality connection between two locations. The orchestrator takes this request and automatically figures out which routers, switches, and policies need to be configured across different network domains. It then executes those tasks, verifies that the service is working, and keeps monitoring it throughout its lifetime. 

True intent-based automation is an approach in which a system doesn’t just follow preset rules or detect keywords — it understands the real intent behind a user’s request and acts on it end-to-end without the user needing to specify how. Unlike traditional automation (which requires detailed rules, scripts, or workflows), intent-based automation translates what you want into the actions needed by dynamically planning, validating, executing, and continuously assuring the desired state. 

What makes it “true” intent-based (vs. marketing hype)? 

Scripted, policy-based, and true intent-based automation compared

The Inmanta Service Orchestrator Platform 

The Inmanta Service Orchestrator stands out as a powerful platform designed to meet these demands. Below, we explore its key features, benefits, and differentiators. 

The Platform is purpose-built for scaling dynamic networks and enabling true intent-based automation: 

1. Services are defined declaratively (“what” the end state should be) rather than via static workflows (“how” to execute). 
2. The orchestrator continuously enforces that the configured state matches the desired. 
3. If discrepancies arise, the platform’s observability features allow it to detect these issues in real time. 
4. The system then triggers automated remediation actions (known also as self-healing or closed-loop automation feature), which might involve re-provisioning resources, updating configurations, or rolling back changes to ensure service integrity. 
5. The orchestrators’ modular architecture enables modelling of the services to be orchestrated to utilize reusable building blocks, allowing service providers to accelerate deployment, ensure consistency, and achieve repeatable success across multiple domains (e.g., IP transport, cloud). 

The modeling approach (along with CI/CD tools for it) lets operators or integrators rapidly create or modify service models to support new offerings, using hierarchical models from high-level service intent down to device-specific intents.  

The platform supports orchestration of orchestrators through that layered building block approach, with out-of-the-box device adapters for common IP devices and pre-built service models for many common IP connectivity services. Adapters can be easily extended or new ones created via well-documented Inmanta SDK. The design clearly separates the service model logic (running in the central orchestrator) from the low-level interactions handled by adapters. This yields a lightweight core and flexibility to integrate any vendor or domain by adding adapters. 

Built on an open-source domain-specific language, the Inmanta Service Orchestrator enables true intent-based orchestration that preserves the desired state of services. rather than relying on workflow orchestration. It emphasizes integration, configurability, and extensibility. The Orchestrator solution can run on Virtual Machines, containers, or Kubernetes without special hardware. Service providers can run it on-premises or in any cloud environment, ensuring long-term adaptability and minimizing vendor lock-in. As a European technology solution, Inmanta complies with EU data protection and sovereignty laws and contributes to European economic growth and skilled job creation. 

Inmanta actively supports its ecosystem by providing a comprehensive suite of open-source templates, tools, and instruments designed to empower partners and users. Notably, the recently developed Inmanta extension for Microsoft Visual Studio Code exemplifies this commitment. These resources enable ecosystem participants to maximize productivity, focus on automation initiatives, and streamline operational workflows more efficiently. 

How Tieto Tech Consulting Services Drive Success in Service Orchestration 

Comprehensive Advisory and Integration 

Tieto Tech Consulting helps Clients to build a clear automation roadmap by assessing their current architecture and identifying business value opportunities through orchestration. Advisory services guide the transition from legacy workflows to intent-based models. 

High-Performance Service model software with Reusable Building Blocks 

Tieto Tech Consulting develops high-performance software, including service models and adapters, specifically for the Inmanta orchestrator. These modular, reusable building blocks accelerate time-to-market and reduce maintenance burdens.  

Based on our extensive telecommunication domain knowledge, our teams can quickly and accurately identify client challenges and transform them into high-quality service models and solutions, enabling clients to harvest the desired business value.  

Projects can be delivered as turn-key solutions or hybrid models with customer teams, ensuring transparency and governance. 

 Solution Integration into complete network management environments 

Applying agile working methods and a “test automation first” mindset, Tieto Tech Consulting delivers outstanding solution quality and cost savings. Testing strategies include digital twin environments that simulate multi-vendor networks, layered test automation for service models, adapters, and end-to-end flows, and GitOps pipelines for continuous integration.  

Integration services ensure the seamless incorporation of the Inmanta orchestrator into Business Support Systems, Operation Support Systems, Inventories, and integration into the communications network and its devices. A vendor-neutral approach allows CSPs to avoid lock-in while integrating best-in-class components, including open-source technologies. This flexibility supports heterogeneous environments and scalability. 

 Operational Support and Lifecycle Services 

Tieto Tech Consulting offers full lifecycle support once the solution is live, including maintenance, upgrades, warranties, and operational services. Customers can choose flexible operating models, from shadow mode to fully managed network operations center (NOC) operations with 24/7 coverage and SLA tiers. 

Customer Success Stories 

BICS Cloud Connect Portal 

BICS, a leading international carrier, sought to expand its cloud connectivity offerings by simplifying the resource-heavy leased-line process. Leveraging the Inmanta platform, Tieto Tech Consulting developed the Cloud Connect Portal — a service orchestration solution that automates provisioning across data centers, public clouds, and networks. The impact was significant: BICS reduced the quote-to-bill time from over three days and seven employees to just three minutes, cut operational expenses by more than 70%, and unlocked new revenue streams. 

Data Centre Automation for a Large CSP - ongoing 

A major communications service provider sought to modernize its data center automation, moving away from a legacy workflow-oriented solution. Tieto Tech Consulting, together with Inmanta, are delivering a new intent-based automation platform, enabling increased agility in developing new services and reducing the maintenance burden. This solution helps the CSP improve customer experience by implementing a “first-time-right” approach.  

Conclusion 

The Inmanta Service Orchestrator empowers telecom operators to unlock new service revenues, reduce operational costs, and deliver superior customer experiences. With its intent-based approach, modular architecture, and strong compliance credentials, combined with Tieto Tech Consulting’s comprehensive services, it is a future-ready solution for service orchestration and automation. 

Ready to Transform Your Service Orchestration? 

Contact Tieto Tech Consulting today to discover how our expertise and the Inmanta Service Orchestrator can accelerate your journey toward agile, automated, and future-proof telecom operations. Let’s unlock new value together.