The evolution of artificial intelligence is transforming how networks are provisioned, monitored, and troubleshot. Terms like autonomous networks are gaining more attention today. This development is mainly seen in individual entities, such as a controller capable of generating network configurations for multiple devices simultaneously or analyzing thousands of log lines to detect failures and fix them. A reliable controller that can handle these complex tasks requires robust protocols and a feature set that supports standardized machine-to-machine communication, enabling the collection of device status and telemetry, the implementation of device configurations, and real-time path computations and optimizations.
This year, in the orchestration and automation test area, we focused specifically on protocols such as NETCONF, which enables model-driven network device provisioning and Configuration; gNMI for telemetry; and PCEP for centralized path computation, reporting, and optimization. Seven leading vendors were involved in the testing: Arista, Ciena, Cisco, HPE, Keysight, Nokia, and ZTE.
In this event, we initially covered the main functionalities, including computing a path using either SR-TE or SR-Policy, signaling the computed path via PCEP or BGP-SR, and reporting the path via PCEP. These tests are crucial for new participant vendors in this area. In the advanced tests, we verified digital twin tests for the first time. The controller was able to simulate a network change before it was implemented on the real network.
The figure below illustrates the devices used by participants and the test bed for automation and orchestration testing.

The following test cases have been executed for this test area: