Modelling operational expenditure savings for the implementation of autonomous networks

Developments in autonomic network management offer many promises, but its economic benefits are hard to assess. This paper proposes a method to calculate the OPEX gains of a typical network on the basis of a scenario, for which a management framework and autonomous mechanisms have been developed. It makes use of a novel approach, a Toy model, taking into account expert opinions as well as simulation results. The new approach allows assessment of the OPEX impact of both individual mechanisms as well as the overall impact, which, in the present scenario results in an expected OPEX saving of 11 to 13 per cent.