Our message at Connected Britain: Streamlined infrastructure management could be closer than you think

In the United Kingdom, network infrastructure is evolving toward greater decentralization. Some of the driving factors are the growth of standalone 5G, which impacts base stations and towers, and cloud migration to the network edge, which distributes assets to sites across the country. As a result, data centers need to be built in new geographies where power and water are available.

With this evolution in mind, a variety of organizations across the United Kingdom are seeking ways to make their network infrastructure management more efficient in both financial and operational terms, part of an industry-wide trend driving the worldwide network infrastructure management market to reach an estimated $230.82 billion by 2030, according to the Business Research Group.

It’s also raising many questions about how to manage network infrastructure. One place to find answers is at Connected Britain (September 9-10, ExCel London), the UK’s leading digital economy event.

With the most important companies in network automation in attendance, Connected Britain provides an important forum for discussion around connectivity, infrastructure, AI and digital transformation. The event brings together network operators and infrastructure organizations, but also government, technology companies and organizations involved in the broader digital economy.

I will be attending Connected Britain to share how Rakuten Symphony has helped organizations worldwide address infrastructure management challenges in some of the most complex and distributed operational environments.

Modern infrastructure requires a digital-first approach

Network operations staff have long known that developing and updating a static site inventory of systems and equipment in a spreadsheet or on paper makes it harder and more expensive to make changes. The goal of adding infrastructure management should be to minimize truck rolls and right-size operations staff to reduce network operating costs while improving operational capabilities.

Rakuten Site Management is an AI-powered infrastructure management platform that provides a centralized, accurate view of physical assets and operations across distributed environments.

The platform can be tailored to a variety of use cases, including:

• ‍Tower infrastructure management: Rakuten Site Management digitizes the existing infrastructure inventory and automates the entire site lifecycle, from deployment through ongoing operations to eventual retirement. The software provides a “source of truth” that catalogs all of the assets across the network, allowing for 40% faster issue resolution, 28.6% better ROI and 35% energy savings. Tower operators can maximize the space at their tower locations, setting the stage for those sites to generate additional revenue by leasing more tower space.‍
• Data center digital twins: Building digital twin systems to manage mission-critical systems provide a “source of truth” for data center operators to quickly diagnose and resolve issues with server performance, power consumption, and other issues before they impact customers. Using Rakuten Site Management to create the digital twin ensures every rack, circuit and connection can be validated instantly for fast deployment readiness. ‍
• Electric vehicle infrastructure: This is a relatively new use case, but it’s growing quickly as more companies operate nationwide networks of EV charging locations. These networks have the same need for a dynamic catalog of equipment and systems.  With Rakuten Site Manager, charging station network planners get better planning, launching and ongoing use of the EV charging infrastructure. Rakuten Site Manager enables EV site management with a connected, data-driven workflow.

Let's connect at Connected Britain

If you’re attending Connected Britain and looking for practical ways to improve infrastructure visibility, operational efficiency, and asset performance, I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you. My colleague Huseyin Muratoglu, who will be joining me, brings expertise in OSS, automation and network operational efficiency.

To schedule a meeting, please send a request via this link or connect with me on LinkedIn.