AI marks an inflection point for the networking industry, and it is changing how operators manage large, complex networks. In this video, Mike Thompson, VP, Head of Network Automation Product Management at Nokia, explains how Nokia approaches agentic operations, where autonomous AI agents receive a goal, perceive their environment, plan and act, and continuously iterate.

Thompson starts by defining what an AI agent is. He then turns to what operators want from AI in network operations, drawing on recent Appledore Research findings, and to where the industry stands on the TM Forum Autonomous Network Levels framework. He also covers why data quality is foundational to AI, how operators balance large language model performance against token costs at scale, and how Nokia’s Network Services Platform (NSP) extends across multi-vendor, multi-domain and multi-layer environments. The video shows how co-pilots, purpose-built agents and a new AIOps Command Center fit into the platform, and it outlines how Nokia aims to help operators move toward higher levels of network autonomy with lower risk.

• What defines an AI agent and how agentic operations apply to network management
• Which outcomes operators prioritize for AI, from faster repair times to fewer truck rolls
• How the TM Forum Level 0–5 framework maps the journey to autonomous networks
• Why curated, unified data is essential before AI delivers value
• How operators weigh LLM choices from Google, Anthropic and OpenAI against cost and performance
• The role of MCP and A2A interfaces in Nokia’s agent framework
• How NSP supports intent-based automation across multi-vendor IP and optical networks
• What the AIOps Command Center brings to troubleshooting and natural language queries

CHAPTERS:
0:00:00 – Introduction: AI as an Inflection Point in Network Management
0:00:37 – Defining AI Agents and Agentic Operations
0:01:23 – Customer Priorities for AI in Network Operations
0:02:07 – TMF Forum Autonomous Network Levels Framework
0:03:00 – Nokia’s Approach: Data Foundations, Agent Frameworks, and LLM Choices
0:05:15 – Network Services Platform Capabilities and Multi-Vendor Support
0:06:21 – AIOps Agentic Framework, Co-Pilots, and Command Center
0:07:35 – Reference Architecture Alignment and Autonomous Networking Use Cases
0:09:38 – Summary: The Path to Autonomous Networking

Check out our #AI in Networking report and more videos here: https://ngi.fyi/ainetwork26yt

Want to be involved our video series? Contact info@nextgeninfra.io
https://ngi.fyi/ainetwork26-nokia-mike-dc