Ciena’s Blue Planet division is to modernize network operations with the autonomous touch for Japanese operator giant KDDI.

Blue Planet touted its cloud-native automation and network operations capabilities in underpinning KDDI’s autonomous network development, with reusable automation assets and operational blueprints driving internal AI-driven operations for the operator.

The partnership includes consultation and integration work from Accenture, with initial trials conducted in KDDI and Accenture laboratory environments. The demos leveraged Blue Planet’s AI Studio and the wider Blue Planet automation suite, including inventory, orchestration, and analytics tools. The firms explored natural language alarm search, enabling the querying of live network data using conversational interfaces; AI-driven alarm prioritization; agentic closed-loop fault remediation; and automated service life cycle management across various domains.

The multi-year program will start with KDDI’s fixed-network operations and expand into the mobile network in 2028. Joe Cumello, EVP and GM for Blue Planet, described KDDI as taking “a deliberate, data-first approach to autonomous networks.”

“With support from Blue Planet and a common data foundation, KDDI is creating the visibility, automation, and intelligence to move forward on its autonomous network journey and deliver better outcomes for customers,” Cumello added.

“KDDI is committed to shaping and leading the future of intelligent, autonomous networks,” Toshio Kato, GM for KDDI's Advanced Platform Development Division, noted. “We want to scale AI operations safely bearing in mind the unique requirements of Japan’s network environment, and this standardized model with Accenture and Blue Planet gives us the confidence to continue our AI momentum at scale.”

KDDI’s autonomous evolution to date has seen it conduct various AI-driven field trials. A collaboration with Ericsson from this year hinged around rApps for AI-powered uplink optimization, and reportedly marked the first live use in Japan of Ericsson’s Intelligent Automation Platform (EIAP).

Elsewhere, the Japanese operator launched a joint initiative with partners including Nvidia and Samsung exploring digital twins to test AI-driven optimization and autonomous network operations for the 6G era.

Recent research from SNS Telecom & IT predicted a 9% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) increase in AI-RAN automation/optimization spending by 2030, as well as a 4% CAGR jump for the wider RAN automation market. Analysts also claimed several operators have collectively seen a 60% reduction in cell outages as part of level-four (L4) autonomous network operations.