ZSM

ZSM is ETSI's blueprint for running networks with as little manual touch as possible. The "zero-touch" name is aspirational — the realistic goal is to automate the routine operational loop so humans handle exceptions and intent, not day-to-day firefighting. It defines a reference architecture built around management domains, each with its own closed-loop, plus an end-to-end domain that coordinates across them.

The mechanism that makes it tick is the closed loop: monitor, analyse, decide, act, repeat, with AI/ML doing the heavy lifting in the analyse-and-decide stages. ZSM also leans hard on open, model-driven interfaces so multi-vendor environments can actually interoperate, which is usually where automation efforts die in practice. It's a framework rather than a product — you implement it with tools like NWDAF, orchestrators, and AIOps platforms — and it tends to come up alongside intent-based networking, which provides the high-level goals those loops are trying to satisfy.