to support continuous delivery and integration of new or rapidly changing capabilities, a role commonly referred to as DevOps. Investment to replace current technology infrastructure and refactoring network functions to operate in an automated, closed-loop control platform will require operating in a mixed infrastructure for multiple years. The benefits derived from a successful transformation of operations include reduced costs; reduced cycle time and increased flexibility to use the Network Cloud infrastructure supporting new or rapidly changing demand for services; and an increased utilization of infrastructure that is not dedicated but shared with software service when needed. Operations scenarios that change to realize these benefits include the following: manual admin- istration, configuration, and monitoring of infrastructure or services is highly automated, emer- gency maintenance is replaced by treating faults as a reduction in capacity that can be addressed during normal, periodic upgrades; planning, testing, and turn-up of new capabilities is routine and highly automated through extensive regression tests delivered with software functions; and orga- nizationally the need for staff aligned to particular services is reduced or eliminated and common technical skills can be shared across all services. Chapter 15 describes the challenges, changes, and approach for operating a Network Cloud. Building the Network of the Future Thinking more broadly than network operations and automating or optimizing a task in the next year to other business functions and creating a culture that embraces change, innovates, and continues to create new value, it is important to consider other types of change. As software has transformed other industries, there are examples where major impacts are attributed to a software mentality or discipline that is different than what might exist in a telecom provider culture today. Two examples of what might sustain leadership as a Network Cloud platform provider are empower- ing individua