s teams perform. The operations role becomes more closely aligned to that of a traditional software company, such as Google or Facebook. However, there still remains a very strong role for networking expertise as the applications running on the "cloud" are network functions that provide networking capabilities and leverage networking protocols. As network functions are virtualized and use a common hardware platform, there is a single operations team that is responsible for the hardware across different network functions. This con- trasts with physical network elements where, given the complexity of typical hardware-based net- work functions, operations teams were often dedicated to specific network element types from Network Operations specific vendors. If, for example, a carrier had a dual vendor policy, supporting two different ven- dors for a given network function would often result in having two distinct and dedicated teams supporting each given type of network element from each vendor. Similarly, as VNFs become more like "cattle" rather than "pets," such that different network functions from different vendors lever- age common interfaces, alarm types and generate similar logs, then operations personnel and teams will be more readily able to work across different types of network functions from different vendors. This will reduce the number of operations teams required, with a corresponding reduction in the number of teams engaged in complex, cross-element troubleshooting calls. Fewer teams should also translate to faster resolution of these complex issues. SDN also promises to allow us to collapse network layers (e.g., IP and optical), with corresponding integration of the operations teams. As automation continues to advance through ONAP and beyond, lower operational tiers (tier 1, tier 2) will continue to be reduced and/or eliminated entirely. Tasks previously performed by humans will be handled by ONAP and other automation. The introduction of NFV is also reduc- ing the need for onsite work forces and rap