Frederick, United States – Spirent Communications plc., a provider of test and assurance solutions for next generation devices and networks, has announced its release of end-to-end, O-DU, and RIC testing, completing its O-RAN test solution portfolio. Building upon its previously available O-CU and O-RU test solutions, Spirent now offers the O-RAN testing, a move that will help accelerate widespread O-RAN adoption. Spirent’s testing approach and 5G ecosystem expertise will ensure O-RAN functionality, interoperability, and field-ready performance.
“O-RAN has great potential to introduce new use cases and innovation while lowering costs, but only if its performance and business model deliver as promised,” says James Kimery, VP of product management for Spirent’s lifecycle service assurance business. “With all the opportunity O-RAN has unlocked, it’s made testing more complex than traditional RAN approaches and placed a greater testing burden downstream to carriers and network operators who must integrate various vendor systems.
“That’s why we’ve focused on offering a simplified and automated approach with fully integrated solutions, pre-built test cases, and centralised control via one user interface, regardless of the type of test performed,” explains Kimery. “Additionally, our O-RAN solutions cover today’s established industry standard testing and push beyond to ensure the requirements for superior carrier-grade, production-ready criteria are met to ensure deployment success.”
Spirent’s O-RAN portfolio provides the following:
- Multi-vendor interoperability and advanced performance testing using real-time emulation – Spirent offers the thorough, reliable, and realistic testing using test portfolios and real-time (bi-directional) emulation, which most accurately reflects a live, real-world O‑RAN environment.
- Automation – Spirent’s O-RAN solutions provide pre-built test libraries across performance, resiliency, security, compliance, and more with a fully integrated system with open APIs. Additionally, the solution is designed to plug-and-play into any automation pipeline.
- Single user experience – O-RAN testing requires a variety of testing and emulation approaches, which Spirent has integrated into the industry’s only system managed through a single user experience, regardless of the testing type being executed.
“The complexity of Open RAN and 5G require new automated testing methodologies that validate real-world performance and robustness,” says Caroline Gabriel, research director at Analysys Mason. “Spirent’s O-RAN portfolio provides comprehensive, integrated solutions that are specifically designed and tailored for functional and performance testing of the multi-vendor RAN.”
As a well-established Spirent customer, Mavenir was an early purchaser of Spirent’s O-RAN solutions. “Spirent is a key contributor to Mavenir’s success in validating our Open RAN components are market-ready,” says John Baker, SVP of business development at Mavenir. “Spirent provides the real-time and real-world emulation capabilities we require to feel confident pre-deployment and we look forward to continued collaboration for successful future rollouts.”
“Emulation comes to the forefront as a critical technology of any O-RAN testbed. Spirent is the market leader in real-time emulation, from the 5G Core, to individual O-RAN components, to the RF environment. Functional and performance tests of any of these components must have real emulation in real-time, at performance and at scale. Combined with industry-leading automation through a simplified user interface, this comprehensive O-RAN portfolio reduces test time while increasing test coverage and enabling CI/CD processes,” says Kimery.
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