Spirent and China Mobile Collaborate to Address Mission-Critical SPN/MTN 5G Testing

Spirent Communications, the trusted provider of test, measurement, assurance and analytics solutions for next-generation devices and networks, today announced that it will collaborate with China Mobile to assure readiness of mission-critical 5G applications via network slicing transport standard testing and validation. The newly-launched Spirent FlexE-100 test module has been chosen to test functional and performance aspects related to 5G transport SPN (Slicing Packet Network).

Commenting on the next-generation network testing work, Li Han, Vice Director of the Department of Network and IT Technology Research at the China Mobile Research Institute, said: “As operators, network equipment manufacturers and chip suppliers are developing SPN/MTN-enabled products, and exploring and expanding their applications in various scenarios, China Mobile has deployed 5G commercial SPN transport, providing reliable SLA for different 5G applications through multi-layer network slicing. We are pleased that Spirent launched the FlexE-100 test module on its flagship Spirent TestCenter platform and look forward to continuing our cooperation on SPN/MTN testing and use case development, with the goal of driving the commercial deployment of 5G transport network.”

SPN has been accepted by the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) for further work towards the G.mtn (Metro Transport Network) standard series, which provides an end-to-end transport network architecture that enables network slicing to meet the most demanding requirements of 5G applications. These standards are essential to successful deployment of ultra-reliable low-latency, high bandwidth, massive, scalable 5G services. Standards-based testing for SPN validates use cases, technologies and solutions prior to deployment, improving interoperability. Spirent’s FlexE-100 test module will be utilized to test the functional, performance and specification aspects related to 5G transport SPN.

Spirent is first to market with its comprehensive, end-to-end 5G transport and network slicing testing solution, which addresses the challenges of 5G transport by offering scalable protocol emulation and L2-L7 traffic generation over the slicing channel layer. It provides comprehensive feature support, unmatched scalability and the highest port density and forwarding performance. Spirent’s solution expands SPN network slicing test capabilities to help ensure the diverse bandwidth, latency, security and time synchronization required by 5G applications.

“Spirent is a pioneer in providing innovative test solutions for new technologies and we will continue to invest in solutions that support the development of the 5G network and assure the promise of services delivered over it,” said Abhitesh Kastuar, General Manager of Cloud and IP at Spirent. “Spirent has a long-standing relationship with China Mobile, having worked together on 3G, 4G LTE and now 5G technology testing, product validation and deployment. Spirent will support China Mobile to test all aspects of 5G and accelerate the deployment of SPN/MTN technology.”

Spirent’s FlexE-100 solution is the world’s highest density FlexE 100GBASE-R PHY tester. It is designed for validating next-generation Flex Ethernet supported routers and data center fabrics to promote the deployment of FlexE technology in data centers, MAN, as well as for validating SPN/MTN network devices to enable channel switching and network slicing in the 5G transport network.