Spirent Communications has announced the introduction of cloud-native function (CNF) resiliency testing to its Spirent Landslide solution, aimed at assessing the impact of CNF performance on the delivery of 5G Standalone services. This development is intended to address the needs of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Network Equipment Manufacturers (NEMs) as they transition to cloud-native environments.
The 5G standalone core leverages service-based architecture and integrates both public and private clouds to support quick time-to-market and scalable network operations. However, this transition presents a series of new challenges for service providers due to the disaggregated and distributed architecture of 5G, which fosters a dynamic multi-cloud and multivendor ecosystem.
According to Anil Kollipara, Vice President of Automated Test & Assurance Product Management at Spirent, integration and interoperability across the 5G network now require addressing the complexity involved in incorporating new cloud infrastructures and virtual network functions with legacy systems and processes. Kollipara noted, "The need for integration and interoperability across the 5G network means not only dealing with the complexity of how to incorporate new cloud infrastructures and virtual network functions with legacy systems and processes, but also how to test and optimize the performance of these new distributed infrastructures to ensure that they will all work together as they should."
Kollipara elaborated that cloud-native environments demand entirely new processes to achieve operational benefits and efficiencies, with each CNF possessing unique performance expectations. "Adding cloud resiliency testing to Landslide’s already considerable testing and validation capabilities will help network service providers more easily tackle the challenges of embracing new cloud environments to deliver the high-quality 5G services that end users are demanding," Kollipara added.
Patrick Kelly, Founder and Principal Analyst at Appledore Research, commented on the importance of this enhancement. He stated, "Spirent Landslide's CNF resiliency testing introduces a vital advancement in core 5G testing for mobile operators tackling the intricacies of 5G standalone and advanced networks. This enhancement streamlines complex pre-test and post-deployment procedures, optimizing 5G services to ensure high performance and reliability in the ever-evolving CNF environment."
Spirent Landslide is reportedly the only solution that can generate real-world 5G traffic and impair the 5G cloud core simultaneously to assess and correlate its impact on 5G services. This capability is crucial given the tendency for failures in cloud deployments, making it necessary for CNFs to be designed to be resilient to avoid serious consequences on 5G service quality.
With traditional approaches, MNOs and NEMs have often relied on manual testing processes and self-developed automation scripts. These methods result in inefficiencies and increased complexity in testing. Additionally, ambiguity concerning ownership of 5G services within CNF environments is becoming a significant issue for service providers, necessitating a fundamental shift in testing practices from reliability-focused legacy networks to resilient and scalable CNF networks.
For service providers, the addition of CNF resiliency testing offers the potential to reduce operational costs while optimising the customer experience in the transition to cloud-native environments. This development positions Spirent Landslide as a comprehensive solution for the evolving requirements of 5G Standalone network testing and optimisation.
