Spirent Communications says that it has already closed more than 100 5G deals this year, in a reflection of just how fast the next generation of wireless technology is moving into deployment — and that service assurance is being built-in from the earliest days.
“If you took the industry’s pulse early last year, all eyes were on 2020 for mass movement in 5G, but those timetables have been turned on their heads as operators navigate an expanding set of market dynamics that demand speed and scale,” said Spirent Head of 5G Steve Douglas in a statement.
Spirent said it is currently “engaged in more than 150 global 5G initiatives with a broad mix of operators, device makers, network equipment manufacturers, academic institutions, government and cloud providers” and that around half of its 5G business is in Asia.
The network assurance and analytics company also offered up some of the rationale with which its customers are approaching 5G.
Large operators, Spirent said, “view 5G as a multi-pronged answer to a range of competitive challenges on the horizon. Smaller operators have taken note and are exploring hybrid approaches that see implementation of a 5G core while continuing to operate 4G radios. A major deal driver for Spirent has been the need to test transport networks for high capacities as global markets eye more near-term commercial deployments.”
Spirent added that it is “seeing requests for the first real stress testing of edge clouds,” with commercial deployments expected in 2020, and that it is “managing requirements for video and QoS testing in a world where content is overwhelmingly not optimized for 5G networks. This requires the creation of optimized testing that can be hosted and tested as operators eye the delivery of commercial video service as a future market brimming with opportunity.”
“For as much traction as we’re seeing, this is really just the tip of the iceberg,” said Douglas. “5G brings with it, as we expected, a host of opportunities and our focus is on staying several steps ahead with the testing, assurance and security solutions that help our customers confidently go to market at scale.”
Watch a recent interview with Douglas below:
