Testing and assurance company Spirent Communications announced that it will collaborate with China Mobile to assure readiness of mission-critical 5G applications via network slicing transport standard testing and validation.
In a release, Spirent Communications said that the newly-launched Spirent FlexE-100 test module has been chosen by the Chinese carrier to test functional and performance aspects related to 5G transport Slicing Packet Network (SPN).
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.”
Spirent highlighted that 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.
Standards-based testing for SPN validates use cases, technologies and solutions prior to deployment, improving interoperability, the company added. Spirent’s FlexE-100 test module will be utilized to test the functional, performance and specification aspects related to 5G transport SPN.
Spirent added that its 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, GMof 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.”
China Mobile recently said it already provides 5G services in 50 cities across China. The telco had launched commercial 5G services last year following the Chinese government’s decision to award 5G licenses.
According to a recent report by China Daily, China Mobile aims to end 2020 with a total of 70 million 5G users, with a planned investment of CNY20 billion ($2.85 billion).
China Mobile is working with Huawei, Nokia, Ericsson and ZTE in the deployment of its 5G network. According to a previous report published by the South China Morning Post, China Mobile has awarded half of its 5G network equipment contracts to Huawei Technologies.
