Mobile Network Testing for the Evolution to 5G

The Lab-to-Live white paper, produced in partnership with Appledore Research, explores the critical shift required for modern networks to adopt a seamless testing and deployment approach. As cloud-native networks become central to enabling scalable, resilient, and agile infrastructure, traditional testing methods can no longer keep up. Lab-to-Live is a holistic strategy that integrates lab testing, network deployment, and operational monitoring into a unified lifecycle, fostering continuous improvement and stronger collaboration across development and operations. __Key takeaways__ from this research emphasize the importance of agile testing environments and proactive monitoring for cloud-native network resilience. With networks increasingly defined by software-driven applications, ensuring reliability involves rapid fault recovery and a shift from hardware-based resilience to software-based fault tolerance. This approach leverages continuous testing and visibility across all network components to proactively address failures, optimize resource usage, and support multi-vendor environments.

The surge of AI and cloud computing has catapulted Ethernet into the forefront of networking innovation, driving demand for faster, more efficient high-speed Ethernet solutions. As organizations scale their infrastructures to support these emerging technologies, the need for robust, future-proof Ethernet solutions is more critical than ever. This __Spirent Impact Report__ provides valuable insights into the rapidly evolving high-speed Ethernet (HSE) market, covering the latest trends, demand drivers, and technological advancements shaping the data center, telecom, and enterprise networking landscapes. The report highlights the transformative role that AI is playing in Ethernet's evolution and how hyperscalers, service providers, and enterprises are adapting to meet the challenge.

Everything about 5G networks is bigger. For 4G, a large national provider might have a network topology with ten physical data centers. Mobile core functions deployed at these locations represent the edge of the mobile network – the point at which core networks interface with radio networks via IP aggregation and backhaul networks. While expensive, for 4G, a service provider could deploy service assurance probes at each of these locations to effectively monitor all user traffic and signaling.