The businesses have developed an automatic software program testing platform that can permit the service to swiftly take a look at and deploy software program releases and companies to its pan-European voice core infrastructures
In sum — what to know:
An built-in take a look at answer: Vodafone has tapped Spirent to collectively develop a take a look at automation platform for testing and validating all software program, options releases, and updates to its voice core infrastructure
A totally automated pipeline: Operating on high of an infrastructure spanning 160 nodes, the answer is totally automated and can all through Vodafone’s lab-to-live lifecycle course of.
Early exams present promise: In keeping with Vodafone, early implementations present 75% discount in software program improve rollout instances to its voice core infrastructure.
Telecom networks are complexly interconnected. A neighborhood failure rising from a single level can strike distant elements of a community, degrading service high quality throughout swathes of customers.
The rising dependence on software program makes the system even simpler to interrupt. Each small change made to a software program can doubtlessly introduce information bugs. A catastrophic failure can merely stem from a fleet of community tools ready to obtain a delayed software program replace, or from receiving a buggy one.
Vodafone and Spirent are working collectively to deal with this vulnerability. The businesses have co-developed a bespoke automated software program validation platform for testing a soon-to-launch Vodafone voice service, that can guarantee high quality and compliance of all software program, software program launch, and updates to Vodafone’s 5G voice core community in Europe.
In keeping with Vodafone, the testing platform allows swift verification and validation of software program updates pushed by 5G tools distributors in its ecosystem earlier than they’re deployed into manufacturing. This permits the service to deploy new options and updates from distributors in addition to pump out new companies of its personal to prospects a lot quicker than was earlier potential.
Key capabilities embody speedy testing, high quality checks, and automatic CI/CD workflow. “Spirent’s answer is a brand new method of making an automation pipeline, which incorporates the idea of testing the community comprehensively earlier than something is deployed,” stated a spokesperson for Spirent.
Operating on a 160-node infrastructure, the automated software program testing answer is built-in into Vodafone’s present steady integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipeline to ship uninterrupted testing on condensed timelines.
Below the hood, the platform leverages three of Spirent’s key applied sciences: Landslide, for emulating and testing the involved service; Velocity automation portfolio, which is constructed into the CI/CD/CT course of and initiates and executes a number of pipelines 24×7; and VisionWorks that creates a delivery certificates for the service and/or community operate when its deployed into manufacturing, after which switches to a efficiency monitoring mode to guarantee the service over time.
The platform is totally automated and requires no handbook intervention, Spirent informed. It sits within the buyer surroundings, and as a brand new software program hundreds or a software program replace comes by means of, it fires off a set of smaller pipelines that does several types of checks on auto-pilot.
“What if you happen to’re operating exams for a sure service and one thing breaks? What occurs subsequent by way of assortment of artifacts and sharing that info with the precise groups to get it mounted? All of these issues are carried out as a number of pipelines throughout the complete automation framework, eliminating any guesswork and shortening response time,” they defined.
Embedded into Vodafone’s lab-to-live lifecycle workflow, it’s going to automate deployment of latest software program releases each three months, as timed by distributors in most markets.
Vodafone claims that the platform makes it potential to roll out new software program upgrades in simply days — a course of that sometimes spans months. In its early implementations, the corporate reported a 75% drop in time to launch new infrastructure software program updates. If that’s correct, this will dramatically save time, permitting upgrades and options to achieve prospects a lot quicker.
The answer, Spirent stated, is nevertheless not unique to Vodafone. The community take a look at and assurance service supplier is actually in talks with a number of prospects presently, and set to launch new packages shortly.
The partnership comes at a time when Vodafone is working to ramp up cloud-native 5G standalone (SA) deployment throughout Europe — an initiative which started in 2021 with the activation of the primary ever 5G SA in Germany, and subsequently expanded to UK., Eire, Italy, Portugal and different elements of Europe. The corporate stated it anticipates a surge in software program releases with its ongoing 5G SA enlargement efforts throughout Europe.
Not like 5G Non-Standalone (NSA), SA runs on a full 5G core which is architected to ship speeds of 150 to 200 Mbps, ultra-low latency, and superior community features like community slicing. Being a extra responsive community than 5G NSA, 5G SA helps a variety of demanding functions like 4K streaming, high-quality video calls, on-line gaming, AR/VR functions, IoT, and industrial automation use circumstances.