Key Huawei 5G technologies pass European testing

Huawei's 5G key technologies of CloudMetro solution recently passed rigorous testing by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC), an internationally recognized independent test center. This indicates that Huawei's 5G transport of CloudMetro solution is ready for commercial use.

Huawei's CloudMetro solution embodies three essential concepts: simplified architecture, simplified protocols, and simplified O&M. The simplified architecture concept is reflected in the decoupling of service and transport layers. This allows the service layer to focus on agility and innovation, while the transport layer can focus on stability and reliability, elastic network expansion, and network programmability. The simplified protocols concept is reflected in the replacement of traditional network protocols with EVPN and SR. This not only lowers maintenance requirements and costs but also enables smooth protocol evolution. The simplified O&M concept is reflected in automated and visualized management of the full network lifecycle. This covers network planning, design, implementation, O&M, and optimization. 5G transport is one of important scenarios of CloudMetro, and EANTC carefully considered the preceding points during its testing of Huawei's CloudMetro solution.

In the test, Huawei used its 5G transport series products for networking to achieve line-rate forwarding with ultra-low latency (15 µs per hop) at a transmission distance of 40 km. The test result shows that Huawei's 5G transport of CloudMetro solution can provide service access through 10GE and 25GE interfaces, and the 50GE and 100GE access rings meet the requirements for low-cost network construction and subsequent smooth evolution.

Huawei has proposed a smooth protocol evolution solution for traffic carried through MPLS tunnels on the live network. This solution replaces RSVP-TE/LDP with SR and interconnects EVPN with MPLS VPN. The test result shows that no packet loss occurs after traffic is switched to SR tunnels for transmission. This future-oriented continuous evolution maximizes operators' return on investment (ROI).

Automated O&M is a key feature of the CloudMetro solution, covering network visualization, service automation, and intelligent O&M. In terms of network visualization, NCE displays detailed information about microburst traffic based on traffic statistics collected by Telemetry, enabling real-time perception of network resources. In terms of service automation, NCE supports one-click deployment of SR and EVPN, intelligent path selection based on a maximum of nine constraints, and 360-degree service visualization, enabling automated service provisioning in minutes. In terms of intelligent O&M, NCE uses online what-if analysis to simulate migration scenarios based on historical data and predict appropriate maintenance windows, and automatically adjusts and restores service traffic.

Huawei uses network slicing to meet the diversified SLA requirements of different metro network services. The interface channelization function covered in this test helps isolate services between different slices. A slice can be flexibly created and adjusted at a bandwidth granularity of 1 Gbit/s. Interface channelization allows one network to serve multiple purposes, maximizing the network value. Unlike FlexE, which has to provide network slicing based on hardware, interface channelization can provide network slicing through software upgrade.

Carsten Rossenhoevel, CTO of EANTC, said: "We evaluated a wide range of functions of Huawei's CloudMetro solution. We can confirm that Huawei's 5G transport series products are getting ready to meet the challenges of metro network cloudification. Huawei's support in the ultra-broadband sector, in slicing, in the evolution from MPLS to next-generation transport, and in the management and analysis functions is really great."

The test result highlights Huawei CloudMetro’s innovation capabilities in metro network evolution and 5G transport. Huawei will continue to provide leading products and solutions to help global operators achieve business success through digital transformation.

Link of EANTC 5G transport testing report: www.eantc.de/de/public-reports.html

This release was first published 12 September 2018 by Huawei.