xHaul is a unified fronthaul and backhaul network infrastructure. It creates a common packet-based transport network for flexible, software-defined reconfiguration of network elements within a unified, service-oriented management environment. Mobile operators, such as Telefónica, are deploying xHaul transport architectures that comply with O-RAN specifications to quickly and cost-effectively reconfigure and share the network, accelerating the delivery of 5G services.

“Keysight’s 5G testing tools enable Telefónica’s Open Testing and Integration Centre (OTIC) to characterize xHaul transport links according to the O-RAN WG9 test specifications and advance its O-RAN xHaul interoperability testing plans,” said Scott Bryden, vice president and general manager of the Communications Solutions Group at Keysight. “Keysight’s solutions for emulating real-world Ethernet traffic conditions facilitate the verification of the functionality and reliability of the O-RAN xHaul transport architecture.”

The two companies have collaborated at global Plugfestsorganized by the O-RAN Alliance to verify the integration of multi-vendor network functions and compliance with O-RAN specifications. At the 3rd^Global solutions Keysight Open RAN Architect (KORA) to conduct rigorous testing under real-world conditions, critical for the successful end-to-end integration of O-RAN equipment before deployment in live networks.

“By working with Keysight, Telefónica is demonstrating its commitment to deploying open network solutions,” said Jesús Folgueira, Senior Director of Transport and IP at Telefónica. “Validating the O-RAN xHaul transport link is critical for successful open RAN deployments.”

The demonstration of the O-RAN xHaul transport link used the following Keysight 5G testing tools:

• Novus – a high-speed, high-density Ethernet testing solution with sufficient capacity to carry the full bandwidth of the ports concurrently and full capacity for complete performance evaluation on wired platforms.
• IxNetwork – generates Ethernet-based traffic flows determined by user applications and realistic scenarios to test transport links and network functions within functional network virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) architectures.
• Network Emulator II – a precision testing instrument for accurately emulating network conditions such as adding variable delay, latency, jitter, and losses to a live local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN).