Viavi Solutions partnered with Calnex Solutions on open radio access network (RAN) test solutions across protocol, signal, and timing domains.

Network synchronization and emulation firm Calnex will provide specialist hardware in the tie up, spanning open radio unit (O-RU) and open distributed unit (O-DU) synchronization, fronthaul and midhaul impairment emulation, and core network emulation for backhaul validation.

Viavi brings its testing hardware and software, made up of the TM500 network tester, XEdge monitoring suite, and TeraVM network traffic generator.

Aimed at manufacturers of O-RU, O-DU, and open centralized unit (O-CU) kit, the ready-to-use testbeds were claimed to simplify open RAN testing for precertification validation.

Features include an end-to-end and cybersecurity test solution for fronthaul and midhaul, and an O-RU and O-DU test solution supporting S-plane testing, which verifies the network's ability to synchronize timing between the two open components.

The integrated solutions were said to complete O-RAN Alliance and 3GPP conformance testing, covering WG4, WG5, and TIFG specifications while accurately emulating real-world network conditions such as jitter and delay.

This setup was reported to enable advanced use cases including multicell handovers, supported by root-cause analysis and security vulnerability testing across all open RAN components.

Viavi's Calnex partnership follows a recent colocation integration into its open RAN test service.

That integration saw Viavi's Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR) updated with a colocation lab to address increased demand for comprehensive testing from open RAN customers. With the update, VALOR users could access the lab for a longer period and conduct comprehensive testing throughout the product lifecycle with a semi-permanent setup.