Ericsson joined other key industry players in this year’s EANTC interoperability testing event involving network technologies that will bolster the efficiency, flexibility, and scalability of modern transport networks.
EANTC (European Advanced Networking Test Center) is internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading independent test centers for telecom industry players.
The tests focused on addressing the increasing demands of data centers, 5G networks and multi-domain service provider environments for reliable and high-speed connectivity.
Network technologies such as Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6), time synchronization, and Segment Routing Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) could reduce complexity in transport networks, making it easier for communications service providers to manage their networks and improve performance.
The tests have shown the successful compatibility of these transport technologies in multi-vendor environments, covering various services and use cases such as Ethernet Virtual Private Network (EVPN). EVPN is also a tool in the transport network to support Ethernet service in the most efficient operational manner. It also supports multi-homing for finer granularity load sharing as well as increased network resilience and mixture of Ethernet and IP services through integrated routing and bridging model.
Why Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) matters
SRv6 is a network protocol that can provide efficient routing and traffic engineering solutions. It can expedite the delivery of fast and reliable connections for service providers to meet the rising demand for high-speed connectivity while better supporting network slicing and reducing complexity by cutting the number of network protocols. SRv6 will also increase the level of network automation and lower the total cost of ownership.
As standards for SRv6 consolidate, Ericsson’s solution engineering team is developing and testing migration and interworking solutions with core IP leading vendors in the industry. Participation at the EANTC multivendor interoperability testing event with SRv6 is one example of Ericsson’s commitment to this technology.
Mika Heikkinen, Head of Product Line Transport, Ericsson Networks, says: “Ericsson considers Segment Routing IPv6 (SRv6) as a good option for future backhaul networks. It is simpler, more scalable, more flexible and provides native support for network functions. It also has better integration with cloud services. For service providers, deploying Segment Routing will optimize their network performance, minimize costs, and deliver better quality services to their customers.”
How Router 6000 portfolio supports Segment Routing
Ericsson’s Router 6000 portfolio supports end-to-end Segment Routing over MPLS with link-state routing protocol IS-IS and OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) control planes. Traffic Engineering options are also supported.
Ericsson is developing a complete router portfolio that implements SRv6 natively without any performance degradations using the latest generation merchant ASIC chipsets for cell site, pre-aggregation, aggregation, DC gateway and Cloud RAN use cases.
From end of 2022, Ericsson has progressively introduced support for SRv6 on the latest members of its Router 6000 family – Router 6673 and Router 6273. Two new routers unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2023 (Router 6676 and Router 6678) will also support SRv6. These SRv6-capable Router 6000 versions provide a greater degree of future-proofing for service providers, compared to previous generation merchant silicon that does not have official support for SRv6.
Find out more about SRv6 in this blog post.
Notes to Editors
The EANTC interoperability tests took place in March 2023, and the results were presented live at the MPLS SD & AI Net World Congress 2023 held in Paris last April.
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