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7 |
At the 2026 edition of EANTC’s multi-vendor cloud & transport networks interoperability test, we have focused on end-to-end use case test scenarios explicitly for the first time. These use case scenarios aim to provide service providers with a 360-degree, best practices view of network services aligned with real-world implementations. In the 5G xHaul scenario, participating vendors have demonstrated all required network functions operating together and well aligned. The focus was on interworking between SRv6 and SR-MPLS, on maintaining consistent timing, adequate network service behavior, and correct traffic handling under realistic conditions such as congestion. This reflects the type of coordinated operation required in environments where multiple services with different priorities share the same infrastructure. |
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8 |
At this interop event, we turned towards the shift to AI-workload-driven network behavior. These workloads introduce large-scale distributed processing spanning data centers and transport networks with challenging performance and reliability requirements. While our interop tests focus on functional evaluation, supporting AI traffic patterns requires controlled traffic steering, scalable routing, and stable convergence solutions. AI fabric performance and scalability evaluations are left to vendor-specific EANTC reports. |
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9 |
With AI workloads in mind, we introduced Ultra Ethernet (UEC) testing for the first time. Vendor support is still limited – kudos to Arista and Keysight who pioneered this area! We aim for comprehensive UEC coverage soon. |
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10 |
Vendors publish many Autonomous Networks Level 4 (AN L4) achievements lately, marking a strong move of the industry towards automated provisioning, troubleshooting, and network optimization. All of these announcements are single-vendor-based, and many are based on paperwork self-assessments only, without real certification testing and particularly without independent assessments. In terms of honest marketing, we consider our multi-vendor digital twin simulation tests a pioneering initiative at EANTC. The results prove that there is a multi-vendor, standards-based path for Ans towards predictive, model-driven, automated operations. |
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11 |
Sometimes, with all the advanced testing going on, we forget that the migration from MPLS to modern transport networks is still underway at full scale in many operator networks. We continue to focus on interoperability testing for traffic-engineering route summarization, multidomain interworking, path computation, and multicast forwarding, which receive a lot of attention from operators or have been newly developed in our main testing areas: Segment routing, EVPN, Time Synchronization, and Orchestration and Automation. |
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12 |
At EANTC, we feel it is a privilege to continue our successful interop testing series with all participating vendors. The joint efforts align well with the industry’s fast pace on network support for application-specific AI and automated network solutions. In forthcoming events, we plan to expand on network automation, modeling, and end-to-end use case validation to meet industry demands for a scalable and interoperable use-case-ready core, aggregation, data center, and access network. |
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