WHITE PAPER
VisionWorks for Lifecycle Service Assurance
As providers adopt virtualization and the technologies it enables such as 5G and IoT, they need to rapidly deploy testing and assurance solutions to address specific needs. Providers must have the flexibility to perform testing and assurance anywhere in the network, at any layer of the protocol stack. New testing and assurance applications need to be deployed in days instead of weeks or months. The applications should be constructed from best-in-breed components that interface with leading open-source initiatives. Perhaps most importantly, the industry needs an ecosystem that collaborates to deliver a rich library of virtual tests based on common, well-defined interfaces.
Working with leading providers and industry groups, Spirent has developed a set of best practices for realizing the promise of NFV, 5G and IoT by automating and unifying testing and assurance across the service lifecycle. We call this approach Lifecycle Service Assurance (LSA) and further sub-divide LSA into three critical testing and assurance workflows: network validation, service testing, and operational assurance.
To apply LSA principles in production networks, Spirent created VisionWorks, a suite of components for unified service assurance of mobile, fixed, and transport services and hybrid physical / virtual networks. VisionWorks consists of a set of open components: VisionWorks Analytics, VisionWorks Controller, and VisionWorks Active Test Agents. VisionWorks components may be deployed independently or may be used as building blocks to form solutions targeting specific use cases as indicated below.
This whitepaper gives an overview of VisionWorks and explores how its components may be used as building blocks to create LSA solutions targeting specific use cases. The whitepaper also explains the benefits associated with VisionWorks deployments with actual customers. This whitepaper is a companion to Transforming for NFV, 5G and IoT: The Need for Lifecycle Service Assurance, which details the challenges associated with NFV, 5G and IoT transformations and LSA principles for addressing these challenges.
Download the White Paper
