Spirent Communications introduced Spirent Landslide Diameter, a system that tests signaling protocols at scale so carriers can ensure efficient and optimized Diameter services.
Diameter is the signaling method used for authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) in fixed broadband, 3G and 4G/LTE networks, as opposed to Radius, which was the protocol for earlier technologies.
Because so much traffic is being generated on mobile networks, signaling surges or storms arise, creating congestion, service degradation and dropped calls. In order to prevent those events from happening, carriers need to ensure that the data plane is up to the task of supporting all the traffic.
Part of this is making sure their Diameter networks are optimized and aligned with the rollouts of new services and connected devices. Spirent says Landslide Diameter tests the limits of control plane scalability and capacity to ensure that a network is robust even under the most demanding restoration scenarios.
Spirent's test system can be used to simulate real-world traffic scenarios or call models at scale so carriers can see what happens on a node-by-node basis. John Baker, general manager of Spirent's Mobility business unit, told FierceWirelessTech that load testing is especially important now as so many more mobile devices are added to networks and the Internet of Things (IoT) will add millions more. "This gives you true scale," he said.
Landslide is a product that Spirent has offered for a number of years, and it continues to evolve as technologies and markets mature. "We've had a couple applications in the Diameter space but it's really only in the last six months that this has really come to a head as the growth of LTE really starts to take place," he said. "This is a very new challenge to carriers that understand the dynamics here."
"As more operators deploy LTE, VoLTE, and enhanced IP services the amount of Diameter messages within and between operators is growing," said Diane Myers, principal analyst at Infonetics, part of IHS, in the release. "Optimizing the signaling plane has become a necessity. Solutions such as Spirent's Landslide Diameter enable operators to ensure efficient and optimized Diameter signaling."
For more:
- see the press release
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