- The lab is based around HPE 5G portfolio solutions and will include multiple 5G related products and solutions
- By using this HPE 5G Lab, telcos can speed up 5G adoption and access new revenues faster by getting hands-on experience with the latest 5G innovations in a live test environment
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has unveiled the HPE 5G Lab in Fort Collins, Colorado. It provides a test and development environment where telcos and partners can validate and integrate 5G network solutions. It said that by using this HPE 5G Lab, telcos can speed up 5G adoption and access new revenues faster by getting hands-on experience with the latest 5G innovations in a live test environment. This lab has already garnered support from industry leaders including Affirmed Networks, Casa Systems, Intel, Metaswitch, Openet, and Red Hat.
This year, HPE has introduced HPE 5G Core Stack, an open, cloud-native 5G core network software stack and the HPE Resource Aggregator for Open Distributed Infrastructure Management. It had also brought out HPE Edge Orchestrator that enabled telcos to deliver new edge computing services to customers at the edge of telco networks.
Phil Mottram, vice president, and general manager of communications and media solutions at HPE said, “Governments and telecoms operators around the world are looking to open 5G technologies as an opportunity to move away from a number of vendors which have raised fundamental concerns around security, resilience and market diversification. However, despite multiple successful deployments, doubts still persist about the ability of open 5G technologies to truly replace the old way of building networks. With the launch of the HPE 5G Lab, telcos, solution vendors and national stakeholders can test innovative new solutions with confidence and ensure that they are ready for mass adoption
Bring innovation to the previously monolithic cellular network core
The company said that by taking an open approach telcos now have the flexibility to work with practically any independent software vendor (ISV) or best-of-breed solution provider to create tailored networking solutions tuned to specific verticals and use cases. It also added that the initial focus of the HPE 5G Lab will be to bring innovation to the previously monolithic cellular network core. To fully realize the benefits and power of 5G, initial deployments of 5G radio access networks, currently utilizing 4G core infrastructure have to migrate to a standalone 5G core.
This will lead to holistic management, data sharing, and slicing into virtual 5G networks with dedicated usage and characteristics. The HPE 5G Core Stack allows telcos to swap out network functions (NFs) as needed. The HPE 5G Lab enables telcos to test and validate multiple NFs from different vendors whilst relying on HPE for integration with the HPE 5G Core Stack.
The lab is based around HPE 5G portfolio solutions and will include multiple 5G related products and solutions. It will include the HPE 5G Core Stack with the 5G network functions from HPE and our partners, HPE Shared Data Environment (SDE) and orchestration layer. It will also come with the HPE Telco Cloud including industry-standard servers, storage and networking components to run the 5G network, along with cloud and container platform software like HPE Ezmeral Container Platform, RedHat OpenShift, RedHat OpenStack, and VMware Tanzu.
Aruba networking equipment
HPE will stated that it will have HPE Telco Blueprints for Core and Edge including the infrastructure and VM stacks, supporting both third-party and HPE solutions such as the HPE 5G Core Stack and HPE Edge Orchestrator. It will also come equipped with Aruba networking equipment supporting telco-provisioned services for enterprise and Wi-Fi 6/5G interworking.
HPE added, “To access the HPE 5G Lab and achieve validation with the 5G Core Stack, ISVs first need to join the HPE Partner Ready program. This will allow them to demonstrate compliance with 3GPP standards and benefit from HPE’s growing 5G ecosystem, including HPE’s global salesforce, go-to-market support, and innovative delivery models through HPE GreenLake and HPE Financial Services.”
