Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1192126
14 I ICT TODAY Testing Network operators can no longer rely on just a handful of highly experienced engineers to support extensive fiber network upgrades and rollouts. It is important to ensure that engineering teams (often, contractors with little experience) consistently follow best practices and correctly test the deployed fiber, since major operators have been increasing the degree of automation in their deployment process. The ability to automate the fiber testing workflow drastically reduces the time required for manual setup and reporting. Workflow automation also helps increase the level of compliance to operators' test methodologies that are frequently overlooked in practice, thereby leading to test repetition and fiber performance issues that could have been avoided. On the other hand, intelligent test automation enables engineers to quickly and successfully perform tasks that would otherwise require advanced expertise and a significant amount of time. Monitoring The concept of remote, centralized monitoring (typically 24x7) is far from new. In fact, it is standard practice in most fiber networks. What has become more pronounced is the need for granular visibility. This means that the optical fiber infrastructure should be monitored in real time. Furthermore, it means that the location of fiber issues should be identified with high accuracy to mini- mize unnecessary engineering team trips and to acceler- The End of Silos FiberG automation should be part of the 5G automation discussion and not treated as a separate topic. The divide- and-conquer approach used in the past has led to the creation of operational silos that have tormented network operators for years; it is unlikely to be followed in the automation-driven DevOps age of 5G. Even references to testing and monitoring as distinct areas of interest for network operators are likely to be revised. For example, which of these areas would be more relevant for the centralized monitoring to check and ensure compliance of field test activities? The demarcation lines, which may have simplified team organization in the past, are now under attack. The 5G concept of end-to-end network slicing emphasizes the need for a better end-to-end approach to deploying and operating networks. This end-to-end approach will inevitably incorporate the crucial 5G fiber infrastructure. BEYOND 5G Similar to 4G and the 4G evolution, the standardization of 5G and its evolution is likely to span more than two 3GPP releases (i.e., Release 15 and Release 16, currently). In total, there were seven 3GPP releases related to 4G and the 4G evolution from Release 8 to Release 14. These were grouped as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Ad- vanced, and LTE-Advanced Pro. And what about 6G? ate issue resolution. Automated, granular fiber net- work monitoring is mandatory in the context of end-to-end network slicing, particularly for SLA-sensitive services. As an essential part of the 5G architecture, any issues affecting the fiber infrastructure would also impact on the performance and end- user/device experience of 5G. The ability to proactively monitor the fiber network and correctly quantify and ideally preempt the impact of issues on relevant 5G services and customers is going to be key. As a proven and trusted enabler of past mobile network generations/standards that focus on the transport domain, including backhaul, fiber has already been considered a key factor in deploying small cells as part of 3G/4G network densification and 5G fixed wireless access networks.