VIAVI and Calnex Simplify Open RAN Conformance and Performance with Comprehensive Pre-Certification Testbeds

Rhea-AI Summary

VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) and Calnex announced a partnership on Nov. 6, 2025 to offer plug-and-play pre-certification testbeds for Open RAN products covering protocol, signal and timing domains.

The suite provides three immediately available testbeds — end-to-end & cybersecurity for fronthaul/midhaul, O-RU/O-DU with S-plane testing, and core network emulation for backhaul — and leverages VIAVI TM500, XEdge and TeraVM plus Calnex Paragon-neo, SNE-Ignite and SNE-X hardware. The systems support O-RAN ALLIANCE and 3GPP conformance (WG4, WG5, TIFG) and emulate impairments like jitter/delay while offering root-cause debugging and cybersecurity vulnerability testing.

Positive

• Three immediate plug-and-play testbeds for Open RAN pre-certification
• Supports O-RU, O-DU and O-CU testing across fronthaul, midhaul and backhaul
• Includes VIAVI TM500/XEdge/TeraVM and Calnex Paragon-neo, SNE-Ignite, SNE-X
• Covers O-RAN and 3GPP conformance including WG4, WG5 and TIFG
• Emulates realistic impairments (jitter, delay) and offers cybersecurity testing

Negative

• Final O-RAN ALLIANCE and 3GPP certification still requires official labs
• Additional testbeds are still in development, so coverage may expand over time

Plug-and-play testbeds for end-to-end and cybersecurity testing with validation for O-RUs, O-DUs and O-CUs ensure O-RAN ALLIANCE and 3GPP standard compliance

CHANDLER, Ariz., Nov. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- VIAVI Solutions Inc. (VIAVI) (NASDAQ: VIAV) has partnered with network synchronization and emulation specialist Calnex Solutions plc to provide a suite of test solutions for the comprehensive testing of Open RAN products across the protocol, signal and timing domains. These testbeds simplify and reduce the cost of developing in-house Open RAN testing for pre-certification validation and can be set up immediately with no debugging.

The shift to Open RAN and AI-RAN in 5G and 6G systems is opening the telecom infrastructure market to a greater number of companies, including startups and university spinouts. While this has the potential to accelerate innovation, multivendor ecosystems require strict adherence to performance, security, interoperability and reliability standards. Although final O-RAN ALLIANCE and 3GPP certification takes place at official labs, pre-testing is essential to ensure success and avoid the costs of failing.

Through the VIAVI and Calnex partnership, manufacturers of O-RU, O-DU and O-CU equipment can access three testbeds immediately:

• an end-to-end and cybersecurity test solution for fronthaul and midhaul;
• an O-RU and O-DU test solution with S-plane testing; and
• core network emulation test bundles for the backhaul.

Additional testbeds are in development.

The joint solutions leverage VIAVI's TM500 and XEdge test platforms for emulated and real user equipment scenarios, as well as its TeraVM network traffic generator. The comprehensive testing capabilities are then completed via specialist hardware from Calnex, notably its Paragon-neo for O-RU and O-DU synchronization, SNE-Ignite for fronthaul and midhaul impairment emulation and SNE-X for core network emulation.

"During the development phase, many O-RUs are only tested with a single O-DU/O-CU vendor, which results in failure under real-world network conditions. This issue is compounded as the industry lacks tools to emulate realistic fronthaul conditions," said Ian Langley, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Business Unit, VIAVI. "Our partnership with Calnex puts these tools directly into the developers' hands to vastly speed and simplify Open RAN test lab setup."

"Companies urgently need in-house labs to validate their Open RAN systems, but establishing them has traditionally required equipment from multiple vendors and can take several months of debugging to ensure interoperability," said Tommy Cook, CEO, Calnex. "VIAVI and Calnex's offerings are highly complementary, and we've undertaken the complex integration work to create these first-of-their-kind comprehensive testing systems and eliminate the issues that have plagued many developers."

The integrated systems from VIAVI and Calnex allow for full O-RAN and 3GPP conformance testing including key WG4, WG5 and TIFG specifications, while also emulating realistic network impairments like jitter and delay. This enables the rigorous testing of key functions like S-plane resilience and advanced scenarios such as multi-cell handovers, and is supported by powerful root-cause debugging and cybersecurity vulnerability testing across all O-RAN components.

About VIAVI
VIAVI (NASDAQ: VIAV) is a global provider of network test, monitoring and assurance solutions for telecommunications, cloud, enterprises, first responders, military, aerospace and railway. VIAVI is also a leader in light management technologies for 3D sensing, anti-counterfeiting, consumer electronics, industrial, automotive, government and aerospace applications. Learn more about VIAVI at www.viavisolutions.com. Follow us on VIAVI Perspectives, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Calnex
Calnex designs, produces and markets test and measurement instrumentation and solutions to enable the validation of the performance of critical infrastructure for the telecoms and cloud computing industries. Calnex's portfolio enables R&D, pre-deployment and in-service testing for network technologies and networked applications, enabling its customers to validate the performance of the critical infrastructure associated with telecoms and cloud computing networks and the applications that run on it. Learn more about Calnex at www.calnexsol.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.

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SOURCE VIAVI Solutions

FAQ

What did VIAVI announce with Calnex on Nov. 6, 2025 for VIAV shareholders?

VIAVI announced a partnership with Calnex to deliver plug-and-play Open RAN pre-certification testbeds covering fronthaul, midhaul and backhaul testing.

Which VIAV platforms are used in the new VIAVI-Calnex testbeds?

The joint solutions use VIAVI TM500, XEdge and TeraVM alongside Calnex Paragon-neo, SNE-Ignite and SNE-X hardware.

Do the VIAVI and Calnex testbeds support O-RAN and 3GPP conformance for VIAV products?

Yes; the integrated systems support O-RAN and 3GPP conformance testing including WG4, WG5 and TIFG specifications.

Can VIAV customers use the new testbeds to avoid formal certification labs?

The testbeds provide pre-certification validation and realistic impairment emulation, but final O-RAN and 3GPP certification remains at official labs.

How many testbeds are immediately available from the VIAVI-Calnex partnership for VIAV customers?

Three testbeds are immediately available: end-to-end & cybersecurity (fronthaul/midhaul), O-RU/O-DU with S-plane testing, and core network emulation for backhaul.