VIAVI / Network and Cloud Testing / Test Platforms

AION

VIAVI AION Unified Delivery Platform for Network and Cloud Testing

Unified delivery platform for VIAVI L2-7 network and cloud testing with centralized licensing, asset management and web-based test apps.

Deployment options: cloud-delivery, on-prem, and laptop-hosted licensing services
Purchasing options: subscription, consumption-based, and perpetual plans

Datasheet

Overview

VIAVI AION is a unified delivery platform that provides a single-pane-of-glass portal for test and measurement workflows. It is used to provision users and workspaces, manage assets and licenses, and deploy web-based applications for network and cloud testing, including L2-7 testing with VIAVI TestCenter.

Serviceability and Administration

AION has a web interface with serviceability tools and always-on platform services. These cover user and workspace administration and asset management, including systems monitoring, log captures and firmware upgrades. The bundle datasheets also list auto-discovery, inventory management, notifications and log aggregation.

Centralized Licensing

License activation and utilization monitoring are centralized. For TestCenter, AION can share protocol entitlements across all platforms, physical or virtual. Purchasing options include subscription, consumption-based and perpetual plans, and different bandwidth, scale and protocol bundles can be licensed separately.

Web Applications and Deployment

The TestCenter WebUI and web-based applications such as BenchmarkingApp and TrafficApp launch directly from AION, so thick-client software does not need to be installed. AION can be deployed on-premises, through public and private cloud, or through VIAVI-hosted services. Laptop-hosted licensing services are also available.

Protocol Bundles

TestCenter capabilities are licensed through AION protocol bundles. Examples include 5G Fronthaul (O-RAN and eCPRI), Active Performance Monitoring (TWAMP), Broadband Access, Advanced Broadband Access (CUSP), Benchmarking (RFC 2544, RFC 2889, RFC 3918, RFC 8239) and Carrier Ethernet (EOAM). Bundles are available with different numbers of seats.

Key Features

Single-pane-of-glass portal for test and measurement workflows
Provisioning of users and workspaces
Asset and license management
Always-on platform services including systems monitoring, log captures and firmware upgrades
Centralized license activation and utilization monitoring
Sharing of TestCenter protocol entitlements across physical and virtual platforms
WebUI launched directly from AION without thick-client installations
Deployment on-premises, via public and private cloud, or through VIAVI-hosted services
Subscription, consumption-based and perpetual purchasing plans
Licensing of different bandwidth, scale and protocol bundles
Auto-discovery, inventory management, notifications and log aggregation

Specifications

Platform

Deployment options	cloud-delivery, on-prem, and laptop-hosted licensing services
Purchasing options	subscription, consumption-based, and perpetual plans Different bandwidth, scale, and protocol bundles can be licensed

5G Fronthaul Bundle

O-RAN specification AON-PB-5GFH	ORAN-WG4.CUS.0-v01.00 O-RAN Fronthaul Working Group: Control, User and Synchronization Plane Specification
Transport AON-PB-5GFH	eCPRI over Ethernet, eCPRI over VLAN, eCPRI over IPv4/UDP, eCPRI over IPv6/UDP
Compression method AON-PB-5GFH	Block Floating Point compression, Mµ-Law compression, Block Scaling compression, Selective RE compression and no compression
IQ width AON-PB-5GFH	1 to 16 bit Mantissa
Sub carrier spacing (SCS) AON-PB-5GFH	μ = 0 (15 kHz), μ = 1 (30 kHz), μ = 2 (60 kHz), μ = 3 (120 kHz)
Bandwidth AON-PB-5GFH	20 MHz, 25 MHz, 40 MHz, 50 MHz, 60 MHz, 80 MHz, 100 MHz, 200 MHz, 400 MHz
Frame size AON-PB-5GFH	Default MTU: 1500 bytes; Jumbo frames (up to 9000 bytes) Auto-calculated number of PRBs based on SCS and Bandwidth; configurable number of PRBs per packet
Timing accuracy AON-PB-5GFH	±5 μs for every Radio Frame of 10 ms
Delay measurement accuracy AON-PB-5GFH	1 μs Request/Request with Follow up, Remote request, Remote request with Follow up
User plane line rate AON-PB-5GFH	10/25/50/100G
O-RU/O-DU per port AON-PB-5GFH	up to 8 O-RU/O-DU per port On hardware module FX3-100GD, FX3-100GQ, FX3-100GQF32, MX3-100GD, MX3-100GQ, MX3-100GQF32, FX3-25GD, FX3-25GO, MX3-25GD, MX3-25GO
eCPRI specification AON-PB-5GFH	V1.2 [eCPRI_v_1_2_w_06_25]
eCPRI message types AON-PB-5GFH	Type 0 – Type 7
NR frame structure AON-PB-5GFH	ETSI TS 138 211 V15.2.0 (2018-07)

Active Performance Monitoring Bundle

Standard AON-PB-APM	RFC5357 TWAMP and TWAMP Light
IP versions AON-PB-APM	IPv4 and IPv6
Emulation roles AON-PB-APM	Client/Controller and Sever/Responder

Broadband Access Bundles

PPPoE or IPoE subscribers per port AON-PB-ACCESS	up to 128K
Emulated DHCP servers per port AON-PB-ACCESS	up to 1024
L2TP versions AON-PB-ACCESS	L2TPv2 and L2TPv3
CUSP user planes per port AON-PB-ACCESS-ADV	up to 200
PPPoE or IPoE subscribers AON-PB-ACCESS-ADV	up to 100K per test port and 20M per system
CUSP standards AON-PB-ACCESS-ADV	RFC 8772; draft-ietf-nvo3-vxlan-gpe-11

Benchmarking Bundle

IETF specifications AON-PB-BENCHMARK	RFC 2544, RFC 5180, RFC 2889, RFC 3918, RFC 8239
Custom specifications AON-PB-BENCHMARK	Asymmetric Performance Test; Data Center Bridging Switching Fabric Test; Priority Flow Control Test
BenchmarkingApp tests AON-PB-BENCHMARK	Layer 2-3 Performance Benchmarking (RFC 2544); TCP Throughput Benchmarking (RFC 6349)

Carrier Ethernet Bundle

Ethernet OAM standards AON-PB-CARRIER-ETH	IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet Link OAM; IEEE 802.1ag Connectivity Fault Management; ITU-T Y.1731 Fault Management and Performance Monitoring
Interfaces AON-PB-CARRIER-ETH	1G, 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G, 100G or 400G
ETH-CC interval AON-PB-CARRIER-ETH	3.3 ms Supported simultaneously on up to 300 MEPs on the same port
Link Trace MIP chain AON-PB-CARRIER-ETH	up to 254 MIPs

Specifications are taken from the manufacturer's documentation. See the datasheet for complete and current values.

Applications

L2-7 network testing
Cloud testing
Physical and virtual network validation
5G fronthaul O-RAN and eCPRI testing
Network device benchmarking
Broadband access subscriber emulation
Carrier Ethernet OAM testing
TWAMP active performance monitoring

Options & Accessories

Option	Description
AON-PB-5GFH	AION 5G Fronthaul Bundle — O-DU and O-RU device emulation with O-RAN and eCPRI for VIAVI TestCenter
AON-PB-APM	AION Active Performance Monitoring Bundle — TWAMP and TWAMP Light emulation
AON-PB-ACCESS	AION Broadband Access Bundle — PPPoX, DHCP, L2TP and IPTV subscriber emulation; requires AION Routing and Switching (AON-PB-RTSW) license
AON-PB-ACCESS-ADV	AION Advanced Broadband Access Bundle — CUSP user plane and subscriber emulation; requires AION Routing and Switching (AON-PB-RTSW) and Broadband Access (AON-PB-ACCESS) licenses
AON-PB-BENCHMARK	AION Benchmarking Bundle — Automated benchmarking tests including RFC 2544, RFC 2889, RFC 3918 and RFC 8239
AON-PB-CARRIER-ETH	AION Carrier Ethernet Bundle — Ethernet OAM protocol emulation; requires AION Routing and Switching (AON-PB-RTSW) and MPLS (AON-PB-MPLS) licenses
AON-PB-RTSW	AION Routing and Switching
AON-PB-MPLS	AION MPLS