A Tier-1 Operator Cut AMF Release Delays From a Month to Two Weeks

MAKING LAUNCH DATES MORE PREDICTABLE

The operator can commit to launches sooner and resolve incidents without waiting on the vendor for root-cause analysis.
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At a Glance

Regression cycle time: 30 days → 14 days  (50% faster)

Supported AMFs and coverage: 6 AMF's → 8 AMF's  (25% increase)

Regression now spans 4G MMEs alongside 5G AMFs.

Base regression test cases: 20 → 33  (65% more)

Feature validation now covers 70+ checks per release, tracked separately.

Root cause resolution time: 5 days → 2 days  (60% faster)

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The Client's Challenge

For a Tier-1 mobile operator running Ericsson's AMF across multiple 4G and 5G lineups, every release used to enter a lab queue that could run a month before clearing for production. The release manager couldn't commit to a launch date until the lab confirmed it. The core-network team split its attention across lineups that were tested separately, by different people, with no shared view of what had already been validated. And when something broke after launch, the lab team had no way to read the traces themselves. Every root-cause question went to the vendor, and every answer took days.

None of this showed up as a single dramatic outage. It showed up as launch dates nobody could commit to, and a backlog that kept growing faster than the lab could clear it.

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What Changed for the Business

Lab metrics only matter if they change what the business can do. Here's what changed with each one.

New features and interworking capabilities reach customers sooner

Regression cycle time: 30 days → 14 days  (50% faster)

Every AMF release now clears the lab in about half the time, two weeks instead of up to a month. That time goes back into planning launches with more confidence, and into responding to competitive or regulatory pressure without the lab being the constraint.

Protect the whole subscriber base, not just the newest network

Supported AMFs and coverage: 6 AMF's → 8 AMF's  (25% increase)

Regression now spans 4G MMEs alongside 5G AMFs.

One team now validates releases across both environments through a single operating cadence and accountable point of contact.

Find issues before they reach customers

Base regression test cases: 20 → 33  (65% more)

Feature validation now covers 70+ checks per release, tracked separately.

Base regression test cases grew from 20 to 33, and feature validation now covers more than 70 checks per release. Each additional check is one more chance to catch a problem before it reaches a customer, which is what keeps rollbacks and war-room calls rare instead of routine.

Resolve incidents 3 days faster, with far less vendor dependence

Root cause resolution time: 5 days → 2 days  (60% faster)

Root cause analysis now takes two days instead of five, because the team reads AMF logs, NAS traces, and QXDM captures directly instead of waiting on the vendor for every diagnosis. That's less time an incident stays open, and less engineering time pulled off the roadmap to firefight.

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How the Partnership Expanded

What began as regression support became a broader operating responsibility, with Reailize becoming the single accountable point of contact for AMF testing and troubleshooting.

2022 — AMF regression testing only

• Full end-to-end & interworking validation (MME, ePDG)

• RAN/AMF lab readiness coordination

• UE management across major device ecosystems

2025 — Full ownership of AMF troubleshooting POCs, one accountable point of contact

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