Juniper Networks announced a deal to acquire service assurance provider Netrounds for an undisclosed sum, bolstering its automated WAN portfolio with test and troubleshooting capabilities.

The deal is expected to close in Q4.

Netrounds offers a vendor-agnostic software platform which allows operators to test whether new services such as network slices or cloud applications work properly before they’re deployed, and provides diagnostics when problems occur. It is compatible with both fixed and mobile networks.

With these tools in hand, Juniper Networks will be able to “fully automate the complexities of testing and actively monitoring those customer service experiences at scale,” chief product officer Manoj Leelanivas said in a statement.

Mats Nordlund, Netrounds CEO, added automation of these capabilities will be a “key success factor” for operators deploying solutions in “dynamic environments built on 5G network slicing, Kubernetes, SD-WAN and hybrid-cloud.”

In a blog, Juniper Network’s VP of automated WAN solutions Brendan Gibbs explained that’s because networks have become “infinitely more complex and distributed” with the advent of new technologies including 5G, making it “nearly impossible to manually keep track of anything and everything that could go wrong”.

The deal comes as Juniper Networks angles for a larger slice of the telecom pie, touting itself as an alternative to traditional network vendors as part of the O-RAN Alliance and US-focused lobby group the Open RAN Policy Coalition.