End-to-end (E2E) network device update is required for the evolution from 5G Non-Stand-Alone (NSA) networking to Stand-Alone (SA) networking. In 5G NSA networking, the control plane functions are handled by the 4G LTE network, while the user plane functions are handled by the 5G NR network. In contrast, in 5G SA networking, the control plane and user plane functions are handled by the 5G NR network alone. So, to evolve from 5G NSA to 5G SA, all the network devices including Radio Access Network (RAN), Core Network (CN) and Transport Network (TN) need to be updated with 5G SA capable software and hardware.

It is important to note that 5G SA provides more flexibility, control and autonomy for network operation and management, However, it also requires a higher level of complexity and more resources to operate.