T-Mobile US is putting together a 5G tech incubator in Peachtree Corners, Georgia, continuing the company’s support of a place that was a center for Sprint’s Curiosity IoT and 5G research and development. The Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners will collaborate with the Georgia Institute of Technology on a new 5G Connected Future incubator program at the 500-acre smart city technology park in Peachtree Corners, which includes a 25,000-square-foot innovation center and a three-mile autonomous vehicle test track.
T-Mobile US said that it has both its “Extended Range 5G” (read: 600 MHz) and “Ultra Capacity 5G” (read: 2.5 GHz) available across the Peachtree Corners site. (The Peachtree Corners location was an early deployment site for Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum.) The incubator program will be managed in partnership with Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and is an expansion of the T-Mobile Accelerator program that originated in 2014. The 5G Connected Future program is the fourth of its kind of ATDC, which also has targeted incubation programs in health, retail and financial technologies.
John Saw, EVP of advanced and emerging technologies at T-Mobile US, called the location “the most advanced living lab in the country,” adding, ““We cannot wait to see the innovation that occurs as entrepreneurs and developers build the next big thing in 5G backed by these world-class resources.”
In other test news:
–Keysight Technologies reported first fiscal quarter revenues up 8% year-over-year to $1.18 billion, and quarterly profits of $172 million compared with $163 million in the year-ago period. Keysight saw increased revenue in its Communications Solutions Group of 4% compared to last year’s fiscal first quarter, and a whopping 18% year-over-year growth in its Electronic Industrial Solutions Group. Keysight said that the EISG’s growth was driven by its semiconductor measurement and general electronics solutions, particularly in the Asia Pacific region.
“Keysight delivered an outstanding first quarter and a strong start to the year with both revenue and earnings exceeding the high end of our guidance. Order and revenue growth in the quarter was driven by strong execution and robust demand for our broad portfolio of differentiated solutions across all regions,” said Ron Nersesian, Keysight’s chairman, president and CEO, in a statement. “We enter the year with momentum across multiple end markets and confidence in our revenue and earnings growth trajectory.
Keysight also this week said that its 5G test offerings were used by Qualcomm Technologies to validate the first 5G New Radio data connection based on 3GPP Release 16, and also debuted what it says is the first 16-port 400 gigabit Ethernet test system, the AresONE-S, aimed at network equipment and data center testing.
–Viavi Solutions has released new updates for its test suite for Open RAN that include O-RAN subsystem and end-to-end testing for conformance, performance and interoperability; transport network testing, including 4G and 5G fronthaul; and network assurance testing, including operational assurance, troubleshooting and optimization.
“The promise of O-RAN extends beyond the many benefits of an open ecosystem to include a solid foundation for virtualized network elements, enabling increased speed and scalability to capture the burgeoning 5G market,” said Sameh Yamany, Viavi’s CTO, in a statement. “Yet the complexity of multi-vendor O-RAN architecture presents significant challenges for successful network development, deployment and operation, requiring thorough validation, integration and troubleshooting with a complete set of advanced test solutions.”
Viavi also said recently that its Optical Security and Performance Products (OSP) segment plans to establish a new manufacturing facility in Chandler, Arizona. Viavi also plans to transition its headquarters to the new facility, which is anticipated to house at least 100 employees by 2022. In preparation for this move, the company has already relocated its corporate headquarters to a temporary office in Scottsdale. The company’s San Jose office will continue to operate as a functional center of excellence and sales office.
–Teledyne LeCroy has released the Eclipse M52, a protocol analyzer and exerciser that supports the JEDEC UFS 3.1, MIPI UniPro v1.8 and M-PHY v4.1 HS-G4 standards; the company said that the solution can be upgraded to support JEDEC UFS 4.0, MIPI UniPro v2.0 and M-PHY v5.0 HS-G5 when those specs are available.
