Indian tech company Wipro has opened its first testing facility in the U.S., a 5G-focused test center in Austin, Texas, where it is working closely with Palo Alto Networks. The 5G-Def-i Innovation Center will focus on compliance certification of 5G devices and modules as well as IoT endpoints, and Wipro said that the center will also “play a vital role in qualifying the performance of 5G mobile network infrastructure, ensuring optimal functionality and efficiency.” Wipro plans to showcase interactive demonstrations to help customers better understand 5G, and the center will also provide R&D, collaboration and incubation services.
“Collaboration, and especially strategic partnerships, are essential to accelerating the adoption and impact of 5G technology and we look forward to joining forces with Wipro in paving the way toward a safer digital landscape. By leveraging our expertise with theirs, we will be able to develop cutting-edge solutions that cater to the evolving needs of our clients,” said Palo Alto Networks SVP Anand Oswal.
In other test news:
–Open RAN Alliance has completed its most recent plugfest; you can read full details here. Viavi Solutions highlighted its participation this week, saying that its TeraVM and TM500 user equipment emulator were used to support the plugfest activities. Viavi said its testing support focused on three areas: Conformance testing, security testing and RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) testing and training in order to enable the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the RAN.
“These demonstrations are pivotal in shaping the future of an open, multi-vendor environment that the telecommunication industry is swiftly evolving towards,” commented Ian Langley, SVP and GM for Viavi’s wireless business unit. “We’re at the point in this evolution where we need to ensure solutions and ecosystems are ready for commercial usage, so that the promise of O-RAN can quickly become a reality.”
Viavi also this week announced the addition of its CX700 ComXpert for automating radio system testing, aimed at radio manufacturers as well as military depot and field use. The instrument is mean to provide a “comprehensive, versatile, all-in-one communications test system” that is also ruggedized for field use. It can provide 100 megahertz of instantaneous bandwidth, a built-in power supply for devices under test, and what Viavi says are the “fastest industry-standard data transport mechanisms.”
Edward Latimer, director of radio test for Viavi, said that the new solution is “the culmination of our team’s hard work constantly pushing the cutting edge of radio test design” and brings all-in-one, lab-grade test equipment capabilities with “superior field maintainability.”
–Anritsu has a new modular, two-port vector network analyzer series, the ShockLine ME7869A. There are three models that operate up to 8 GHz, 20 GHz and 43.5 GHz, and the test equipment company says that they can conduct full vector S-parameter measurements over distances of up to 100 meters, aimed at commercial and military antenna design testing needs.
Also this week, Anritsu said that it has expanded the range of its its Rubidium high-performance analog signal generator series with the MG36271A, which covers 9 kHz to 70 GHz to support emerging high-frequency designs.
–Keysight Technologies launched its latest Pathwave Advanced Design System (ADS) software iteration for 2024, with feature enhancements aimed squarely at advancing chip development of millimeter-wave systems and components, non-terrestrial network (NTN) applications and exploration of sub-Terahertz frequency ranges that are being researched for future 6G systems.
Keysight also debuted what it says are the first PCI Express 6.0 protocol validation tools, supporting the newest high-speed serial interface from PCI-SIG that enables new designs for servers, endpoint devices, switches, sorage devices and other devices with speeds up to 64 gigatransfers per second (GT/s).