Viavi Solutions will be designing, building and operating a new, comprehensive Open Radio Access Network test lab in Quezon City in Metro Manila, aimed at fostering adoption of Open RAN in the region as well as making it easier for new players to enter the Open RAN market and providing workforce development.
The interoperability lab is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Better Access and Connectivity (BEACON) Project, in collaboration with University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman Electronics and Electrical Engineering Institute (EEEI) and Asia Open RAN Academy (AORA), Viavi said. The lab initiative was established between the United States and the Philippines as part of cooperative actions taken during a visit to the White House by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in May of last year.
The lab in the Philippines will be based on the Viavi Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN, or VALOR, which is also the basis of a recently opened lab for Open RAN testing in Chandler, Arizona. VALOR is aimed at filling a need for pay-as-you-go, flexible, accessible and automated testing-as-a-service for Open Radio Access Network (Open RAN) technologies; it was funded by a grant from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. Its capabilities include interoperability, performance and security testing.
Viavi said that in the new Philippine Open RAN Lab, it “will mirror the reference architecture from VALOR and incorporate components from reputable hardware and software vendors carefully selected to embody the spirit of multi-vendor Open RAN, including Fujitsu and SOLiD.”
In other test news:
–Rohde & Schwarz says that it has successfully closed out its fiscal year with year-over-year increases in both revenue and incoming orders. The privately-held company, which does not formally report results but gives an annual high-level update on its financial position, said that it navigated “divergent and dynamic market developments” in the past year.
Rohde, which has three operating segments (Test & Measurement, Technology Systems and Networks & Cybersecurity) said that its total revenues increased 5.3% from the previous fiscal year, to 2.93 billion Euros, and that “incoming orders exceeded expectations with a 22.77 percent increase to EUR 3.87 billion.” Its operating results were described simply as “positive.”
“Thanks to a healthy sales pipeline, Rohde & Schwarz has started the new fiscal year with optimism,” the company said in a release, adding: “All three divisions are set for growth in the 2024/2025 fiscal year. Rohde & Schwarz is confident that it can further expand its position as a leading technology group despite the geopolitical and economic conditions, which are expected to remain challenging.”
-R&S also said that week that it has struck a deal with Vantage Towers focused on commercializing 5G Broadcast. The two companies said that they have established a “collaborative framework … to jointly develop the business and market readiness for 5G Broadcast.”
They said that they will work together on a go-to-market model using Vantage Tower’s assets—which include more than 86,000 sites in Europe—and R&S’s network solutions and services plus its relationships with broadcast network operators around the world.
Badiaa Bazarbacha, co-managing director of Vantage Towers Germany, said the collaboration “combines the strengths of both companies, with Rohde & Schwarz’s innovative 5G broadcast equipment being deployed across Vantage Towers extensive network of towers, rooftop sites, and indoor coverage solutions. By utilizing our comprehensive infrastructure portfolio, we are enabling media broadcasters to achieve a rapid and efficient commercial rollout of this cutting-edge technology.”
“5G Broadcast will provide enhanced viewing experiences for consumers on-the-go along with high quality of service for broadcasters through optimized outdoor mobile coverage and specific public indoor venues. Using the locations of Vantage Towers and the Rohde & Schwarz 5G Broadcast solution, we look forward to helping develop a creative 5G Broadcast solution for Broadcasters and BNOs in Europe and beyond,” said Steven Edwards, VP of broadcast distribution at Rohde & Schwarz.
-Quad-play provider Go in Malta announced this week that it is expanding its use of Elisa Polystar’s network monitoring, analytics and insight tools. Go is adding a network nalytics portal to its existing deployment of Elisa Polystar’s OSIX monitoring platform and KALIX roaming analytics solutions.
“KALIX is proving its value to our decision-making process; thanks to the rich insights it provides to our teams. With the new Network Analytics portal, people across the organization are able to access performance insights that shape decisions which ultimately improve the overall customer experience, across all our services, seamlessly,” said Geoffrey Cauchi, senior manager of networks at Go. “The Network Analysis Portal is helping us to proactively monitor and troubleshoot our networks more effectively, with minimal disruption to our customers, while unlocking new KPIs that will help us live our purpose of driving a digital Malta, where no one is left behind.”
–Anritsu has added a new option for testing 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) on its MT8862A WLAN Tester. The option enables the WLAN Tester to “evaluate the RF transmit and receive characteristics of 2×2 MIMO under real-world operating conditions, thus helping to improve the communication quality of WLAN-equipped devices,” the test company said.
Anritsu’s MT8862A supports 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency bands and has 320-megahertz channel bandwidth and 4096 QAM modulation testing Wi-Fi 7 devices. The test company said that the Wi-Fi 7 2×2 MIMO measurements can be made just by connecting the device under test to the tester; it added that target control settings are not necessary and that “measurements can be taken by personnel of any experience level.”