Editor’s Note: The ability to test network and device features and functions is an important piece of technology development and deployment. RCR Wireless looks weekly at network testing news and trends to see what’s afoot.
—A new report from Frost & Sullivan notes that expanded investment in Wi-Fi infrastructure is likely to boost the need for testing in that area and a boost for the test equipment market. Also, the expansion of 802.11ac testing equipment from the lab into manufacturing and the field will contribute to the growth as devices and equipment for 802.11ac expand.
Frost & Sullivan found that the global Wi-Fi test equipment market earned revenues of $528.9 million last year and expects that figure to more than double by 2020, to $1.09 billion.
“More than 55 percent of all mobile data is expected to be offloaded to Wi-Fi networks in 2017, making it imperative for mobile operators to ensure that Wi-Fi networks are of carrier-grade quality,” said Olga Yashkova-Shapiro, program manager for Frost & Sullivan’s measurement and instrumentation focus area. “Wi-Fi technology 802.11ac and robust test and monitoring solutions are critical to achieve correct offloading and minimize overall customer churn.”
However, Frost noted that there are particular complications with Wi-Fi testing — including the use of MIMO antennas in 802.11ac and the fact that “often the final standard the Wi-Fi Alliance approves is very different from earlier drafts used to develop many products, making it difficult for test equipment vendors to manufacture compliant products.”
“Test equipment vendors must ensure that their products can be updated continuously to avoid becoming obsolete within a few months of the launch,” said Yashkova-Shapiro. “While some vendors are rolling out such products, many prefer holding off till the final standard is released.”
For some updates on top trends in Wi-Fi at this week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver, check out this story with video interviews.
—As the telecom industry explores the use of software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV), Spirent Communications is taking those trends into the test arena. The company has launched a virtualized distributed Ethernet probe called the Spirent TestCenter Live Virtual Probe, to be used along with its TestCenter Live platform as part of an approach that relies on both hardware and virtualized probes for assessing network performance.
Pilar Somohano, GM of service assurance at Spirent, said the new virtual probe offering “integrates performance monitoring with diagnostic services so companies can proactively improve customer experience for traditional and new services.”
—Tektronix launched what it says is the industry’s first offering for complete PHY layer and conformance testing for the next generation of mobile memory, JEDEC LPDDR4, which is expected to start seeing adoption starting in 2015.
The new memory technology is touted as delivering data rates up to 4.26 Gb/sec and improving power consumption by about 35%, but the low input/output voltage poses some challenges for testing, along with the physical design that has limited access to test points, according to Tektronix.
“There’s no question that LPDDR4 makes validation far more complex and challenging for the entire mobile memory ecosystem, from silicon vendors to system integrators,” said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. “We offer the test and measurement tools needed to efficiently bring this exciting technology to market, from high-performance oscilloscopes and probes to advanced analysis software spanning the entire memory validation continuum.”
—Ixia has named a new CFO: Brent Novak, who served as the company’s VP of finance since 2006 and has been serving as the company’s acting CFO since March, when then-CFO Tom Miller resigned in the wake of errors being found in the company’s reporting. Ixia had turned up the errors as part of its investigation following the resignation of former CEO Victor Alston, who had falsified details of his credentials. Ixia recently caught up on its financial filings after re-stating some earnings in order to correct its figures.
For more testing news, follow me on Twitter: @khillrcr
