Test company Spirent Communications is positioning itself as a player in network assurance, beyond its traditional base in lab testing. Spirent has launched a new initiative called “Promise. Assured.” and says that it will be focusing on “customer performance and revenues … for 5G, lifecycle service assurance and analytics, and cybersecurity. It will also explore new business opportunities in virtualization, autonomous vehicles and automotive.”
“As part of this initiative, we will expand development of products and services to accelerate creation of devices, applications and network equipment, and streamline operation of networks and services,” wrote Eric Hutchinson, Spirent’s CEO, in a statement on the initiative. “These efforts will see us leverage our innovation beyond the lab, where we are most known, into customer networks. Our vision is to ultimately automate all testing and introduce solutions for autonomous service assurance.”
Hutchinson added that Spirent has made increased investments in 5G, lifecycle service assurance and cybersecurity in support of the move.
“We recognize that our innovation across test, measurement, assurance, security and analytics also positions us to power emerging developments within network virtualization, automotive and autonomous vehicles,” he wrote. “While alliances and standards in these markets are still being developed, there is an urgency among many stakeholders to move forward now. Our solutions will provide the insights and confidence to support business cases that solidify go-to-market strategies. Whereas, we’ve traditionally been known best by the engineering teams in the customers we serve, we know that the intelligence and expertise we can provide will have impact throughout all levels of our customer organizations.”
In other test news:
-Spirent recently introduced what it says is the world’s first 8-port, one-unit-high rack-mountable solution for testing 400, 200, 100 and 50 gigabit Ethernet, its pX3 400G appliance.
–Anritsu has claimed its own industry first with the launch of its passive intermodulation over Common Public Radio Interface (PIM over CPRI) testing capability BTS Master MT8220T and MT822xB handheld base station analyzers, enabling PIM testing to be conducted from the ground.
–Rohde & Schwarz plans to acquire 100% of German network infrastructure manufacturing firm Lancom Systems, which will operate as an independent subsidiary within R&S. Rohde has held a majority stake in Lancom since 2016. Lancom’s executives will continue to lead the company as well as R&S’ newly founded Networks & Cybersecurity Division.
–Tektronix expanded its compact USB spectrum analyzer line with new models that support 13 GHz and 18 GHz, aimed at testing Ku band radar and 5G cellular services.
-Benchmarking and test company P3 released its most recent report on state-level connectivity and put Verizon on top in its performance in 41 states. The company relied on its app-based, crowd-sourced data and collected more than 39 billion samples from 2.3 million users between April and June 2018.
Hakan Ekmen, CEO of P3 communications, said in a statement that coverage on the state level “effectively is a competition between Verizon and AT&T. But in 41 states, Verizon leads the pack, showing the strongest voice coverage in nearly all states and the largest LTE footprint.”
P3’s report concluded that there is a “clear EastWest divide” when it comes to data services, and that Washington D.C. offers the best setting for full data coverage by all the carriers.
“In many of the eastern states, Verizon and AT&T compete head-to-head, though Verizon has a slight advantage. The Western part of the country is clearly dominated by Verizon. In the East the degree of coverage is significantly higher compared to the West,” the report said. P3 went on to add that “AT&T is the strongest in Texas, Missouri, Illinois, West Virginia and Nevada. Verizon outperforms AT&T especially in Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona and Vermont. In the remaining states, Verizon provides slightly better data coverage or is at least on par with AT&T. Sprint and T-Mobile can just watch the two giants competing for data coverage – except for the District of Columbia where all four carriers provide about the same full data coverage.”
