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Viavi Solutions Inc. and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have announced a strategic collaboration to enhance the testing capabilities of the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR).
Funded by a $21.7 million grant from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (PWSCIF), VALOR offers fully automated, open, and impartial testing and integration for Open RAN. It provides a pathway to certification in the U.S. for new entrants, startups, and academia, ensuring the interoperability, performance, and security of Open RAN components.
The Telecom Infra Project, a global consortium dedicated to the advancement and adoption of open and disaggregated networks, relies on the collective contributions of its member companies. These contributions are crucial for fostering innovation within the industry and creating a collaborative environment where new technologies are developed, tested, and certified for deployment.
VIAVI’s partnership with TIP exemplifies this collaborative spirit. By integrating VALOR’s test-as-a-service capabilities with TIP, VIAVI advances the mission of TIP’s OpenRAN Project Group (PG) and enhances the industry’s ability to implement and certify Open RAN technologies.
Key Highlights of the Collaboration:
1. Cloud-Based and Virtual Testing Capabilities: VALOR offers modern, scalable network performance assessments through its cloud-based and virtual testing capabilities. These capabilities will be incorporated into TIP’s system performance certification program, providing a robust and flexible testing framework for component vendors and operators.
2. Enhancing Testing Capabilities: VIAVI and TIP will enhance VALOR’s testing capabilities based on the O-RAN test specifications. This comprehensive approach will support the TIP community by ensuring that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and can handle real-world network complexities.
3. Establishing VALOR as the First Authorized Test Lab: VALOR will become the first of TIP’s authorized test labs, streamlining the certification process, reducing duplication of efforts, and accelerating the time-to-market for Open RAN solutions. This ensures a high standard of testing and certification processes.
4. Developing a System Performance Certification Framework: TIP’s community will leverage VALOR’s testing capabilities to build a robust system performance certification framework, promoting innovation and industry alignment.
The collaboration between VIAVI and TIP is expected to significantly reduce integration time and costs, improve data reliability and performance, and drive the global progress of open and disaggregated networks.
Kristian Toivo, Executive Director, TIP: “Through this appointment of VALOR as one of TIP’s authorized labs, we are committed to advancing the Open RAN landscape by providing robust and streamlined testing frameworks. Comprehensive end-to-end testing ensures that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities, thereby maintaining service quality and reducing downtime. In addition to the extreme performance testing, VALOR’s Open RAN virtual testing environment brings new capabilities to TIP Labs and the community. This strategic engagement fosters innovation, improves supply chain resilience, and accelerates the global adoption of Open RAN technologies, offering operators more flexible, cost-effective, and high-performance network solutions.”
Dr. Sameh Yamany, Chief Technology Officer, VIAVI: “The collaboration between VIAVI and TIP enhances Open RAN system maturity by addressing multi-vendor deployment challenges, ensuring end-to-end system level performance testing from different vendors. VIAVI’s participation in TIP’s OpenRAN PG and Test and Validation Committee supports the creation of industry test plans at a global level. VALOR supports comprehensive end-to-end testing to verify performance, stability, and security under real-world conditions. Additionally, this initiative aims to reduce market fragmentation, create supply chain efficiencies, and build marketplace confidence through standardized testing and certification processes.”
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