Open RAN testing capabilities enhanced with new strategic industry collaboration
Viavi Solutions and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) have announced a strategic collaboration aimed at expanding the testing capabilities of the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR™).
VALOR is the product of a $21.7 million grant from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (PWSCIF). It provides a pathway to certification in the U.S. for new entrants, startups, and academia through its fully-automated, open and impartial testing and integration for Open RAN. The process is designed to ensure the interoperability, performance, and security of different network components.
According to a release published by TIP and Viavi, the strategic collaboration will offer cloud based and virtual testing capabilities critical for modern, scalable network performance assessments. They’ll be incorporated into TIP’s system performance certification program to provide a more robust and flexible testing framework for component vendors and operators.
VIAVI and TIP will enhance VALOR’s testing capabilities that build on top of the O-RAN test specifications. This comprehensive approach will support the TIP community by ensuring that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities.
TIP’s community will leverage VALOR’s testing capabilities to help build a robust system performance certification framework, promoting innovation and industry alignment.
VALOR will become the first of TIP’s network of authorised test labs, streamlining the certification process, reducing duplication of efforts, and accelerating the time-to-market for Open RAN solutions. Additionally, establishing VALOR as one of TIP’s authorised test labs ensures a high standard of testing and certification processes.
This announcement is welcome news for TIP, who previously contributed comments on how the NTIA could structure and administer grants, as well as submitting its own grant applications. And while TIP’s own funding submissions were ultimately unsuccessful, this development highlights the organisation’s significant role in the industry.
Indeed one of my key takeaways from MWC 24 in Barcelona earlier this year was the growing risk of fragmentation in the test and validation space. With so many different organisations across different regions launching their own test and validation initiatives for Open RAN, it seemed there was a significant risk of falling into the trap of duplicating efforts. Of course this would be financially disastrous for emerging players trying to break into the Open RAN market and this initiative looks like it can go some way to addressing the problem. The test for success will be whether TIP can grow its network of authorised labs. The next likely candidates probably include i14y, run by Deutsche Telekom in Berlin, and Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) lab.
