Spirent Launches a Diameter Signaling Testing Tool

Spirent Communications introduced "..Spirent Landslide Diameter, a comprehensive solution that tests signaling protocols at scale so carriers can ensure efficient and optimized Diameter services.

.. Landslide Diameter lets carriers and their vendors emulate specific Diameter applications to test specific nodes or test the network from end-to-end to ensure that the management and monetization functions operate at extreme scale. 

The test system can be used to simulate real-world traffic scenarios or call models at scale so carriers can see what happens on a node-by-node basis. The call models can be adapted to test the impact new services and devices will have on the control network. These tests remove the guesswork out of predicting signaling traffic loads so they can adequately and effectively architect their networks.

Landslide Diameter simulates real-world control traffic scenarios at scale and emulates the interfaces and adjacent nodes required to test all the key AAA nodes including: HSS, PCRF, DRA/DSC and AAA. The solution provides the ability to test the Diameter network from end-to-end or isolate a single node". 

See "Spirent Enables Prediction and Prevention of Signaling Storm Outages with Comprehensive Diameter Testing" - here.

Telefonica O2 Shines in Spirent's UK QoE Study

A new "Independent Review of Mobile Voice and Data Services Commissioned by Telefonica O2" by Spirent finds that ... Telefonica provides the best QoE for data services in the UK in almost every aspect of the test! 

Spirent's Datum QoE
Analytics Application

"The study included over 47,000 calls and 170,000 data tests over a three month period from May to July [using Spirent's User Experience Analytics System, Datum] :

• .. the web browsing speeds for Telefonica O2 on the 5 tested websites ranked 1st out of 4 measured networks at an average time of 2.7 seconds, with the lowest ranked network at 3.4 seconds
   
• the file download speeds for Telefonica O2 and one other network were jointly ranked 1st out of 4 measured networks with average speeds of 11.3 Mbps and 11.6 Mbps, respectively, and with the lowest ranked network at 6.4 Mbps (the difference between the top 2 measured networks was not statistically meaningful, leading to a joint ranking)
   
• the file upload speeds for Telefonica ranked 1st out of 4 measured networks at an average speed of 5.5 Mbps with the lowest ranked network at 3.0 Mbps
   
• the web browsing success rate for Telefonica O2 ranked 2nd out of 4 measured networks at 97.9%, with the highest ranked network at a 98.6% success rate and the lowest ranked network at 96.4%
   
• the file download success rate for Telefonica O2 ranked 2nd out of 4 measured networks at 98.6%, with the highest ranked network at a 99.5% success rate and the lowest ranked network at 97.4%
   
• the file upload success rate for Telefonica O2 ranked 1st out of 4 measured networks at 99.2%, with the lowest ranked network at 97.6%.

Spirent's Datum QoE Reports

 

See "Spirent Releases User Experience Study of Britain’s 4G Mobile Services' - here.

Spirent Acquires MU Dynamics for $40M

 
As I had some posts on Spirent (see "Spirent Announces 10GE Mobility, Bandwidth Management and Network Intelligence Testing Module" -here) and Mu Dynamics (see "Policy/DPI Testing Announcements: MU Dynamics Tests Carriers' Application Aware Networks" - here), I thought their merger may be interesting:

Spirent announced that it has ".. entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Mu Dynamics, Inc. (“Mu”), based in Sunnyvale, California, for a cash consideration of $40.0 million. Mu is a security testing pioneer, offering innovative solutions that enable faster, higher quality deployments of Cloud applications and applications-aware networks".

Dave Kresse (pictured), CEO of Mu Dynamics said: “Mu has built a powerful software solution set for our customers, enabling them to test security and application-aware networks .. We’re excited that this transaction will accelerate the global deployment of our solutions, and enable their integration into Spirent’s leading performance test solutions”.

"Spirent expects to consolidate $9.0 to $10.0 million in revenue post-acquisition in 2012, with a positive return on sales. For the first full year post-acquisition in 2013, revenues are expected to be in the range of $17.0 to $19.0 million operating at Spirent’s average return on sales, resulting in a positive enhancement to earnings and achieving an attractive return on investment, in line with Spirent’s objectives".

See "Spirent communications plc signs definitive agreement to acquire Mu Dynamics, inc." - here.

Spirent Announces 10GE Mobility, Bandwidth Management and Network Intelligence Testing Module

Spirent announced "..  TestCenter HyperMetrics mX [datasheet - here] modules enable carriers and their network equipment suppliers to navigate the complexity of converged network elements, ensuring that they perform at scale with realism .. Spirent TestCenter HyperMetrics mX modules greatly simplify and accelerate high-scale mobility, core network, mobile backhaul, routing, access and application testing .. Spirent HyperMetrics mX ensures:

• Mobility with high scalability of mobile data sessions, delivering high-performance multi-play applications with seamless mobility between 2G/3G and LTE networks, all critical for an uninterrupted user quality of experience (QoE)
   

• Bandwidth Management with emulation of [6]millions of subscribers under real-world network conditions, including an unprecedented number of applications being delivered concurrently, such as QoE-aware live IP video streaming along with voice, web based applications
   
• Network Intelligence with the delivery of the mobile multiplay experience by combining high performance stateful traffic, high-scale routing, access and mobile control plane on a single module

See "Spirent Ensures Performance and Scalability of 4G/LTE Networks" - here. See also "DPI Testing: Sandvine Chooses Spirent" - here.

Vendors Form Connexus - OTT Video Monetization Architecture for ISPs

 
My colleague, Dean Bubley, tweeted last night (here) on the subject of OTT video monetization by MNOs:  "Increasingly convinced that idea of MNOs "monetising OTT apps" is a complete chimaera. Wishful thinking. More likely money-flow is other way". Dean also linked a 3GPP work program that "deprioritised the key standard & put it "on hold" (here).
 

Obviously vendors in this space think differently. 4 of them - Avvasi, BroadHop, Commprove (see "BroadHop and CommProve Offer Integrated RAN Congestion Management Solution" - here) and Spirent (here) have just formed Connexus.

"Service providers who want to monetize OTT video have an opportunity to create enormous value and therefore lucrative new revenue streams, however market fragmentation and lack of collaboration in the OTT value chain is preventing a pragmatic path to this opportunity. CONNEXUS is a disruptive architecture that enables a unique way of collaboration between vendors, service providers, content providers and advertisers to accomplish the shared goal of maximizing subscriber quality of experience, and delivering new video services and therefore new revenue streams for the entire ecosystem".

 

Connexus Architecture

Connexus is an "architecture seeks to address this issue holistically by bringing together vendors committed to an open ecosystem for OTT and multi-screen video service delivery, to enable service providers to build QoE-differentiated  video subscription services which sets the stage for content monetization and ad revenue".

The CONNEXUS architecture will focus on three primary goals:

1. Promoting the notion that service providers need to monetize OTT video and deliver a high quality of experience in order to fund the infrastructure capacity that will meet subscriber demand
    
2. Leveraging existing standards and associations to define how OTT video is delivered and monetized, and facilitate interoperability within the ecosystem
    
3. Accelerating the availability of integrated best of breed solutions across the OTT video ecosystem

See the press release - "CONNEXUS Ecosystem Unveils Architecture that Highlights New Possibilities for Monetizing OTT Video Traffic" - here.

DPI Testing: Sandvine Chooses Spirent

  

Spirent announced that it was selected by Sandvine to "verify the performance of its network policy control solutions under mobile network conditions. With Spirent’s mobile core testing solution, Sandvine can ensure its Policy Traffic Switch (PTS) supports stringent mobile requirements such as high volumes of subscribers with dynamic IP traffic flows"

See "Sandvine Chooses Spirent for Mobile Core Testing of Network Policy Control"  - here.

"Also used by leading mobile operators worldwide, Sandvine is utilizing Spirent Landslide Mobile Core Test Solution to comprehensively emulate 3G/LTE mobile networks with millions of subscribers accessing a multitude of mobile applications and to test how its PTS responds in the mobile core network. As the industry’s only solution that emulates real-world traffic models, Spirent Landslide emulates all of the key mobile core data network elements, and combines control plane and data plane simulation. This provides realistic emulation of millions of mobile nodes in various stages of activation, deactivation, and hand-off between cells, all while transmitting and receiving real-world application data".

Spirent Landslide emulates up to 800,000 mobile nodes and 2,000 network components in a single chassis; up to 32 chassis can be used together.

See also:

• MU Dynamics Tests Carriers' Application Aware Networks - here
• How to Build DPI Products? (Part IV - Performance Testing) - here