Jump to content, skipping navigation

Spirent Logo

Investors | Careers | Facebook | LinkedIn | Support | Twitter | YouTube

  • What are you Testing?

    Networks

    • 40/100 GbE
    • Cloud Computing
    • Data Centers and Enterprise Networks
    • In-Home Networks
    • IPv6
    • Multiplay
    • Network Impairments
    • Infrastructure Test Optimization


    • CDMA EV/DO
    • LTE
    • Mobile Backhaul
    • Mobile Packet Core
    • UMTS

    Applications

    • Security in Application Aware Networks
    • Ethernet Services on Live Networks
    • Application Performance in Mobile Networks
    • Security
    • Triple Play Services on Live Networks
    • Video and IPTV
    • Voice and IMS
  • What are you Testing?

    Mobile devices

    1
    A-GNSS/A-GPS/A-GLONASS
    CDMA/EV-DO Devices
    Certification/Conformance
    Hybrid GNSS/Wi-Fi/Cellular Location Technology
    LTE & Multi-Mode Device Development
    LTE Devices
    MIMO
    2
    Mobility inter-RAT
    MIMO OTA Testing
    GPS/A-GPS OTA Testing
    Radio Access Performance
    UMTS Devices
    Wireless Receiver

    Network equipment

    • Access
    • Basestation Receivers
    • Firewall
    • Automation
    • Router/Switch
    • Router/Switch (Service Provider)
    • Server
  • What are you interested in?

    Technologies

    • Multi-GNSS Simulation
    • GNSS Simulators
    • GPS Simulation
    • GPS Modernization
    • Galileo Simulators
    • GLONASS Simulators
    • GPS/GNSS Augmentation
    • Beidou/Compass
    • Wi-Fi Positioning
    • Record & Playback

    Solutions for

    • R&D
    • Integration
    • Verification
    • Production Line

    Sectors

    • Military & Defense
    • GPS SAASM
    • GPS Vulnerability
    • GPS Inertial Navigation
    • Transport
    • Automotive
    • Telematics
    • Road Tolling
    • Rail
    • Civil Aviation
    • Space
    • Mobile Devices
    • Telecom & Wireless
    • Chipset & Technology
  • Spirent Products

    Networks & Applications

    • 8100 Location Technology
    • 8100 LTE
    • Abacus
    • Avalanche
    • C2K-ATS
    • DLS
    • GEM
    • Landslide
    • SmartSight Central
    • Spirent cVu
    • Spirent INE
    • Spirent iTest
    • Spirent Studio Performance
    • Spirent Studio Security
    • Spirent TestCenter
    • Spirent TestCenter Live
    • SR5500
    • Tech-X Flex
    • Spirent NoCode
    • VR5

    Mobile Devices & Network Equipment

    • 8100 Location Technology
    • 8100 LTE
    • 8100 UMTS
    • Abacus
    • AirAccess
    • Avalanche
    • AX/4000
    • C2K-ATS
    • CS8 Device Tester
    • DLS
    • GEM
    • GSS5700
    • Landslide
    • MIMO/Beamforming Test System
    • Spirent iTest
    • Spirent TestCenter
    • Spirent TestCenter Live
    • SR5500
    • Spirent NoCode
    • VR5

    Positioning & Navigation

    • GSS4200
    • GSS5700
    • GSS6300
    • GSS6400
    • GSS6700
    • GSS7735
    • GSS7765
    • GSS7790
    • GSS8000
    • SimAUTO
    • SimINERTIAL
    • SimPLEX45
    • TestDrive GNSS

    Spirent Global Services

    • Global Services Overview
    • Support Services
    • Education Services
    • Professional Services
    • About Spirent
    • Lab Links
    • Tested with Spirent
    • Contact us
    • News Room
    • Spirent Social Hub
    • Events
    • Spirent Webinars
    • Spirent Blog
    • RSS Feeds
    • Partnerships & Alliances
    • Investors
    • Board Committees
    • Careers
    • Corporate Governance
    • Ethics Policy
    • PG Drives Technology

Infrastructure Test Optimization

Ensuring infrastructures meet a defined QoS and QoE

You are here:
Home >
Networks & Applications >
Infrastructure Test Optimization
<Back to Networks & Applications
  • Overview
  • iTO Practice Areas
  • Benefits of iTO
  • Solutions
  • Press Releases

Test Optimization for Today's Converged InfrastructureThere is a trend across the board to accelerate time to revenue. From service providers to equipment manufacturers to enterprises—release schedules are escalating, despite the fact that the solutions are more complex.

The test lab is caught in the middle, trying to find a way to do more in less time. In this kind of environment, the tyranny of the urgent can make it difficult or impossible to dig out from under the mountain of expectations.

Do these problems crop up in your test lab?

  • Increasing solution complexity requires increasingly sophisticated tests
  • Pressure to hit deadlines leaves no time to optimize test cases or infrastructure
  • Managing multiple test beds results in time-consuming configuration issues or mistakes
  • Reproducing the circumstances under which an error occurred is very difficult
  • Lack of standards or conventions creates problems for collaboration or handoff to another engineer or team
  • In the heat of the moment, tests aren’t documented and follow up is lacking and incomplete
  • No cross-training on script development leaves you vulnerable if the in-house expert is no longer available

The end-goal is to build a test infrastructure that increases the efficiency of both the test system and the test engineers, while at the same time improving the quality of testing and consequently the quality of your product. But can that realistically be done on top of everything you have to do?

Envision a test infrastructure that accommodates the plethora of tools and interfaces currently in use, that automates repetitive, manual tasks like device configuration and test execution, or even better, that automates the documentation of test execution to provide an audit trail. Imagine a systematic way of developing libraries of test cases that makes collaboration easier, that automates the comparison and archiving of test results, with a decision support system that makes sophisticated test cases possible while minimizing human intervention.

ITO Defined

As important as understanding whether an application or service performs as expected, is understanding whether the network and computing infrastructure performs as expected. This requires targeted testing to determine how well the network and infrastructure copes with change, specifically in relation to PERFORMANCE, AVAILABILITY, SECURITY and SCALABILITY. Infrastructure testing goes beyond typical network testing to include the validation of:

  • Physical & virtual environments, operating systems and CPU
  • Middleware, applications and storage
  • Hardware products and IT/cloud infrastructure
  • Network and network devices

Essentially, infrastructure can be defined as a structured platform of networked elements required to deliver services.

iTO Defined

ITO is the intelligent and sustainable deployment of test resources and systems to maximize test orchestration, collaboration, productivity and execution. ITO is thus a set of test practices deployed to ensure infrastructures meet a defined quality of service and quality of experience required to deliver strategic business objectives. ITO provides organizations with capabilities to help deliver quality products to market more cost-effectively and consistently, maximizing their profitability.

iTO Practice Areas

Practice areas are at the core of ITO. Along with guidance through expert services, they help build a complete, cohesive and collaborative platform to enable optimization of infrastructure testing.

iTO Practice Areas

As shown in the diagram, ITO encompasses five primary practice areas: Emulation and analysis, test automation, manual & developer testing, quality management and lifecycle virtualization. The practice areas collaborate through common, shareable and reusable test assets. Collaborative effort through improved communication between and across practice areas is supported and encouraged. Finally, practice areas may also be complemented by professional and expert services. Together, these elements of ITO enable an organization to test their infrastructures in a holistic and integrated manner and, in the end, help drive business value and innovation.

Emulation & Analysis

Reproducing real-world networks and/or actively simulating real users on the network to ensure infrastructures meet design requirements including: Verification of conformance to networking standards, meeting performance of functional requirements, and measuring performance under load at scale.

Test Automation 

Using tools to establish test pre-conditions, efficiently developing and executing tests, providing in depth reporting, comparing actual versus predicted test outcomes, providing in depth reporting, and handling lights-out regression testing.

Manual & Developer Testing

Testing of the software by developers to verify functionality of new capabilities. Includes manual testing and also establishes documentation as a pre-cursor to QA testing.

Quality Management 

Using tools to link business requirements to test cases, efficiently managing previously specified tests and resources, and tracking defects. Assets under management may include requirements, physical/virtual/lab resources, reports, metrics and defects.

Lifecycle Virtualization 

Providing on-demand access to critical resources needed for testing such as: Environments, servers, devices, databases, defects etc.

Benefits of iTO

Organizations adopting ITO practices are not just looking for new methodologies or tools to implement them. They want to improve the entire test lifecycle, including test orchestration, collaboration and productivity. They look to ITO for specific benefits that include:

Visibility 

Benefits of ITOProvides tools for a detailed drill-down into the quality environment. Helps provide data for analysis to make informed release-based decisions.

Traceability

Helps correlate activities across the entire infrastructure test workflow. This enables full lifecycle versioning and complete traceability from requirements and tests, to defects and remediation.

Collaboration

Provides sharing of knowledge, activities and test assets. This enables teams involved in a common task to achieve their goals more effectively. Collaboration also includes centralized data management, workflow management and shared documentation.

Realism 

Ensures that infrastructure test stimulus is based on real world conditions. This includes accurately emulating network traffic and simulating real users consuming services.

Integration 

Enables interoperability with all the discrete elements in the infrastructure. This allows authoring of highly repeatable, integrated tests, and end-to-end orchestration through workflow automation.

Productivity 

Offers productivity gains through embedded test expertise, improved collaboration, integrated test orchestration, optimum test execution, and efficient utilization of resources.

Solutions

  • Spirent iTestAutomate testing processes to accelerate system and device testing. iTest automates feature, black box, and regression testing to accelerate system and device testing.
  • Spirent iTest Team ServerSpirent iTest Team Server (iTS) can help you get your testing done more efficiently because it provides organizations with a platform for sharing information and working together in teams.
  • Spirent TestCenterExperience the Difference Spirent TestCenter makes to your development cycles
  • AvalancheAvalanche is the most comprehensive and highest performance/capacity L4-L7 test solution available on the market today.
  • LandslideLandslide is the only test platform that simulates real world traffic models to evaluate wireless core packet data networks.
  • Global ServicesGlobal Services Overview for Wireless, Networks & Applications, Positioning Technology and Service Assurance

Events

Press Releases

  • Spirent Advances Testing of Mobile Backhaul Networks for 4G/LTE Deployments Apr 24, 2012Spirent today announced new functionality on the Spirent Anue 3500 to advance mobile backhaul and carrier Ethernet performance testing. With the addition of new timing, synchronization and time of day accuracy testing, service providers and equipment manufacturers are better prepared to validate the mobile backhaul networks deployed to support the new 4G/LTE services.
  • Cambridge Industries Group Drives Research & Development Test Efficiencies with Spirent SolutionMar 26, 2012Cambridge Industries Group leverages Spirent iTest® automation solution to reduce development overhead costs, improve product build times and reduce time-to-market
close
Share this:
  • twitter
  • facebook
  • link
  • gplus

Need more info?

Email Spirent

FIND your local spirent contact

Popular Resources

  • Webinar: Test OptimizationImproved test coverage, resources and collaboration
  • Visit the iTest Community
  • Become a "Tested With Spirent" Partner
  • Technology Partners
  • Download the Spirent iTest ROI calculatorMeasure the benefit of Test Automation
  • Spirent iTest with IBM Rational Quality ManagerDemo of test cases from within IBM Rational Quality Manager
  • Infrastructure Test OptimizationBrochure

About Spirent

  • Investors
  • Careers

Media Room

  • Tested with Spirent Blog
  • Press Releases
  • Top Stories
  • Events
  • Spirent Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
  • Spirent Social Hub

Partnerships & Alliances

  • Channel Partners
  • Technology Partners
  • Memberships & Alliances
  • Labs & Programs

Contacts

  • Contact us
  • Contact Support
  • Become a Partner

MySpirent

  • Register
  • Login
  • Contact us
  • Careers
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Sitemap
  • Resource Library
  • www.spirent.cn

© 2012 Spirent Communications