Wireless

Going deeper with automation. How to tame complexity in wireless networks

Test automation in virtualized networks

A conversation with James Hopson, Product Manager of Telecom Solutions, Luxoft

 

Testing is an area where automation is crucial as we move to virtualized, complex and dynamic networks, where more elements and vendors have to interoperate, and operators have to ensure everything works as expected.

“Until today, the automation has been mainly about writing scripts to execute tests against a fixed test bed. The setup of the test bed was typically manual. The setup of the equipment that you were testing was typically manual, as well, or preconfigured by the vendor,” James Hopson, the Product Manager of Telecom Solutions at Luxoft told us.

In the NFV space, the whole environment has become fluid and flexible. The vendor component that we’re trying to test has to be configured, and it usually can be configured in different ways in the NFV environment.

James believes that virtualization is a driver for automation in testing: “The testing tools in the NFV environment have a lot of configuration options, a lot of capabilities, so most of our testing is trying to determine what is the best option for those various components, as well as working out the best orchestration within a fluid environment. The challenge is the limitless number and types of configurations possible, coupled with the speed at which new hardware hits the market and software iterations are released.”

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