Overview | Telecom Service Providers | Equipment Manufacturers | Capabilities

Solutions for Equipment Manufacturers

Increased competition and tighter budgets create unique business challenges for the telecom equipment vendor who wants to meet changing customer expectations and maintain profitability. In recent years, network operators have put significant pressure on vendors to meet a variety of challenges-provide equipment with new and improved functionality, reduce their acquisition and operational costs, and reduce the complexity and time required to bring new capabilities to the market.

Challenges faced by Equipment manufacturers:

• Threat of unhappy customers' complaints about networks failing, poor media conversion rates, and less-than-satisfactory service performance.

• Equipment manufacturers also need to ensure interoperability across network and vendor boundaries
  • Nodes compliant to different specifications
  • Inter-working compatibility between different access networks
• Developing IMS ready equipment means working in a multi-protocol environment with evolving standards and proprietary extensions.
• Issue of opening IMS applications servers to the third-party developers.

Aricent's solutions for Telecom Equipment manufacturer

As IMS requirements grow more complicated, the equipment manufacturer needs an organization that can provide a system that controls the capital expenditure, and simplifies design, development, migration, support and testing methodology so that faster development life cycles can be achieved within controlled budgets.

Aricent offers full spectrum outsourcing services for IMS - from design, development, enhancement, migration, service integration services, and testing and support services.

• Network - AS, HSS, I/P/S CSCF, MRFC/P, SBC
• Client - IMS client, SIP toolkits
• Applications - VMS, PoC (Push-to-talk server support and maintenance), IM, Presence

• Application Server (AS) testing and development
• Home Subscriber Server (HSS) testing and development
• Proxy (P)/Interrogating (I)/Serving (S)- Call Session Control Function (CSCF)
  • CSCF testing and development
• Multimedia Resource Function Processor (MRFP)/Multimedia Resource Function Control (MRFC)
  • Development and testing
• Session Border Controllers (SBCs)/Session Border Gateway (SBG)
  • Development and testing

Since Aricent has a strong knowledge and significant experience in developing and implementing protocols involved in the IMS architecture, such as SIP, MEGACO, H.323, MGCP, and Diameter, and a significant portfolio of IPRs in the IMS domain, we provide TEMs with an extra edge of IMS solutions to successfully compete in the IMS market place.

Aricent also has unmatched expertise in end-to-end testing services, including functional testing, conformance testing, and multi-vendor interoperability testing for OEMs operating in the IMS domain. Recognizing the growing need for testing, Aricent has created "The Testing Services Group" - a specialized pool of experienced resources. Also, we have developed an ingenious, ready-to-use IMS Test Framework, supported by a pre-defined robust test suite of a large number of test cases for IMS nodes, such as the I/P/S-CSCF and the Application Server.

Aricent's end-to-end testing in IMS portfolio includes:

• Compliance Testing
  • IMS protocol testing - Testing against up-to minute protocols and standards (Multi- interpretation testing)
• IMS Feature Testing
  • Validating functional aspects of system/ product against specifications
• Negative testing
  • Validating IUT response to non-standard scenarios
• Isolation testing
  • Troubleshooting IUT in seclusion by emulating the network and surrounding devices.

• Anticipatory performance testing/profiling
  • Performance benchmarks validation
  • End-to-end media quality tests
• IMS load testing
  • Validating IUT ability to perform consistently under peak loads and scalability benchmarking
• Stress testing
  • IUT stability under long duration load
  • End-to-end overload and load testing under mix call scenarios (Across signaling and media plane)
• Security testing
  • QoS, Policy, NATing Testing and Validation
• IMS Regression / update Testing
  • Software up-grade and bug fixes are rapidly tested for seamless operation under zero system/ network downtime

• Network interoperability and interface testing - IMS network testing
  • End-to-end testing for IMS for inter-working of network elements and UE with the equipment from multiple vendors and multiple access networks, and the protocol inter-working testing
• Integration testing
  • Incremental integration of IUT in the end-to-end test setup.
  • Multi protocol call flow tracing and analysis
• Deployment readiness testing
  • Testing installation and commissioning readiness of core network elements
• Heterogeneous Access Network Testing
  • Converged Network's Performance Analysis, (Latency, Voice, Quality, Retransmission) before and after IUT introduction.
• Analysis and troubleshooting
  • Faster identification and resolution of complex testing issues in the lab and in the field

• Faster identification and resolution of complex testing issues in the lab and in the field

The Aricent advantage

Equipment manufacturers will become more efficient, focusing resources on a single IMS product line, rather then different products for different markets. They can benefit from

• Reviewed, proven, and acclaimed test strategies/specifications that can be used for testing any IMS node.
• High level of automation guarantees time-to-market advantage by reducing the test-cycle time by 50%
• Overcome the challenge of non-availability of 3GPP-compliant IMS test suites and IMS test plans

Last updated : November 17, 2007 07