Global Companies Demand Testing Interoperability to Slash Costs, Speed Time to Market, and Improve Customer Satisfaction

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Fanfare, delivering innovative testing solutions to service providers (SPs), network equipment manufacturers (NEMs), and enterprises, today announced that it will help play an integral role in the newly formed Network Test Automation Forum (NTAF). The NTAF will tap into Fanfare's automation expertise to help develop standards for heterogeneous test automation solutions that will help reduce the time, complexity, and cost of device and network testing that is currently plaguing the industry.

The NTAF is a global initiative comprised of representatives from BreakingPoint Systems, BT, Cisco Empirix, Ericsson, EXFO, Fanfare, Ixia, JDSU, Spirent Communications, and Verizon. The goal of NTAF is to create a vendor and device-agnostic framework for testing next-generation networks and services. This kind of interoperability will accelerate time to market, reduce costs, enhance productivity, and contribute to overall improvements in the quality chain.

"We have known for years that automation is the key to accelerating the testing process, and with the forthcoming development of standards, automation's strategic role has reached the next level," said Tom Ryan, president and CEO of Fanfare. "Customers will benefit greatly from the NTAF standards because they will no longer be held hostage by vendor-specific solutions. They will also be spared the significant time and effort involved in developing specific, home-grown automation solutions that require significant resources to maintain."

Many organizations run a combination of in-house and commercial test automation solutions. Due to the proprietary nature of these solutions, test assets cannot be easily integrated with suppliers' or customers' solutions. A heterogeneous test automation solution integrates test assets and automates complex system testing using hardware and software from a variety of different vendors. It also enables broader use across the quality chain, from the development stage through to customer testing sites. The result is a strong test automation platform for sharing test assets that reduces product release cycles while enhancing the overall quality of product being released to the marketplace.

The market demand for integration between test equipment and test automation software has grown over the years alongside the increased complexity of devices and networks that support advanced, bandwidth-intensive applications. The NTAF advocates the creation of a customer-centric, device-agnostic framework that meets the needs of customers and the industry as a whole. Through the agreement and adoption of multi-vendor technical architectures for test automation systems, test engineers and lab managers will benefit from accelerated deployment of next-generation network products and services.

"Our goal is to provide complete transparency in the Forum's activities and ensure a level playing field for all members," said Keith Kidd, president of NTAF. "By encouraging industry-wide participation, NTAF is working toward establishing interoperable testing solutions for service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and other enterprise organizations with large network deployments."

About Fanfare

Fanfare provides automated testing solutions that enable service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and enterprises to enhance productivity throughout the quality workflow by streamlining system and device testing, reducing product cycles, and lowering costs. Using Fanfare, quality assurance teams and developers can leverage a common testing platform to deliver quality services and products to market faster and more efficiently.

About Network Test Automation Forum (NTAF)

The Network Test Automation Forum brings together users, vendors, and other telecommunications and data communications industry experts for the purpose of creating interoperable testing solutions for service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and other enterprise organizations with large network deployments. 

NTAF is professionally managed by Association Management Solutions (AMS).  For over a decade, AMS has provided leading technology groups, associations and standards bodies with a powerful combination of experience, dedicated staff, internal technology development, event services and strategic marketing resources to meet its client's goals. Some of AMS' clients include: Broadband Forum, IETF, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), MultiService Forum (MSF) and the Gaming Standards Association (GSA) www.ntaforum.org  

SOURCE Fanfare