‘Over 100 companies signed up for mobile internet testing in Q1, 2012’
What are the hot spots for test and measurement industry, today?
Since last year, there is a lot of buzz around mobile internet. Although it is a star ng phase for mobile internet, I am excited about it as the usage of 3G and 4G would increase. Several companies are shi ing to mobile internet internet space. Convergence of voice, data, and video is driving mobile internet.
Applica on security is gaining momentum, it is going to be really hot. Building robust applica ons is very cri cal. Applica ons drive devices, devices drive network, and network further drives applica ons.
Have you partnered with any companies for mobile internet?
Globally, we have signed up deals with 100 companies in Q1, 2012 for mobile internet tes ng. Simultaneously, we are working with a few large players such as NTT DOCOMO, China Mobile, China Telecom, and Singtel. Also, we are working with some carriers in the APAC region. We have an alliance with the tradi onal Indian players such as Tata and airtel.
What are the complexi es thrown open by the mobile internet?
Mobile internet demands very sophis - cated user experience, eg, email, voice, and Voice over IP are being used simultaneously. It has also introduced a lot of new services like cloud service. There is an upsurge of smartphones. All these needs sophis cated tes ng including carriers.
The quantity or density of those emula ons is significant. Technically, carriers are relying more on the number of subscribers. There will be narrow work trouble if many subscribers access the same service on the same network. Carriers are very interested in tes ng narrow work trouble and fixing it.
Technological complexity from LTE is the tes ng data. The other complexity on 4G phones is loca on based services. We basically simulate the base sta ons, antenna, and everything behind base sta ons—servers, routers, and access network. We simulate OS infrastructure behind it, but now a smartphone should have video, internet, and email, which is bringing in complexity.
There should be a faster connec on between servers and devices. So, all these requires us to do more tes ng.
What are the new tes ng methodologies being evolved?
We are combining tradi onal RF tes ng with data plan tes ng. It requires a lot of emula on on data traffic. Now, the buzzword in tes ng is Performance, Availability, Security, and Scalability (PASS). When customers flip through a tablet, they would give up if the speed is low. Therefore performance is crucial.
Also, security is a very important factor and we do not want anyone to hack our systems. Similarly, scalability is very crucial for service providers, as performance should stay the same even if subscribers increase.
malinin@cybermedia.co.in