Following up on the success of securing government funding for the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN, better known as VALOR, Viavi Solutions Inc. has announced a strategic collaboration with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) aimed at expanding testing capabilities. The partnership also establishes VALOR as the first TIP-authorized test lab, reducing testing duplication and further promoting global Open RAN technology adoption.
The VALOR Lab is currently under construction in Chandler, Arizona. Source: Viavi Solutions Inc.Made possible by a $21.7 million grant from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) spread over a three-year performance period, VALOR is based on Viavi’s NITRO Wireless test portfolio and delivered through Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) and Test-as-a-Service (TaaS) models.
As explained by Viavi when the grant was announced at the start of 2024, VALOR is designed to manage and support 5G and Open RAN projects that would benefit from access to tools and expert staff with a minimal ramp-up time. Viavi’s role is to provide dedicated engineers (on-site or off-site), automated test processes, access to comprehensive testing capabilities and expertise, standard and customized tools and libraries, and assistance with demonstrations. The service is designed to empower Open RAN component providers to leverage LaaS in a structurally cost-effective way to be further augmented by the NTIA grant — regardless of the scale of a component provider’s operation.
Through its new collaboration with TIP, Viavi is advancing the mission of the OpenRAN Project Group and enhancing the broader industry’s ability to implement and certify Open RAN technologies.
Some of the highlights of the new collaboration include:
- Key benefits and contributions: VALOR offers cloud-based and virtual testing capabilities critical for modern, scalable network performance assessments. These capabilities will be incorporated into TIP's system performance certification program, providing a robust and flexible testing framework for component vendors and operators.
- Enhancing testing capabilities: Viavi and TIP will enhance VALOR's testing capabilities that build on top of the O-RAN test specifications. This comprehensive approach will support the TIP community by ensuring that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities.
- Establishing VALOR as the first authorized test lab: VALOR will become the first of TIP’s network of authorized test labs, streamlining the certification process, reducing duplication of efforts and accelerating the time-to-market for Open RAN solutions. Additionally, establishing VALOR as one of TIP's authorized test labs ensures a high standard of testing and certification processes.
- Developing a system performance certification framework: TIP’s community will leverage VALOR’s testing capabilities to help build a robust system performance certification framework, promoting innovation and industry alignment.
The two companies said that their collaboration is poised to significantly reduce integration time and costs and improve data reliability and performance, resulting in the collective progress of open and disaggregated networks globally.
