Telecom Lead India: Rohde & Schwarz, Tektronix Communications and Agilent Technologies are focusing more on products that impact mobile network operators’ customer satisfaction.
For instance, test and measurement major Rohde & Schwarz expanded its portfolio of solutions focused on the three key aspects that impact: devices subscribers use, networks they use them on and services and applications they use, the company announced at CTIA 2013.
In June 2012, Rohde & Schwarz enhanced its portfolio with the acquisition of SwissQual, a provider of drive test, optimization and benchmarking solutions for measuring network quality of service (QoS).
To increase focus on usage domain, Rohde & Schwarz acquired ipoque in May 2011, a company that uses deep packet inspection technology to enable network operators to analyze, control and monetize the traffic running on their network, allowing them to address many of the issues that are critical to them today such as over-the-top revenue leakage, tiered pricing, and traffic optimization.
Roland Steffen, head of Test and Measurement at Rohde & Schwarz, said: “Rohde & Schwarz has expanded its portfolio of test solutions to ensure device quality, maximize network performance and provide insight into customer usage, which ultimately empowers operators to deliver the quality of experience that their customers expect.”
T&M solutions provider Tektronix is also expanding its network portfolio. Tektronix Communications announced the launch of solutions including its GeoSoft RAN virtual probe designed to help mobile service providers gain 24×7 end-to-end network visibility, with deep insight into the RAN at a fraction of previous costs.
According to Tektronix Communications, approximately 70 percent of subscriber reported network issues originated in the RAN. However, traditionally, mining data from deep within the RAN has been both a complex and costly exercise.
Tektronix Communications’ new virtual software-based GeoSoft RAN solutions provide a more flexible, lower cost alternative, supporting the needs of RAN network operations and engineering teams responsible for troubleshooting and responding to these network issues.
Robert Froehlich, director, Radio Access Solutions, Tektronix, said: “Radio access network operations and engineering teams spend numerous hours manually troubleshooting with tools like drive testing and toggling among as many as 15 tools used that could be consolidated into just one or two.”
Tektronix says the cost savings from its RAN software solutions and the GeoSoft RAN virtual probe gives these teams an opportunity for productivity improvements with quick payback. This is an extreme improvement especially as operators look to build out from 2G and 3G to LTE networks.
“Having evolved from an assurance and monitoring business, into a full service intelligence provider, we’ve come to understand that our big data and analytics solutions are actually at the core of many of the most critical workflows within a service provider’s business, from network operations to the RAN to care to marketing,” said Lyn Cantor, President of Tektronix Communications.
Another T&M player Agilent Technologies recently showcased its test solutions at an event. These networking solutions provide single connection for multiple measurements of HDMI and WiGiG components. Driven by the PNA-X network analyzer, this millimeter wave solution can characterize a transmitter/receiver system with a single connection to the device under test.
In addition, Agilent’s PNA-X network analyzers enable users to easily perform noise figure measurements up to 50 GHz with accuracy. Agilent’s 8507xE.07 series software makes it easy to measure electromagnetic material properties. The new user interface adds more traces, multiple charts, advanced trace math and marker functions to help analyze data in intuitive ways that were not possible before.
These network solutions are significant for India as Indian mobile users always complain about poor quality of services primarily because of poor network.
