IMS Forum, the only industry association dedicated to interoperability and certification of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Next Generation Networks (NGN) applications and services, and Aricent, a global technology and service company, have announced the launch of www.TestNGN.org, which hosts an industry-wide collaborative platform of comprehensive test cases for the validation of IMS and NGN equipment and services.
www.TestNGN.org offers the industry's first community-based, open repository for NGN testing that allows network equipment manufacturers and service providers to significantly reduce the time, complexity, and cost required to introduce next generation networks and services, including equipment such as multimedia gateways, home subscriber and application servers, and services including voice and multimedia over IP, converged Web-telephony services and IPTV.
The repository will allow equipment manufacturers and service providers to download, post and share global testing experiences, quickly creating a high value knowledge base. This approach will help minimise the time spent on test case development, planning, writing and preparation, and accelerate the testing cycle for NGN architectures while reducing complexity and time to market.
"There is increased competition in the consumer and enterprise multimedia markets, with an urgent need for NGN equipment manufacturers and service providers to get new products and services to market quickly," said Michael Khalilian, chairman of the IMS Forum and NGN Forum. "This joint effort between Aricent and the IMS and NGN Forum complements our landmark IMS Plugfest interoperability events. With easy access to downloadable test cases, equipment manufacturers will reduce their testing times and be assured of consistent compliance with the latest standards. Service providers will benefit from the ability to carry out their own end-to-end testing, and will be able to swiftly verify vendor assurances of NGN compliance testing. This site was designed to provide a major addition to the multi-vendor, multi-network environment created for our IMS NGN Plugfest interoperability test events to further accelerate the deployment of Next Generation networks and services."
The IMS Forum's TestNGN and Interoperability Working Groups are focused respectively on the product interoperability, reliability and operational and management issues associated with converged IMS and NGN applications and services delivered over wireless (3G, LTE), wireline (DSL, optical) and cable broadband. The groups ensure that converged applications and the vehicles which deliver such services will be timely and well supported from a provisioning, billing and management systems perspective.
Aricent has developed an extensive NGN testing practice, employing more than 1,600 test engineers and test consultants. The practice has over 70,000 test cases for wireless, VoIP and IMS, all designed to speed the worldwide delivery of Next Generation networks and services.
"We are proud to be working closely with the IMS and NGN Forums to co-develop an innovative method of accelerating the standardised introduction of cutting-edge NGN products and services," explained C P Murali, senior vice president at Aricent. "Access to the professionally managed NGN test cases benefits both equipment manufacturers and services providers. This should lead to reduced development times for the whole NGN industry."