Listen to this articleAzimuth Systems delivers wireless performance test solutions to recreate real world device-network interaction and its impact on user experience. Azimuth’s recently released Virtual Network Environment (VNE). VNE is the industry’s first solution for creating and controlling a complete HetNet radio environment in the lab. Below is our interview with Vivek Vadakkuppattu, VP of Product Management and Marketing at Azimuth Systems:
Q: Tell us something more about Azimuth Systems and your core competence?
A: Founded in ’02, Azimuth Systems, is a leader in performance test solutions for wireless. We are involved wherever there is a wireless link (cellular, Wi-Fi, other proprietary technologies). We have a lot of industry’s firsts to our credit such as the first Wi-Fi test solution, first MIMO test solution, and most recently the industry’s first radio environment emulation solution. We take pride in our deep understanding and knowledge of the RF environment. Specifically, our expertise is in radio environment emulation for wireless (ex. cellular, Wi-Fi), performance testing, and recreating field environments in the lab. We use all this to deliver one key thing to our customers “help them test with the greatest confidence that the results they see in the lab is reflective of what they will see when they go to the real world (field)”
Q: Who is your ideal customer and why?
A: While the entire cellular ecosystem (operators, infrastructure, chipset, handset vendors) and other verticals (car-to-car, drones, IoT) use us for a variety of applications, we have seen that teams whose focus is on performance testing are the ones who benefit the most from our solutions. To put this in context, there are two kinds of testing at a high level, conformance (which is mandatory and can be viewed as the bare minimum standard) and performance testing (which can be viewed as going beyond). While there are quite a few companies that offer conformance testing solutions, there aren’t those many that offer valuable performance centric solutions. This is where our strength is.
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Q: What are main benefits of using your ACE RNX Radio Emulator?
A: (Traditional) channel emulation is fine for testing single-link, planned environments, but it’s inadequate for testing HetNet. For that, you need environment emulation. This is why we launched the RNX. The ACE RNX was launched as a purpose built platform for testing LTE-A HetNet and beyond. The first environment emulator in the industry, the RNX delivers innovative new capabilities to address the technical and logistical challenges of testing LTE-A:
- Industry’s first and only environment emulation capability (enabled by the Virtual Network Environment (VNE) capability) that is the only viable solution for testing HetNet in the lab
- Industry’s only environment creation wizard, Scenario Builder that makes it easier for users to create and test complex scenarios
- A cloud architecture that maximizes testbed utilization
- Advanced RF Performance
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Q: Could you explain the function and advantages of your Virtual Network Environment (VNE)?
A: Operators are looking to small cells (think of a cellular equivalent of your Wi-Fi access point) to meet the growing need for high speed data; a network that uses cells of different sizes is called a heterogeneous network (HetNet). One of the challenges introduced by HetNet is the increased interference. While technologies include mechanisms to combat this interference, these mechanisms increase the overall complexity thereby making traditional test solutions obsolete due to technical and logistical reasons. VNE is the industry’s FIRST and ONLY solution for creating and controlling a complete HetNet radio environment in the lab so that these complex mechanisms can be tested in the lab comprehensively in a practical manner.
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Q: What can we expect from Azimuth Systems in next six months?
A: As I mentioned earlier, we just launched the industry’s first environment emulation capability which is going to revolutionize how testing is done today. We are working on some innovative solutions around this capability geared towards LTE-A HetNet and emerging technologies that we plan to bring to the market in the next 6 months.
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