In Chandler, Arizona, VIAVI Solutions has inaugurated its VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service (VALOR) Open RAN testing facility. With funding from the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund of the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), VALOR provides a fully automated, transparent, and unbiased Lab-as-a-Service / Test-as-a-Service suite for Open RAN performance, security, and interoperability. 
By giving users access to test capabilities that were previously exclusively available to big, established operators, VALOR tackles the obstacles to accelerating the deployment of Open RAN and fostering competition.
VALOR Fostering Open RAN
VALOR now makes it easier to develop and implement Open RAN technologies with its highly automated, on-demand “pay-as-you-go” approach to standardized testing.
This allows start-ups and new entrants to achieve U.S. certification without having to make sizable investments in hardware and software.
VALOR is the first test service to be authorized by the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) for their system performance certification program. It is a complement to the majority of currently operating industry testing labs and helps improve readiness for the certification, badging, and acceptance tests at OTICs and CSP labs.
Customers may quickly sign up for the service, schedule and set up tests, and generate reports targeted for pre-deployment simulation, security, system verification and pre-certification performance, and technology development through a dedicated web site.
NITRO Wireless Open RAN Test Suite and VAMOS Framework
The NITRO Wireless Open RAN Test Suite, the industry-leading partners’ technologies, and the VAMOS (VIAVI Automation Management and Orchestration System) unified framework for hybrid physical and cloud lab testing are all combined into VALOR.
These include a large ETS-Lindgren RF anechoic chamber for Massive MIMO and beamforming over-the-air (OTA) performance testing, a joint O-RU testbed with Rohde & Schwarz for O-RU conformance and network energy saving tests, and “golden” Open RAN-compliant O-CU, O-DU, and O-RU reference technologies from Fujitsu, SOLiD, and Capgemini.
VALOR combines cloud, intelligence, automation, and digital twin technologies with VIAVI’s industry-proven performance and interoperability tests for 3GPP and Open RAN.
Services include end-to-end testing with core emulation and TeraVM RAN scenario generator RIC/SMO tests encompassing conformance and performance validation and training of rApps and xApps, as well as TM500 O-RU and O-DU and TeraVM O-CU subsystem conformance, performance and interoperability testing, and end-to-end testing. In the end, the service will provide more than 500 test cases that meet 3GPP, TIFG, O-RAN WG4, WG5, WG11, and WG standards.
Key Comments
“The grand opening of the VALOR lab is an important step in democratizing Open RAN testing for technology vendors by providing them with rapid access to comprehensive end-to-end solutions for everything from product development to performance stress tests,” said Oleg Khaykin, President and Chief Executive Officer, VIAVI. “Supporting the services of existing industry test labs, VALOR closes existing test gaps and is set to play a key role in accelerating Open RAN adoption and encouraging new entrants to the Open RAN ecosystem.”
“We know testing and evaluation is critical to Open RAN’s success and look forward to seeing the impact of these grants for years to come,” said Sarah Skaluba, Special Policy Advisor for Telecom Policy and the Innovation Fund, NTIA.
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