C. Eynard, M. D'Angelo, G. Rossi - Telecom Italia
Innovative testing approaches in telecom environment
In this paper we propose to gather some innovative approaches to testing in the telecom environment that we have fruitfully designed and applied in the past decade in Telecom Italia testing labs. Testing lab mission encompasses all varieties of tests of interest for a telecom operator ranging from cables and material physical and chemical analysis to value added services performance measurements in the mobile access. Special care is devoted to end to end testing of services and functionalities throughout the overall architecture of the telecom network, both fixed and mobile.
Differently from traditional approaches that foresaw separate lab niche environment to test specific branches of the network some years ago we decide to create a unique and complex environment that reproduces with adequate fidelity the network already in operation and to be. We dedicate strong care and very high level people expertise in order to manage in an internalised way such a complex environment where several different test campaigns are performed in parallel at the same time. We usually do not manage the infrastructure with a division of time approach and only allow reservations to avoid contention over resources. We operate the lab like a real environment in which every service has to be available simultaneously to the others.
The environment is organised and managed in a such a way as to make it easy and affordable to employ people from the innovation, from the operations or even people outside Telecom Italia to come and join testing activity without requiring a deep expertise of the test plant feature but being able to concentrate on their specific interests and topics. This minimizes the number of people constantly devoted to testing execution while sharing the burden among a wider set of people that have at the same time the opportunity to get acquainted with new technologies in a safe environment rather than dealing with it for the first time directly in the operations.
Comparative testing techniques
An alternative approach with respect to traditional verification and validation tests has been defined which is particularly effective when performances of several manufacturers need be assessed and compared in a relatively short amount of time. Instead of executing basic test list agreed with providers , manufacturers are required to execute a set of ‘exercises’ in parallel in separate but equivalent environments adequately prepared in our labs.
Reporting e anomalies management
A key aspect for efficient testing is the time effective documentation and distribution of results. Weekly reports allow to give an adequate updating for short activities (few days for test preparation and execution, while providing sufficient check of the evolution of longer activities, covering several weeks or even months.
Automatic test for extended overnight operation
Time to market is a key aspect for services and product development and often delays of preceding phases are accumulated at the expense of the time frame devoted to testing. Therefore it is important to be able to take advantage of all available time intervals before product acceptance moment. For all situations where it is possible to create automatic systems that allow the execution or simplification of tests, taking advantage also of otherwise dead periods such as nights, adequate systems have been created or adapted.
Testing park
The creation of a complex but well regulated environment has given us the possibility to host teams of even other companies that can take advantage of the very rich test plant both in equipment, connections and tools. Therefore this service allows to make use of the test plant, of testing labs and of the LAP, in order to make tests campaigns with own personnel. In the service contract also the collaboration of testing lab personnel may be foreseen for logistics support, training, configuration, test set up and reporting. The test environment is also used for training sessions with practical experience in direct contact with technology.
Lap
accredited testing lab services
Our laboratories are yearly controlled by national competent authorities in order to be accredited to a act as third party. This require us to ensure several key aspects that add quality to the lab way of working. In particular people preparation (number of execution of specific test in the preceding years; adequate formation).
Since the beginning of the 90s, the LAP operates testing activities for telecom systems and services. Thanks to advanced lab infrastructures, LAP proposes its activities both internally and outside the group to companies operating in the ICT sector. It offers testing services and other activities ranging hw and functional aspects, fixed and mobile terminals, pbx and optical systems, information tech security and network interoperability thanks to integration networks reproduced in our test plants.
Material lab and test protocol choice
We offer third party services of analysis and testing of materials used in network and telecom equipment, with reference to telecom Italia technical specs and applicable standards. Object of the tests are the network materials employed in cable construction and other types of equipment.
Crowd testing
Testing of end to end services that do not require the employment of specific and complex tools but just need the use of normal end user terminal equipment may be efficiently carried out by means of a technique called crowd testing. The activities are assigned to large basis of people that work only for a limited fraction of their working time. The overall process, distribution and assignment of test lists, compilation of test Main advantages are the rapidity with which we get comparative results and the feeling of how mature the technology really is. We deploy, with our employees, the necessary tool to support this process, to assure the best know how on what we really need.
Activities from remote
The lab network infrastructures are adequate to permit the performance of most tasks remotely. The first advantage is to enable savings in room cooling and noise isolation, not being present staff in the equipment room. People can work from the office or eventually from home, increasing the speed of intervention and the possibility of intervention regardless of geographic location.
Furthermore, the lab network, while respecting the necessary security policies, is interconnected to the network in operation and equipped with public addresses. These properties allow the external intervention, such as the vendor for the analysis of anomalies, external use, such as usage from TIM Brasil during the night, and the execution of trials in mixed conditions of laboratory and field.
Exploratory Testing
Such techniques, as exploratory testing are applied in a new approach not to sw modules but to service applications.
One advantage of exploratory testing is that we can involve employee with no specific preparation. We successfully used this approach in Vertical Platforms environment where requirements are not always clear and Time to Market is the main constraint.
Test as a Service (TaaS)
Considering Testing as a Service we can play as a Test Factory engaged by an external or internal customers, converting operations expenses to revenue opportunities.
Innovation, not just in ICT
Finally, the laboratories are used as test environments, development of innovative solutions and patent proposals on issues other then ICT. The environments were used to test, for example, new conditioning techniques and battery power supply.
