This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Fanfare was a U.S. technology company located in Mountain View, California, which developed automated testing software that enables telecom service providers, network equipment manufacturers, and enterprises to automate quality testing of their products and services. Fanfare's flagship test automation product, iTest is built for testers, developers, and automation specialists. iTest automates feature, black box, and regression testing to accelerate system and device testing throughout the quality process. Fanfare was bought by Spirent Communications in early 2011.
Fanfare was founded in 2004 by Kingston Duffie, Denise Savoie, and Carl Hubbard. A serial entrepreneur by nature, Duffie also founded Turnstone Systems, which went public in 2000; and Whitetree Inc., a network switch maker that was acquired in 1997 by Ascend Communications. Fanfare was the first company to commercialize an automated testing product that addressed the testing challenges around increasingly complex network devices.[ citation needed ] To get the job done, feature testers and device testers tend to rely on traditional script-based automation, a time-intensive approach that requires highly trained manual testers to accomplish. With this approach, it can take hours or days to set up devices, configure test beds, and communicate basic test reports. Language barriers from geographically dispersed QA teams exacerbate the problem, resulting in duplicated efforts and reduced productivity.
Additionally, scripting skills were phased out of college engineering programs, resulting in a shortage of skilled scripters. Testers without a wide range of scripting abilities are often unable to contribute to the testing process, resulting in further automation backlog. At the same time, telecom service providers are struggling to keep up with the demand for more bandwidth, wireless and services. The increasing popularity of video, and need for wireless connectivity and broadband speed, is taxing existing networks, and network testing to verify the continuous stream of software updates to network applications can't keep up with volume. The testing requirements are growing exponentially but the resources and techniques cannot keep pace.
As a result, products and services can be released to market without undergoing the proper testing. Quality suffers, as do companies’ bottom lines as time to market is dependent on how quickly testing can be completed.
Duffie identified this critical void in the market, recognizing the need for software that simplified device and network testing. Fanfare released its first product to market in July 2005, and continues to enhance its product offerings to solve these ongoing challenges.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for voice calls for the delivery of voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet.
Wireless local loop (WLL) is the use of a wireless communications link as the "last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service (POTS) or Internet access to telecommunications customers. Various types of WLL systems and technologies exist.
In software testing, test automation is the use of software separate from the software being tested to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes. Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or perform additional testing that would be difficult to do manually. Test automation is critical for continuous delivery and continuous testing.
Teradyne, Inc., is an American automatic test equipment (ATE) designer and manufacturer based in North Reading, Massachusetts. Teradyne's high-profile customers include Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instruments and IBM.
In voice telecommunications, least-cost routing (LCR) is the process of selecting the path of outbound communications traffic based on cost. Within a telecoms carrier, an LCR team might periodically choose between routes from several or even hundreds of carriers. This function might also be automated by a device or software program known as a least-cost router.
A home network or home area network (HAN) is a type of computer network that facilitates communication among devices within the close vicinity of a home. Devices capable of participating in this network, for example, smart devices such as network printers and handheld mobile computers, often gain enhanced emergent capabilities through their ability to interact. These additional capabilities can be used to increase the quality of life inside the home in a variety of ways, such as automation of repetitive tasks, increased personal productivity, enhanced home security, and easier access to entertainment.
A service delivery platform (SDP) is a set of components that provides a service(s) delivery architecture for a type of service delivered to consumer, whether it be a customer or other system. Although it is commonly used in the context of telecommunications, it can apply to any system that provides a service. Although the TM Forum (TMF) is working on defining specifications in this area, there is no standard definition of SDP in industry and different players define its components, breadth, and depth in slightly different ways.
Machine to machine (M2M) is direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless. Machine to machine communication can include industrial instrumentation, enabling a sensor or meter to communicate the information it records to application software that can use it. Such communication was originally accomplished by having a remote network of machines relay information back to a central hub for analysis, which would then be rerouted into a system like a personal computer.
Spirent Communications plc is a British multinational telecommunications testing company headquartered in Crawley, West Sussex, in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Devicescape is an American developer of client/server software services for wireless networking connectivity, analytics, and context-awareness. Founded in 2001 as Instant802 Networks, the company was renamed to Devicescape in January 2005. Devicescape is a venture backed private company.
RF Drive testing is a method of measuring and assessing the coverage, capacity and Quality of Service (QoS) of a mobile radio network.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a now obsolete technical standard for accessing information over a mobile cellular network. Introduced in 1999, WAP allowed at launch users with compatible mobile devices to browse content such as news, weather and sports scores provided by mobile network operators, specially designed for the limited capabilities of a mobile device. The Japanese i-mode system offered another major competing wireless data standard.
Expense management refers to the systems deployed by a business to process, pay, and audit employee-initiated expenses. These costs include, but are not limited to, expenses incurred for travel and entertainment. Expense management includes the policies and procedures that govern such spending, as well as the technologies and services utilized to process and analyze the data associated with it.
Mobile device management (MDM) is the administration of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, and laptops. MDM is usually implemented with the use of a third-party product that has management features for particular vendors of mobile devices. Though closely related to Enterprise Mobility Management and Unified Endpoint Management, MDM differs slightly from both: unlike MDM, EMM includes mobile information management, BYOD, mobile application management and mobile content management, whereas UEM provides device management for endpoints like desktops, printers, IoT devices, and wearables as well.
Ericsson-LG is a joint venture company owned by the Swedish group Ericsson (75%) and the South Korean group LG Electronics (25%). Founded in July 2010, Ericsson-LG designs and markets devices for telecommunications network operators and enterprises in South Korea.
Objective Systems Integrators (OSI) is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports software products which automate the monitoring, control, delivery, and management of services for multinational corporation service providers including:
Hammer Technologies Inc. is a privately held company which designs and manufactures service assurance testing and monitoring equipment for IP-based communications networks such as Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)-based, next generation network and 5G wireless networks. Hammer offers enterprise and carrier grade products as well as quality assurance products for network equipment manufacturers. Hammer is headquartered in Billerica, MA. On April 21, 2021, Hammer was acquired by Infovista, a Network automation software. Infovista, which is majority owned by Apax Partners France, today known as Seven2, said the deal “brings together a team of over 1,000 professionals serving over 1,700 customers across more than 150 countries, including 23 of the top 30 CSPs globally[1].”
Mobile application testing is a process by which application software developed for handheld mobile devices is tested for its functionality, usability and consistency. Mobile application testing can be an automated or manual type of testing. Mobile applications either come pre-installed or can be installed from mobile software distribution platforms. Global mobile app revenues totaled 69.7 billion USD in 2015, and are predicted to account for US$188.9 billion by 2020.
Unified communications (UC) management is essentially the management of unified communications; it refers to the systems used by enterprise organizations to automate their enterprise communications services and the voice network infrastructure that those services run over.
Viavi Solutions Inc., formerly part of JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU), is an American network test, measurement and assurance technology company based in Chandler, Arizona. The company manufactures testing and monitoring equipment for networks. It also develops optical technology used for a range of applications including material quality control, currency anti-counterfeiting and 3D motion sensing, including Microsoft's Kinect video game controller.