Viavi solutions, INC, proposes to establish a hybrid physical lab infrastructure and cloud-based testing lab-as-a-service (laas) or valor

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded VIAVI Solutions Inc. a $27,470,523.75 Project Grant under the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program (CFDA 11.038). The purpose of this 3-year grant is to establish a hybrid physical lab infrastructure and cloud-based Testing Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) platform called VALOR. VALOR aims to create a fully automated, cooperative, open, and impartial Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS) offering dedicated to Open RAN interoperability, performance, and security testing. The grant will enable VIAVI to empower Open RAN component providers, regardless of scale, to leverage the LaaS in a cost-effective manner. VALOR's services will range from cloud-based environments for preliminary testing to extensive multi-cell load and stress testing, utilizing a continuous integration/delivery/testing (CI/CD/CT) model. The project intends to close two major Open RAN testing gaps - pre-certification, pre-badge development and system verification with ongoing testing, as well as pre-deployment realistic and carrier-grade performance testing.

Activities

Using a hybrid model, valor intends to empower open ran component providers to leverage laas in a structurally cost-effective way that the ntia grant will further augment, regardless of the scale of a component provider's operation. Valor's services range from cloud-based environments for preliminary testing to extensive multi-cell load-and stress testing, previously inaccessible to smaller vendors, all utilizing a continuous integration/delivery/testing (CI/CD/CT) model.

Expected outcomes

The project closes two major open ran testing gaps -- pre-certification, pre-badge development and system verification with ongoing testing, and pre-deployment realistic and carrier-grade performance testing. Valor aims to achieve an over three-fold improvement in laas automation and a four-fold improvement in cloudification.

Intended beneficiaries

This project targets an approximately 78% improvement in total test cost affordability for small and medium size open ran vendors; will instill operational confidence in smaller open ran vendors and innovators, particularly those that may not have the resources to establish a dedicated testing lab during the development and system verification stages, and the cloud-native, pay-as-you-go software-as a-service (saas) model allows for pre-certification and pre-badging testing, thereby improving accessibility and affordability for smaller vendors, subrecipient activities: the project does not have any subrecipients.