Viavi Solutions and the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) announced on Tuesday a collaboration to expand the testing capabilities of the VIAVI Automated Lab-as-a-Service for Open RAN (VALOR).
VALOR, made possible by a US$21.7 million grant from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund (PWSCIF), provides fully automated, open and impartial testing and integration for Open RAN. VALOR provides a pathway to certification in the U.S. for new entrants, startups, and academia and ensures interoperability, performance, and security of Open RAN components.
TIP, a global consortium dedicated to advancing and adopting open and disaggregated networks, thrives on the collective contributions of its member companies. These contributions are critical to bringing innovation to the industry and facilitating a collaborative environment where technologies are developed, tested, and certified, ready for deployment.
VIAVI’s involvement with TIP exemplifies this collaborative spirit. By bringing VALOR’s test-as-a-service capabilities to TIP, VIAVI advances the mission of TIP’s OpenRAN Project Group (PG) and enhances the broader industry’s ability to implement and certify Open RAN technologies.
TIP-authorised labs expand on the success of TIP’s network of Community Labs. This collaboration will streamline the certification process by VALOR becoming the first TIP-authorised test lab, reducing duplication of efforts and accelerating time-to-market for Open RAN solutions. TIP’s and VIAVI’s strategic cooperation promotes innovation and broad industry alignment, driving widespread adoption of Open RAN technologies globally.
“Through this appointment of VALOR as one of the TIP’s authorised labs, we are committed to advancing the Open RAN landscape by providing robust and streamlined testing frameworks,” Kristian Toivo, executive director at TIP, said in a media statement. “Comprehensive end-to-end testing ensures that Open RAN systems meet high-performance standards and are robust enough to handle real-world network complexities, thereby maintaining service quality and reducing downtime. In addition to the extreme performance testing, VALOR’s Open RAN virtual testing environment brings new capabilities to TIP Labs and the community.
He added that this strategic engagement fosters innovation, improves supply chain resilience, and accelerates the global adoption of Open RAN technologies, offering operators more flexible, cost-effective, and high-performance network solutions.
“The collaboration between VIAVI and TIP enhances Open RAN system maturity by addressing multi-vendor deployment challenges, ensuring end-to-end system level performance testing from different vendors,” according to Dr. Sameh Yamany, chief technology officer at VIAVI. “VIAVI’s participation in TIP’s OpenRAN PG and Test and Validation Committee is supporting the creation of industry test plans at a global level. VALOR supports comprehensive end-to-end testing to verify performance, stability, and security under real-world conditions.”
Additionally, he noted that this initiative aims to reduce market fragmentation, create supply chain efficiencies, and build marketplace confidence through standardised testing and certification processes.
Strategic Collaboration Overview:
VIAVI and TIP’s collaboration to expand VALOR’s testing capabilities for Open RAN is poised to significantly reduce integration time and costs and improve data reliability and performance, resulting in the collective progress of open and disaggregated networks globally.
