Segron Automated Testing Framework (ATF)

SEGRON’s Automated Testing Framework (ATF)

ATF is a product of SEGRON’s Business Solution product platform, designed to offer feature-rich and high-performance verification.

It meets the demands of the latest technologies by providing expert testing solutions that facilitate rapid service verification while ensuring the highest quality and efficiency.

Why SEGRON ATF?

The average engineer could execute about 10 test case per day.

As recently as 2004, networks were structured simply enough that software and configuration changes could be tested manually by engineers.

Since then, both diversity and volume of testing have increased dramatically. Why?

1. More Complex Networks

First, networks have become more complex. Today, in addition to core network technologies, every telecom operator has to maintain and test at least 3 radio access networks in parallel (2G/3G/LTE), which are often multi-vendor implementations. 5G and network virtualization are on the horizon, meaning that this complexity is only going to increase.

2. Development Methodologies

Just as networks are getting more complex, agile development methodologies, widely adopted by network and software vendors, are radically compressing version cycles. The result? Software updates/upgrades are being pushed out more rapidly and under more considerable time pressure.

3. Telecommunications Expansion

At the same time, the telco service portfolio is quickly expanding. Widespread LTE adoption, for instance, introduced another network layer without “cleaning up” old legacy services. As a result, services like mobile fax and circuit-switched data remain in use and thus require continuous maintenance. Expect 5G to bring similar challenges.

4. Higher Stakes

As if this weren’t enough, ubiquitous mobile data usage has made not just businesses, but consumers–even society itself, really–dependent on telco service quality. Transparency and ease-of-use continue to drive up usage, but this puts pressure on telcos to offer services that are more and more complex to produce.

5. Greater Quality Impact

On the one hand, continuously evolving telco services have become mission critical for both individuals and businesses in the last 15 years. Thousands of services (voice, messaging, data browsing, mobile internet access, gaming, etc.) have been built up on top of the “always on” telco infrastructure. For this reason, small service interruptions can have an outsized business impact. At the same time, new regulations have made it easier than ever for users to switch providers. This means the only way to ensure quality of service and retain subscribers is continuous network testing.

What has changed?

Today, an engineer can manage about 6 test cases per day.

Based on the changes we’ve seen, it’s easy to understand why. But what else has changed between 2004 and today in terms of testing?

Surprisingly, not much!

Industry-leading operators still struggle with their manual testing approach. Expensive experts and armies of engineers have to be brought in for test execution and analysis; test campaigns are routinely shortened to meet the project timelines, increasing the risk of failure, leading to lost customers and revenue.

Our solution

Our solution to the problems we’ve outlined above is the result of several years of development.

All of our IT, testing, and know-how have been brought together in a unique tool: SEGRON ATF, a framework-based End-to-End test solution that empowers engineers to perform several hundred test cases per day. The result is network quality improvements and shortened time-to-market.

Key Benefits of SEGRON ATF

Just as testing is becoming more complex, its value is becoming more pronounced. By improving test coverage and speeding up time-to-market, SEGRON ATF can reduce not just testing costs, but network quality issues and operational bottlenecks. Our system prioritizes ease of use and ease of integration in order so that you can focus on delighting and retaining your customers.

Quality Improvements & Cost Reduction

By using SEGRON ATF, MNOs can achieve higher test quality in record time. The result is a significant reduction in costs and more optimal overall resource usage.

Shortened Time-to-Market & Improved Testing Process

By running SEGRON ATF in an existing testing environment, operators can optimize processes and shorten time-to-market for product deployments of all sorts. The solution can be used in parallel or in conjunction with manual testing to ensure optimal quality assurance in any network environment.

Keyword Driven Testing

Easily readable, technology-independent test case design. Users can quickly and easily write test cases on their own.

Powerful Reporting & Analysis

SEGRON ATF generates test reports that add value for both reporting management and troubleshooting e-mail alerts which can be configured to send notifications when network issues are detected (applicable for 24/7 testing).

Latest Out-of-the-Box Devices.

Ready for 5G and IoT. Our end-to-end testing approach features the latest out-of-the-box Android and iOS smartphones without any rooting or jailbreaks. This means that tests are performed with exactly the devices / firmware versions that end-customers will be utilizing.

Integration with Major Network Equipment

SEGRON ATF is designed to integrate with the MML and GUI configuration interface for all major IT and Telco equipment suppliers. This enables flexible configuration and log file analysis to ensure the highest possible test quality.

Test-ready Out-of-the-Box (OTB)

>10,000 test cases automated for all possible telco test scenarios. Areas like VoLTE, VoWiFi, CS, PS, VPN, emergency calls and many others are covered and available out-of-the-box.

End-to-End product characteristics

Deliver your services with speed and quality. Based on numerous years of IoT, field trial, and commercial deployment experience on both operator and vendor side, SEGRON testing solutions are tailored to: improve quality, reduce project duration, and reduce project costs. Our test framework is designed to meet your most exacting technical needs without sacrificing ease-of-use or readable reporting—the exact things that testers need to maintain a positive ROI.

Beyond End2End® Product Characteristics

Testing providers place a lot of value on end-to-end frameworks, but simply tracking success or failure, even for end-to-end processes, can still leave a lot to be desired. SEGRON ATF is designed to go deeper, offering users test data that covers the space between your endpoints (e.g. signalling patterns, etc.). This means that it can uncover errors and potential service issues that otherwise remain hidden, even in cases where all relevant tests seem to pass.

SEGRON ATF – Automated Testing Framework (ATF)