Growing international demand for the broadband industry’s first performance testing specification for indoor Wi-Fi, Broadband Forum’s BBF.398 standard, has led to Allion Labs (Taiwan) being approved as a new testing lab.
Allion Labs joins Broadband Forum’s existing test lab, University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL), to help service providers around the world to select optimal Wi-Fi solutions and deliver guidance to vendors bringing products to market.
Broadband Forum notes that network operators and equipment vendors use the BBF.398 standard to evaluate home Wi-Fi device performance across receiver sensitivity, throughput, coverage, multiuser support, anti-interference, and stability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
“Broadband Forum welcomes the expertise of Allion Labs in testing Wi-Fi network equipment and delivering on the requirements of service providers. Allion’s contribution to delivering a standardized Wi-Fi system, and its feedback and recommendations on behalf of its customers on BBF.398, will benefit the wider broadband connectivity ecosystem,” commented Broadband Forum’s managing director, Ken Ko.
A recent BBF commissioned survey showed that over 85% of service providers reported that the majority of subscribers use a Wi-Fi home gateway supplied by the service provider.
Broadband Forum's Ko continued, “The combination of data-hungry services, like 4K streaming and VR, and users’ tendency to conflate Wi-Fi performance with their external broadband connection means service providers need to optimize Wi-Fi performance as an intrinsic part of their broadband service. A broad implementation of a unified performance testing specification will help ensure the service providers’ end-users have access to a superior customer experience, whilst minimizing operating and maintenance costs.”
Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, Allion Labs has branches across the globe, providing customized product testing and validation services for IT, IoT, automotive, and entertainment industries. They join Broadband Forum’s Wi-Fi testing initiative in response to demands from its customers, including original design manufacturers (ODMs) and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) as well as world-leading service providers and consumer electronics companies across Asia, Europe, and America, for a way to effectively validate Wi-Fi performance.
“Wi-Fi’s ability to provide near-ubiquitous in-building coverage means its role in expanding home-working, service rich entertainment, smart building services and the IoT-enabled home or business is guaranteed. A standardized, service provider managed and assured Wi-Fi market will ensure that this connected ecosystem thrives,” said Allion Labs’ business development manager and wireless expert, Thomas Chang.
Wireless certification expert Allion has actively participated in outlining the test proposals of BBF.398 and executing the trial runs. Allion will continue to provide BBF.398 consulting and assist worldwide developers to meet the performance standard.
“BBF.398 is a critical tool for creating a performance network ecosystem to benefit every player – from the equipment manufacturer to the network operators and service providers, right down to the end user – in an increasingly connected environment," continued Allion's Chang. "We look forward to continuing our close relationship with Broadband Forum and taking an active role in ensuring the requirements of service providers and equipment vendors are met."
For more information about the Broadband Forum, visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/.
To read more about the latest work on BBF.398, visit: https://www.broadband-forum.org/technical/download/TR-398_Issue-2.pdf.
For more information about Allion Labs, visit: https://www.allion.com/.
To learn more about Allion’s BBF.398 services, visit https://www.allion.com/aiot/tr-398-test-service/.