Author: Jim Hodges, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading

Summary

Given the number of variables operators are facing, with such a diverse set of applications and smartphones always on the network, estimating and testing the network performance impact of new and existing applications can be very complex. This white paper examines and quantifies the challenges specifically associated with testing and introducing new IP-based services.

Challenges

While tightly intertwined, the challenges can be broken down into three distinct categories for the purpose of evaluation:

• Quantifying the network and business impact of running a diverse set of applications
• Defining the network impact of IP devices, such as smartphones
• Define best practices for testing these networks using real applications
  

Requirements

At a high level, next-generation testing tools must have:

• Real-time modeling capabilities of today’s (and tomorrow’s) applications
• Enhanced library store for an extensive number of profile test cases
• Third-party testing support
  

Solution

By leveraging the actual traffic captured from a real device running a given application with user operations, a next-generation tool is able to transform the original exchange into a test scenario that truly mimics the application, device, and user behavior. Running these tests concurrently, a high scale environment can be reproduced ensuring the network perceives production-like users and application.

Benefits

• Operator can quickly model new applications and versions in the test environment to determine the network impact and performance.
• Results can be used to devise new network policy strategies.
• Share test profile data with trusted third parties to shorten application introduction cycles, while minimizing the potential for catastrophic adverse effects.

Use Cases

• Application scalability testing
• Application enablement with policy control and QoS
• Application and device security testing

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