Spirent Communications and SGS Wireless partners

21 October 2008, 8:39pm

Sunnyvale, Calif. - (October 21, 2008) — Spirent Communications plc (LSE: SPT), a global provider of performance analysis solutions and service management solutions and SGS Wireless (SWX: SGSN), the world’s leading inspection, verification, testing, and certification company have signed an agreement to provide validation and testing services on the Spirent UMTS Location Test System (ULTS) at the SGS Wireless laboratory in Cambridge, UK.

Under this agreement SGS will provide Spirent with validation services to ensure that the Spirent ULTS stays at the cutting edge of Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) testing capability. This will ensure that the Spirent ULTS test case coverage continues to expand and address the industry’s future testing needs. In addition, SGS will use the world-leading Spirent ULTS to provide A-GPS testing services to the cellular handset industry.

SGS will provide on-going validation services for existing PCS Type Certification Review Board (PTCRB) and Global Certification Forum (GCF) certified test cases, as well as for new test cases for the forthcoming OMA Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Version 2.0 Enabler Test Specification. PTCRB certification is required for A-GPS-enabled products sold into the North American market. GCF certification is needed before many network operators outside North America will consider a product for deployment on their networks.

SGS will use the Spirent ULTS to provide A-GPS certification and other testing for its many cellular handset and network operator customers. The Spirent test system allows the full range of RF and signalling conformance test cases required by the GCF and the PTCRB to be run using a single platform.

“SGS are very pleased to be providing these services to Spirent Communications and the cellular industry”, said John Midwood, Engineering Manager of SGS Wireless Europe. “It enables Spirent to take advantage of the specific expertise SGS has in testing GPS enabled devices, while advancing the wireless industry’s deployment of the new SUPL V2.0 standard. SGS Wireless Europe has a strong reputation for quality, being accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to ISO 17025 standards”.

“We are delighted to be working with a leader like SGS. In addition to the validation work that SGS will be providing to us, this will also enable them to provide Certification services to their customers using ULTS,” said Richard Catmur, Location Product Segment Manager at Spirent Communications. “The Spirent ULTS is recognised as the leading test platform for A-GPS and is used by every major handset manufacturer, network operators and independent certification labs worldwide.”

Spirent had been the leading provider of A-GPS test systems since the beginning of this decade for GSM, WCDMA and CDMA handsets. Spirent A-GPS test systems are used by all the world’s leading A-GPS chipset developers, handset manufacturers, network operators and certification labs to test the conformance and performance of mobile A-GPS technology.

www.spirent.com/go/ults

Geo: International