CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA) today unveiled the XAir solution to the crowds at 4G World in Chicago, demonstrating live how operators can now use one solution to validate LTE base station performance and bring enhanced network quality of experience to their networks. As the first comprehensive LTE base station validation solution, XAir creates true mobile user behavior to provide operators with performance insight to make informed equipment selection, design resilient mobile networks, accurately plan capacity and quickly troubleshoot problems. Attendees of 4G World in Chicago from October 29 to November 1 can visit booth #332 for a live demonstration.

LTE performance optimization

LTE is the fastest-growing mobile technology ever, with the LTE infrastructure market projected to grow to $17.5 billion by 2016, according to leading research firm Infonetics. But before operators spend billions of dollars on LTE equipment and deployments, they must evaluate and validate the network QoE before it is deployed live to subscribers. LTE base stations are at the heart of LTE networks, and as such, their performance, capacity and quality significantly affect the perceived network QoE.

Ixia’s XAir is the industry’s only product to support three critical dimensions of LTE network validation, realistic subscriber and service modeling, massive scalability, and comprehensive QoE measurements. Support of all three elements is critical to properly evaluate LTE base stations. XAir provides realistic subscriber modeling, supporting web, voice and video applications, all LTE mobility types, and modeling of radio characteristics — cell edge, cell center and user movements. With support for more than 1,000 emulated user equipment’s per sector and more than 6,000 per chassis, XAir is a highly scalable solution. Using XAir carriers can optimize voice quality, including voice over LTE (VoLTE) and video quality by stressing the infrastructure with real-world traffic and measuring QoE. Other features include:

• Complete end-to-end LTE network testing from the LTE base station, through the mobile backhaul and core networks, all the way to the data center.
• QoE analysis and scoring of each traffic stream.
• Mobility over multiple sectors.
• Built-in high-accuracy 10 MHz clock for eNB synchronization.
• Fully compatible with the Ixia XM and XG chassis and load modules for seamless testing with other Ixia hardware and test applications.

Industry commentary

“As LTE grows in popularity, so does the need to quickly and accurately measure and optimize mobility performance, and that all starts at the base station,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst, mobile infrastructure and carrier economics, at Infonetics. “Mobile users expect a high quality of experience from any 4G service that is rolled out, which is dependent on the base station’s performance. Battle-testing these base stations with true user application behavior and scale is a competitive advantage for the Ixia Xair solution.”

“As consumers continue to adopt LTE-ready devices, it’s important that operators are able to offer these services while adhering to the expected quality of experience and ensuring that base stations are ready for real-world traffic,” said Joe Zeto, director, product marketing, at Ixia. “The XAir solution provides operators with actionable insight into LTE network performance to pinpoint and address issues end users will face, allowing them to maintain a high QoE. As the industry competes by introducing more and more LTE-based services, the XAir allows operators to accurately manage the performance of LTE base stations and bring these products to market faster.”

About Ixia

Ixia provides the industry’s most comprehensive converged IP network validation and network visibility solutions. Equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprises and government agencies use Ixia solutions to design, verify and monitor a broad range of wired, Wi-Fi and 3G/LTE equipment and networks. Ixia test solutions emulate realistic media-rich traffic and network conditions so that customers can optimize and validate the design, performance and security of their pre-deployment networks. Ixia intelligent network visibility solutions provide clarity into physical and virtual production networks for improved performance, security, resiliency and application delivery of cloud, data center and service provider networks. For more information, visit www.ixiacom.com.