Three levels of parallelism shrink test time and cost

 

Sunnyvale, CA – February 1, 2010 – Until now, only a select few customers have gotten preliminary details about LitePoint’s newest product. Designed to handle PHY testing of 2G, 3G and the most advanced 4G cellular standards, such as LTE, the IQxstream™ will pack three levels of test parallelism inside one box. It is LitePoint’s unique answer to the increasing challenge of keeping test time and costs from spiraling upwards as new devices with additional and different radios and standards continue to emerge.

Market Context

With upwards of 1.5 billion wireless devices being produced each year, hundreds of billions of test seconds are spent calibrating and verifying them. The new devices, such as smart phones, tablets, and other mobile Internet devices will compound the time and cost seriously threatening already thin margins.

“LitePoint is addressing a critical need, here,” said Phil Solis, practice director at market analysis firm, ABI Research. “Any innovations that can substantially reduce test time and cost in this frenetically paced and hypercompetitive market should be well received.”

Sneak Peek

Those heading for Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress this month will have a chance to see IQxstream, first hand, as LitePoint will showcase the new tester at its booth, there (Hall 2 Space J11). “We will be performing live LTE product tests demonstrating the IQxstream’s LTE capabilities,” said John Lukez, director of product management. “Visitors will see IQxstream doing real-life testing of a real-life product based on the most advanced cellular standard.”

Parallelism Cubed

This advanced tester plows new ground in test methodology and technology. Capitalizing on LitePoint’s large installed base and market-leading position in multi-radio connectivity testing with its IQ2010 product, LitePoint designers have now taken that system’s technology for parallel testing and added parallel analysis using multicore processing plus the ability to test as many as four devices in near-parallel fashion with a single box. With three levels of parallelism – something the designers refer to as “parallelism cubed” – IQxstream immediately and substantially reduces the time and cost associated with testing each device. “It will certainly establish a new baseline,” Lukez added.

Availability

Current plans call for first deliveries summer of 2010. Pricing will be announced along with more detailed specifications in the second quarter of 2010