Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance has granted membership to Anritsu Corp., making it the first test solutions vendor to become a member of this key industry alliance. The company’s technology experts will help the Alliance devise strategies for maximizing the availability and service quality of the new mobile network technologies adopted by its members and integrate requirements of testing and service quality assurance.

Peter Meissner, operating officer of NGMN Ltd., said, "To ensure proper end-to-end interoperability of terminals, network infrastructure, service platforms, and legacy systems already during the standardization and early system design phase is crucial for the successful development and deployment of next generation mobile systems. NGMN is glad to have Anritsu on board, along with other test solution providers and testing houses, as this will greatly help us to achieve our challenging objectives and to make the vision of NGMN reality."

Jonathan Borrill, director of market strategy, commented, "As Sponsors of NGMN, Anritsu is very excited to contribute in a number of areas which will help the industry assure that the devices, networks and services for NGMN come to market with the right level of quality to meet user expectations. Our role will be in helping to ensure that testing and service quality assurance requirements are correctly addressed within the activities of the NGMN community, so enabling a smoother rollout of networks."

The NGMN Alliance was founded in 2006 by leading network operators to develop a coherent vision for the mobile industry's evolution towards next generation mobile broadband networks. Its primary objective is to create a virtuous cycle of investment, innovation and adoption of mobile broadband services with competitive price-performance ratios. NGMN supports and complements the work of existing standards development organizations by establishing clear performance targets, fundamental recommendations, functional requirements, and deployment scenarios.

The accomplishments of NGMN in 2007 include agreement on a new IPR regime, clarifying the spectrum requirements for the next generation of mobile networks, initiation of trials for various candidate technologies and continued contributions to standards development organizations. The 2008 roadmap of the NGMN Alliance emphasizes the need for the finalization of the relevant standards, focuses on developing the required elements of the ecosystem, and on getting results from technology evaluation studies and validation trials.