By: Cecil Taylor
Mobile Metrics

A major testing decision for WiMAX access and core network vendors and carriers is the classic build-or-buy decision. Should they develop in-house test tools, or purchase a commercial tool suite?

Increasingly across the software industry, the answer is to purchase a third-party tool set. The trend in business is to focus precious resources on the company's core mission, and to purchase, outsource, sub-contract, or otherwise delegate other tasks to specialist companies.

Besides this generic business rationale, there are sound, specific reasons for deciding to utilize third-party tools in your WiMAX lab.

Credibility of Third-Party Verification
You are able to tell your customers that your product has been verified against an external, commercial tool. A third-party tool offers independent, unbiased exercise and assessment of your product. Other companies have tested against the same tool; if their products can pass its test cases, then yours must be able to do the same. This is especially important in an uncharted area like WiMAX.

Shared Learning
A tremendous advantage of commercial tools is the fact that they become industry standards. A third-party tool reflects the experience, knowledge and requirements of several competing companies, not just one.

Higher Quality
A commercial test system also becomes more robust from rigorous use by multiple companies in multiple settings. A system bug can be discovered in one setting and prevented in others. In-house tool users are disadvantaged by having to find every bug that will ever be in their tool. Again, in a new product environment like WiMAX, it's especially important to reduce time and increase quality by benefiting from shared learning across the industry, represented by the third-party tool.

No Dedicated Staff Necessary
In today's environment, it's hard enough to get funding for your WiMAX research and development. A tools team is hard to continually fund and maintain; it is constantly a target to be eliminated or reduced. You can focus your scarce resources on your primary product.

Keeping Up with the Needs of R&D
Because a tools team is typically underfunded, especially as time goes on, it cannot keep up with the needs of the R&D teams it serves. A third-party company is more able to provide timely solutions, and to do so economically because development costs are shared across the industry. This is vital when the WiMAX NWG specifications are churning; a commercial test system again is better equipped to gather and reflect the spec analysis of multiple companies.

Better Features, Sooner
A third-party tools supplier is driven by multiple customers. It will therefore bring key features to its offering in accordance with market demands. Often, when you need a feature, it's already there in the commercial tool. You won't have to develop it in your in-house tool and delay your R&D project. Also, by virtue of seeing a feature in the commercial test system, you get a feeling for what your WiMAX competition is working on, and what features are important across the industry to vendors and carriers.

Not Starting from Scratch
Building an in-house tool from scratch is generally inferior to what a commercial tools provider can do with an existing, well-tested, extensible platform. The quality of the in-house tool will most often trail the commercial tool's quality. Also, the investment in new in-house tools is quite significant and potentially risky to the overall WiMAX project. It's not unusual for an in-house tools team to gate the progress of the product development team. While this can also happen with third-party tools, it's less likely because of the specialized experience and existing software frameworks that a commercial tools provider will possess.

Not Starting on an Inferior Platform
Which is better - taking an existing in-house tool designed for one purpose and modifying it for a new purpose, or modifying a tool that was architecturally designed with future evolution in mind? A wise tools vendor has developed its suite with the express intent of adapting it as new technologies and protocols arise.

Higher User-Friendliness
Another disadvantage of internal tool borrowing is that its user-friendliness tends to be lower. Many more people have used (and given their input) to the third-party tool. It's possible that an in-house tool was developed for one specific group that may overlook its idiosyncracies, while a new WiMAX group won't understand it.

Better Documentation and Support
With in-house tools, documentation is often out-of-date or non-existent, while it's incumbent upon third-party tools vendors to provide proper documentation. Support may also be lacking for in-house tools, especially if the tools team has been dismantled or underfunded. Support is a mandatory benefit offered by commercial tools vendors.

Consultation and Experience
A third-party tools partner can lend its experience and opinion to your WiMAX product development team. For example, when specifications are new, as is the case with the WiMAX NWG specs, it helps to have other voices giving their interpretation, especially when those experts have been talking to people throughout the WiMAX industry.