Fanfare works behind the scenes to improve carrier nets

Fanfare doesn't make networking devices, it makes networking devices better

Fanfare doesn’t make the networking devices that service providers use on their next-generation networks. It makes those networking devices better.

That’s the pitch from Tom Ryan, CEO of Fanfare, a venture-backed start-up founded in 2004 to automate, simplify and speed up the mostly manual process of testing network devices.

Fanfare’s software is used by 28 network equipment manufacturers including Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel-Lucent, Aztek Networks, SilverPeak and Edgewater Networks.

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Fanfare doesn’t make the networking devices that service providers use on their next-generation networks. It makes those networking devices better.

That’s the pitch from Tom Ryan, CEO of Fanfare, a venture-backed start-up founded in 2004 to automate, simplify and speed up the mostly manual process of testing network devices.

Fanfare’s software is used by 28 network equipment manufacturers including Cisco, Juniper, Alcatel-Lucent, Aztek Networks, SilverPeak and Edgewater Networks.

"Hardware devices are growing in complexity, but the testing of those devices is still in the Dark Ages," Ryan says. "Manufacturers like Cisco have thousands of manual testers."

FanfareSVT software automates the process of creating re-usable test plans and running them hundreds or thousands of times to validate the functionality and performance of equipment. The software also measures pass-fail criteria and generates documentation that can be easily shared.

"When we talk to our customers, they say quality assurance represents 30% of the effort required to release a product and 50% of the timeline," Ryan says, adding that Fanfare is one of the only commercial software vendors offering solutions in this space.

In late May, Fanfare introduced the iTest Personal product line, which helps configure test beds, execute tests and generates reports. While FanfareSVT is designed for automation teams, iTest is a simplified product that is optimized for individual developers.

With automated testing, manufacturers can run more tests in a shorter time frame and ideally detect defects earlier in the process. This should result in the shipment of higher-quality equipment to service provider and enterprise customers.

With Fanfare’s software, "device quality is going to go up and the reliability of the devices is going to go up because of the all the testing they can get done," says David Gehringer, vice president of marketing for Fanfare. "We help get better-tested products to market faster."

Fanfare officials say their software is good news for enterprise customers of the carrier services based on them. Indeed, Fanfare recently started selling its software to service providers to validate the performance and interoperability of the network equipment they are purchasing.

"We have two or three customers that are very large telcos, worldwide brands," Gehringer says. "They spend weeks or months testing a new piece of equipment before it goes onto their nationwide or international network."

Both manufacturers and service providers are using Fanfare test cases to validate equipment.

"Fanfare test cases are the lingua franca between the end customer and the manufacturer," Gehringer says. "Both parties want to work in an environment of automation that quickly resolves bugs and disputes."

Alcatel-Lucent used FanFare on its Litespan product line. A company spokesman said that using Fanfare "at least doubled the productivity of the entire team."

Juniper has been using FanfareSVT for three months on the development of a new product.