A major industry milestone was reached on June 6th when the Network Test Automation Forum’s (NTAF) first specifications were approved unanimously by forum members. Ixia is a founding member of NTAF -- an organization dedicated to promoting interoperability of testing tools for the data communications and telecommunications industry -- and has been a leader in driving these standards to completion. Earlier in the month, NTAF held its first annual board meeting in Washington DC. Highlights of that meeting included:

• The newly-elected board taking over from the old board of directors. Ixia continues to play a significant role, holding one of the 4 elected officer positions on the board.
• A live demonstration by the NTAF technical committee, showcasing interoperability of tools from 4 vendors.
• Ixia demonstrating NTAF-based consumer as well as provider solutions. Ixia also demonstrated an NTAF specification-based Test Conductor solution seamlessly controlling Ixia’s IxN2X product line, as well as products from other forum members
• Ixia’s Kenneth Green being recognized (by unanimous vote!) for his initiative, and being awarded the NTAF “champion award” for his leadership and contributions to the NTAF specifications.

The NTAF specifications define mechanisms for network entities (whether lab equipment or software automation tool harnesses) to publish information that will allow other entities to integrate with them and control them. The specifications also describe how these entities can register themselves and discover other NTAF entities that may be available within their environment. Broad adoption of these standards will enable comprehensive test automation, speeding development time and allowing customers to get high quality products to market quickly. So what’s next for NTAF? One area of focus is network lab topology management, where NTAF will look to leverage the work done by the TesLA alliance. The TesLA specifications have already been submitted for review by the NTAF technical committee. Another key focus is driving adoption of the new specifications. Ixia already has a head-start on this, having demonstrated both consumer and provider NTAF-based solutions, and will continue to lead the way. For more information, please check out the Ixia NTAF FAQ or visit the NTAF website.