Spirent Communications, the global leader for lab and test automation solutions, on Thursday announced the release of Velocity 6.0, the automation platform that creates a Lab-as-a-Service (LaaS) environment targeting next generation network labs. Spirent Velocity 6.0 schedules, orchestrates, manages and monitors testing of physical and virtual network equipment as well as software. This powerful LaaS test orchestration platform enables users to quickly create and execute complex test scenarios resulting in efficient utilization of lab resources and improved return on lab expenditure. 

The Spirent Velocity 6.0 software release expands upon the platform’s previous capabilities to support a wider range of labs and associated technologies such as 5G mobile, NFV and SDN, consolidated global network labs, DevOps CT/CI test-as-a-service, and just about any modern lab embracing automation as a way to accelerate innovation and delivery.

Some of the notable advancements included in the Velocity 6.0 release are: An enhanced enterprise-class, highly available, fault tolerant framework, expanded list of supported virtual environments, advanced priority-based resource conflict resolutions, A unified lab management and test management user experience and Integration of the fiber-layer switching technologies, including RF switches and digital L1 switches from Calient and Netscout.

“The process of rolling out new products and services is shifting from specialized labs to general purpose and even production networks. Physical layer isolation and ‘air gaps’ are an essential component of delivering testing-as-a-service and the DevOps mission. The Velocity 6.0 platform seamlessly integrates fiber layer switching into the test environment to enable resource sharing, automated topology creation, and test case serialization in physically isolated and secure test beds,” said David Altstaetter, Vice President of Product Line Management at CALIENT Technologies.

“The all-new Velocity 6.0 is the platform companies need today to begin the transformation of their labs, and to future-proof them as testing-as-a-service becomes mainstream. There is a tremendous opportunity to re-imagine how products and services can be produced using faster development cycles and platform-independent test labs. With Velocity 6.0 and iTest 6.0, our customers are able to consolidate environments and streamline processes that enable DevOps software development lifecycles, effectively redefining the essence of the test lab and how it is managed and consumed,” said Patrick Johnson, General Manager of Automation Platform Technologies for Spirent.