Crowd-sourced network testing and analysis company Ookla has acquired testing company Solutelia and its Wireless Intelligence on-Demand (WINd) solutions, declaring that together the two companies will “disrupt and forever change the wireless network test and measurement industry.”
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The advent of 5G is resulting in substantial changes to the physical footprint of networks, which will require more cell sites and more intelligent, complex radio networks,” Ookla said in its release announcing the acquisition. “This radical shift in the industry means that network operators need to be able to massively scale their testing and optimization efforts, without a commensurate increase in operational spending. Solutelia’s revolutionary approach to data collection has fundamentally reimagined drive and walk testing, creating process efficiencies and delivering instant network insights, while removing operational complexity and reducing network management costs.”
Solutelia’s flagship WINd Pro offering is a handset-based testing solution that covers cellular technologies and Wi-Fi, with both indoor and outdoor test modes, the ability to connect up to 16 handsets plus a frequency scanner and testing support for voice (including POLQA), video, data, messaging and streaming video, with a combination of real-time streaming key performance indicators, on-device processing and “near-real-time” post-processing for data analysis. The company says that part of its aim is to reduce the need for on-site wireless testing expertise. Solutelia’s portfolio pulls together capabilities from several other vendors, with scanner support for devices from PCTel, integration with iBwave for indoor testing and existing native support for Ookla Speedtest. The company also has a services division for in-house site design and on-site testing, with engineers and testing techs who use Solutelia’s software to provide live streaming updates of walk or drive tests and on-site report generation, which it says results in up to 50% faster benchmark testing.
“The addition of WINd will bring much deeper network insights and testing capabilities to Ookla’s enterprise customers,” said Doug Suttles, CEO of Ookla. “Over the past few years we have invested in solutions and talent to help our clients solve more engineering-grade problems. Acquiring Solutelia is another concrete example of Ookla helping our clients more accurately measure and continuously improve their deployed networks.”
“We are thrilled to be joining Ookla,” said Mohssen Davari, CEO of Solutelia. “Our mission has been to redefine mobile network performance measurement with near-real-time analytical capabilities that drive operational efficiencies and faster network improvements. We first partnered with Ookla to integrate its best-in-class Speedtest software, and now together we will bring the benefits of the WINd software platform to the global marketplace.”
Ookla says that its existing device-based testing products already provide operators with visibility into network performance, quality, coverage, user density, data usage, consumer satisfaction and other KPIs, and that Solutelia’s WINd platform will “allow operators to turn that network intelligence into immediate action in the field” as well as enable Ookla to provide an end-to-end offering for testing mobile networks from planning to site verification, optimization, monitoring and performance assurance.
