University of Johannesburg opens Broadband Testing Lab
| September 5, 2005 |
The Department of BIT (Business Information Technology), Faculty of Management, University of Johannesburg officially opened its broadband testing laboratory today. This laboratory uses the latest in hardware and software technologies to accurately test and evaluate South Africa’s broadband services.
The broadband offerings in South Africa, including Telkom’s ADSL, Sentech’s MyWireless, WBS’s iBurst, Vodacom’s 3G and MTN’s 3G will undergo various diagnostic testing procedures to evaluate their Quality of Service and General Performance.
The wireless broadband providers namely, Sentech, Vodacom, WBS and MTN fully supports this exciting initiative by the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Management and supplied the Department of Business Information Technology with free hardware and testing accounts. Some providers even send technical experts to ensure that their service is functioning properly.
The results of this testing will be released in a broadband evaluation report. This report will be available free of charge on the BIT Departmental Website as well as the prominent MyADSL website. It will serve to inform current and prospective broadband users of their choices and the aptness of each option to suit their needs.
Rudolph Muller from the Department of Business Information Technology at UJ sees this as a big step in the broadband arena. “Consumers are not always well informed of their choices in the broadband arena and the actual performance of these services. The broadband evaluation report will serve as a guideline for potential consumers as to the choices they have and which service is most suitable to their needs”, said Muller.
Talania Grobler, Head of the BIT Department, adds: “As a Department we are always trying to work as closely as possible with Industry to ensure that our research is relevant in today’s IT environment. This research will definitely benefit South African consumers and business owners, and it is encouraging to see how strongly Industry is supporting relevant academic IT research.”
Apart from the evaluation that will be done under laboratory testing conditions, the testing also involves a group of over 150 broadband volunteers that will perform various tests using their personal connections. This is definitely the most in depth testing of South Africa’s broadband services that has ever been done.
The first set of results can be expected in the next few weeks and will be included in Muller’s presentation at this year’s ISPA (Internet Service Providers Association) iWeek Conference.