Customers

Our Nortel Networks customers include both long-time users like Carrier Networks and new users in such rapidly emerging product areas as OPTera, Shasta, Xros, and others. Reliametrics has worked with selected companies such as Lockheed Martin, Sun Microsystems, Orbital Sciences (SPAR Aerospace), and Allied Signal. Currently, we work with Lockheed Martin in their C-130J and C-27 programs and are being considered for use in other areas of the company. We are also working with Sun Microsystems on a proposed project that would improve the reliability and availability of an e-business infrastructure.

Reliametrics pursues selected external customers in industries where software reliability is essential, such as the aerospace industry where software faults can result in mission failure or loss of life. These relationships provide a perspective of software reliability that extends beyond telecommunications, present different challenges, and help Reliametrics continually push the envelope of technology and functionality.



Wireless & Carrier Networks

Customer Profile: Wireless & Carrier Networks is the primary organization serving the needs of local exchange carriers, wireless service providers, and alternative carriers. The product lines include:

  • NA100 Spectrum
  • UCS (Universal Carrier Services)
  • Succession network management, SDM (SuperNode Data Management)
  • and evolution of basestation TDMA and CDMA cellular protocols which connect the DMS-MTX or DMS-100 wireless switches to cell sites.

These are very large, complex systems containing millions of lines of software code and having very high reliability requirements.

Challenge: Senior management recognizes the need for a comprehensive, systematic approach to assure software reliability and overall product system quality while simultaneously reducing costs and meeting time-to-market objectives. The size and complexity of these very large systems demands rigorous and vigilant attention to reliability whenever code is changed or upgraded, or as new releases are being designed and developed.

Solution: Reliametrics supports Wireless & Carrier Networks project managers and development teams through all phases of software development, as well as ongoing maintenance, upgrades and field defect removal. In addition, we support multiple initiatives and ad hoc projects involving software reliability assessment, defect prediction, and risk mitigation.

Reliametrics produces regular reports on software modules to release managers as changes are made, to provide up-to-date analysis of the code and indicate where problems may exist. The reports include defects predicted, problems actually found, module churn, risk assessments, and advice on how to reduce and manage the risks. Release managers can make better-informed decisions and take necessary action to improve quality and reliability during development and testing processes.

The Reliametrics team works with the release managers to track actions taken on each module and document the results. Project development remains on schedule and meets the stringent quality standards of Nortel Networks. Early detection and removal of defects reduces costs and enhances customer satisfaction.

Reliametrics has a long track record in the Wireless and Carrier organization - beginning with the earliest applications of EMERALD tools in prior NA100 releases. The NA100 and UCS projects are in Protel/PLS; other projects are in the C/C++ language and ClearCase configuration management.




OPTera

Customer Profile: The OPTera Packet Core (OPC) is the heart of Nortel's OPTera Packet Solution (OPS), and it provides the service provider backbone switching and routing solution for the Optical Internet. OPC will be the unified packet core for the next generation Internet Protocol based, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) communications network. OPC is designed to provide cost effective backbone services over high-speed optical links in service provider's backbone, edge or regional networks.

Challenge: The OPC will compete directly against CISCO, and its success is crucial to Nortel Networks. The first objective is to model the performance and availability of an OPTera Packet Core Router in the field from software, hardware and network perspectives. This information will be used to document OPC's goals for 99.999% availability and carrier-grade quality. The challenge is to implement a comprehensive, carrier grade software and hardware reliability program for OPC Release 1 to assure that it meets performance and availability objectives.

1. Performance Objectives:

  • Detailed assessment of anticipated OPC system performance under normal load and attack conditions
  • Identification of OPC areas that cannot be expected to react correctly or sufficiently under attack conditions

2. Availability Objectives:

  • Detailed assessment of risk areas in the code with recommendations of areas where code inspections and testing should be concentrated and recommendations on the level of inspection required in each case
  • A solved Markov Model of the key use cases affecting nodal availability
  • A nodal availability model to be used by the network availability engineers
  • An analysis of the sensitivity of the node to the quality of each component
  • An assessment of the techniques currently being used in the OPC code to handle the conditions when limited resources are not
  • A set of test cases suitable for incorporation by the verification group into their testing
  • OPC hardware availability analysis for compliance to the hardware availability requirements

Solution: OPC has engaged Reliametrics and NSPaN in a comprehensive carrier grade software and hardware reliability program plan that includes access to tools and consulting services. NSPaN has been engaged for hardware and network modeling. Reliametrics is performing software modeling and will use Markov modeling to statistically predict the availability of the OPC before it is delivered to customers.

This is the first application that combines the EMERALD tool with GURU in a comprehensive program to assess the reliability of the entire product rather than its discrete components. Reliametrics has committed resources to OPC for the duration of the 18-month development process.

Benefits: The expected benefits include faster time-to-market with the highest-performance product that sets a new standard for reliability and establishes sustainable competitive advantage. Reliametrics has issued a preliminary OPTera Packet Core Nodal availability report, and the project is ongoing.




Shasta

Customer Profile: Lockheed Nortel Networks acquired the Shasta 5000 group midstream in the development process of the Shasta BSN (Broadband Service Node), its principal new product. The Shasta BSN enables service providers to aggregate tens of thousands of broadband (DSL or cable modem) subscribers onto one platform and apply highly customized IP services provisioned on an individual basis.

Challenge: It was critical to assess the reliability of the new product prior to its launch, to ensure that it would meet customer reliability expectations and the quality and reliability standards of Nortel Networks. The process of reliability assessment could not disrupt or delay the development team in their efforts to bring the product to market on time and within budget.

Solution: The Reliametrics analysis team examined Shasta's primary software code base using the proprietary EMERALD modeling tool, determined the subsystems that were most at-risk when modified, and compared Shasta software to other leading C development projects. (EMERALD parses the source code to obtain metrics related to size, complexity, structure, interfaces, etc. and stores these metrics in a data warehouse.)

The entire project was complete in two months. The comprehensive final report will help guide current re-engineering efforts and provide valuable insights and recommendations about the Shasta 5000 BSN software to reduce fault risk in the future.




Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems

Customer Profile: Lockheed Martin is a $25.5 billion corporation with 165,000 employees. Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems manufacturers cargo, antisubmarine, warfare/maritime, patrol and fighter aircraft, including such high-profile aircraft as the F-16 and F-22 jet fighters and the C-130J and C-27 transports.

Challenge: Lockheed Martin uses Reliametrics to address its rigorous internal software reliability goals, to meet government quoting criteria where risk factors are strongly considered in making the vendor selection, and to achieve SEI CMM Level requirements and goals for certain projects.

The primary areas of focus for Reliametrics are:

  1. Identifying error-prone (risky) software and adjusting change control activities to reduce the probability of failures.
  2. Helping Lockheed Martin improve its software development processes to achieve higher SEI CMM certification.
  3. Evaluating the riskiness of third party software components to be integrated with Lockheed Martin software as part of the final product.

Solution: Since October 1998, Lockheed Martin has worked with Reliametrics to evaluate portions of the software for the design and construction of the C-130J and C-27 military transport aircraft. While Lockheed Martin clearly has comprehensive and expert understanding of hardware reliability processes, software has rapidly emerged as a major area of potential failures as flight control systems have increased in complexity and software reliability has become crucial to performance and operational safety.

Reliametrics is used by project managers and software engineering process teams for reliability assessment and defect prediction. It identifies areas of code requiring the greatest attention, determines which modules to reuse and which to rewrite for derivatives, and is used for setting code review priorities.

Lockheed Martin Aero-Marietta is currently at SEI (Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University) Level 3 and working to achieve Level 4 in 2000. Reliametrics continues to be a key element in this effort, and in the longer-term goal to achieve Level 5. Reliametrics has been adopted as part of Lockheed Martin's corporate tool set for software reliability, and has also been recommended as a corporate standard for risk assessment and defect prediction.

Reliametrics has successfully demonstrated its capabilities to evaluate the reliability of software by analyzing code from a major Lockheed Martin sub-contractor. Lockheed Martin has expressed interest in having its software suppliers adopt and use Reliametrics products and services.

Benefits: Reliametrics has helped Lockheed Martin significantly minimize review time by directing more focus to higher-risk files and less focus on files determined to have low probability of failure. Without an accurate and reliable method for identifying riskier areas of software, it would be much more difficult to apply the right resources, at the right time, to the right areas to correct potential problems.