What is Automated Network Protocol Testing?

Network devices, like mobile phones, laptops, servers, etc., incorporate network protocols. Network protocols are rules the devices must follow to ensure the data flows correctly among all the devices. Software developers read the rules and then write code to implement the rules for their devices. That’s how devices communicate on the Internet.

However, those network protocols/rules are very difficult to implement correctly. Sometimes the rules are vague or ambiguous, often something is missed. As a result, the protocols are mis-implemented on the device, creating interoperability problems, application failures, and/or security vulnerabilities.

IWL creates automated network protocol test suites that automatically detect errors in the device. The errors are collected into a report with each error correlated with the corresponding rule. With this report, the software developer can correct the errors and execute the test suite to ensure proper operation of his device.

Why do I Need an Automated Network Protocol Test Suite?

Manual testing consumes budget and resources to reveal only the obvious errors.
Code reviews, due to the specialized nature of network protocols, do not easily reveal the mis-implementations.
Diagnosing and mitigating these problems after deployment is costly.
Post-deployment bugs reported by your customers and users are ten to 30 times the cost to repair compared to finding and fixing bugs prior to initial release. (Source: Capers Jones, NIST)

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How Our Automated Network Protocol Test Suite Fits in

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What are the consequences of NOT using the IWL Automated Network Protocol Test Suite?

You ship a product with known security vulnerabilities damaging your clients’ businesses.
Intermittent problems show up on your clients’ networks that go away when they remove your device, but no one can tell exactly what is causing the problem.
You burn up valuable software development resources chasing down bugs at client’s sites.