Since 1976 the 4ESSTM switch and its 1A processor had been the workhorse of the network. As technology advanced and customers required new services, the capacity of the 4ESS switch came close to being exhausted, making it necessary to develop a successor to the 1A processor. Developers of the 1B processor were presented with the challenge of designing and implementing a system that could accommodate the new network demands, that would be “like a 1A, only better.” This paper describes several problems encountered during that project and how they were solved.
As software becomes a larger part of many products, thorough testing becomes increasingly important. The testing process begins before the requirements are finished and continues until the product is discontinued. In this paper, we discuss the software testing process, its difficulties and costs. We set forth the features of a testing support system and how the Buster test support system—currently in use at over 50 sites throughout AT&T—helps realize those features. We also discuss further steps to increase the effectiveness of software testing and increase the value of the final product.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.