Testing

Off-Site Technical Services are carried out in our state-of-the-art ESD certified labs:

  • Full Refurbishment to as-new status
  • Testing & No-Fault Found screening
  • Manufacturer Specification Testing
  • Reconfiguration & Upgrades

All the above gives our customers’ engineers the confidence that the redeployed Network Infrastructure Assets will function correctly once added to the network.

    Units are tested to Manufacturer specifications, or to the requirements of our customers as agreed. Shield tracks all testing activities on a serial number level, including the type of test, length of test, test results and failure reasons if the part does not pass our stringent testing.

    All this information allows us to spot trends in equipment quality and life-cycle status, and how well the equipment is handled. Using this information, we can help the customer improve the quality of their installation and de-installation activities, reducing outages in the network and increasing the percentage of equipment that can be re-deployed or remarketed.

    6 steps will be completed during the testing procedure:

    Step 1 – Scan of the part
    Step 2 – Visual check for any physical defects
    Step 3 – Installation of the item in the calibrated test environment
    Step 4 – Power-on test of the item
    Step 4 – A full running test
    Step 5 – If necessary, a burn-in test of the item
    Step 6 – Registration of the test result

    For each unit the technician is using well-defined Equipment Test Protocols, explaining what type of test and how to do it under the best conditions. For new technologies or product lines, a new test environment can be implemented and operational within 8 weeks.
    Shields possess state of the art testing and refurbished facilities in the UK, the Netherlands and the United States of America. This enables Shields to guarantee that equipment conforms to manufacturing specifications before it goes back into the field. Shields can test Mobile, Wireline, Microwave and IP/Data equipment prior to redeployment or remarketing. A detailed list of what can be tested in our Labs can be supplied upon request.

    Our Test Labs support:

    • 120+ different Vendors
    • 150+ different Product Families
    • 6000+ different Part Numbers
    • Around 120.000 parts per year
    • 12-month RMA rate: < 1 %

    Technologies supported:

    • Wireline: PSTN / xDSL / HFC / Fiber, from CPE to DLC/DSLAM to CO
    • Wireless: 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G RAN and CORE
    • Transmission: PDH / SDH / CWDM / DWDM / Microwave
    • IP and DATACOM
    • Power

    Fully operational 2G, 3G and 4G Networks in our Centre of Excellence in the Netherlands are accessible via a secure VPN link from anywhere in the world to allow comprehensive Network Equipment testing. We can support customers to setup remote Test Labs for specific projects or short-term requirements. We continuously invest in our Research and Development to add more capabilities to our portfolio and stay on top of technical developments in the market. On average, we add two new capabilities every month. Contact us for more information. Our Labs are certified to one or more the following standards:

    ESD
    TL9000
    ISO 9001
    OHSAS 18001
    ISO 27001