University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory

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The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) tests networking and data communications products. The university established the laboratory in 1988, "with the dual mission of providing a neutral environment to foster multi-vendor interoperability and conformance to data communications networking standards while educating students for future employment in the industry." [1]

The UNH-IOL is an example of how commercial and academic interests can work together for mutual benefits. Companies get access to low-cost, high skilled labor and students get access to training opportunities beyond what a normal academic curriculum offers. Students typically do a 3 or 4 year internship.

More than 100 graduate and undergraduate student-employees work with full-time UNH-IOL staff, gaining hands-on experience with developing technologies and products from hundreds of major companies. The laboratory operates independently of the university's academic departments at its 32,000+ square foot facility in Durham, New Hampshire.

From UNH-IOL's site: "The UNH-IOL is the only full-scale, non-profit test lab in the world dedicated to fostering cooperation and understanding within the data communications industry while at the same time providing hands-on experience to future engineers. The laboratory performs testing in two different scenarios interoperability group tests (plugfests) and private one-on-one testing and debugging."

[edit] Consortia

The UNH-IOL currently runs 20 consortia and groups that offer testing services, each involved in a different technology:

Over time, as interest in a particular area of technology fades (such as with ATM or token ring), the consortium may be disbanded. Likewise, as interest in a new technology grows, a consortium may be founded in order to start testing devices of that type. Testing services are not consortia, and offer testing à la carte rather than through an annual membership fee.

Each group has a series of test suites that they use in order to test a specific aspect of a device's functions. For example, on a fast ethernet device, a customer may ask that flow control functionality be tested. Test suites can be found at each group's section of the IOL webpage, such as Wireless LAN Consortium.