PARIS -- Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that its N2X multiservices test solution was used this week in the industry’s most extensive trial to validate the ability of MPLS networks to support converged triple-play (video, voice and data) and business services. The multivendor interoperability test was conducted by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) in Berlin, Germany, with support from the University of New Hampshire (UNH-IOL). It was also endorsed by the MFA Forum and showcased here this week.

Working with more than 30 devices from 15 vendors, Agilent supported an extensive test plan spanning interoperability, resiliency, multicast and quality of service (QoS) of MPLS network services to support emerging triple-play applications. This interoperability test marked a key milestone in improving the readiness of participating vendors to deliver end-to-end traffic engineering, protection and L2/L3 multicast services. The test equipment enabled vendors to troubleshoot interoperability issues and increase confidence in the underlying MPLS network’s ability to maintain the QoS and network protection algorithms.

Agilent N2X was used to verify operation of converged MPLS services and the ability of the backbone to perform under expected tolerances to correctly deliver triple-play services with the required quality of experience. Specifically, N2X was used to establish Label Switched Paths (LSPs) and converged service traffic while simultaneously testing the high-availability (stateful failover resiliency) characteristics times by simulating link failures. By measuring packet loss, failover times and the impact on latency and latency variation, N2X was used to verify that equipment would allow end-to-end services to be restarted within the 50 msec tolerance, which is critical for the delivery of real-time services such as VoIP and video.

The ability to validate multiple layers and services in a single correlated test platform allows network equipment manufacturers and service providers to validate a complete triple-play service deployment faster and more economically. Agilent N2X offers the following features:

“The support of Agilent N2X was essential in evaluating the MPLS fast-reroute scenarios verifying the ability of an MPLS network to reliably deliver business services,” said Carsten Rossenhoevel, managing director, Research & Manufacturer Testing, EANTC AG; and MFA Interoperability Working Group chair. “Agilent’s multiservice N2X solution provided the necessary breadth of MPLS and resiliency test capabilities to evaluate a realistic carrier network.”

“With the increased deployment of converged MPLS backbones, equipment manufacturers and service providers need to ensure that multi-vendor interoperation can deliver within performance tolerances to carry time-sensitive real-time applications like VoIP and video,” said Dave Bass, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Data Networking Division. “Agilent N2X has been a key tool for many leading developers of MPLS technologies and triple-play services. This interoperability trial demonstrates the N2X’s comprehensive breadth of multiservices test capability, which set the stage for a successful multivendor interoperability trial.”

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A)