Spirent Beefs Up Ethernet Support

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Spirent Communications(TM) (NYSE:SPM)(LSE:SPT) today announced a new service assurance solution for service providers deploying services over Metro Ethernet networks. Built on Spirent's market-leading Operations Support System (OSS) software widely deployed in carrier networks today, the new 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet solution will enable service providers to use fewer operational resources and more quickly deploy and scale popular IP services, such as voice over IP (VoIP) and virtual private networks (VPNs). The solution has already been purchased by a major North American ILEC.

The solution delivers three essential benefits to service providers to support their accelerating roll out of new IP-based services on packet-based architectures such as Ethernet:

"We developed this solution in response to market demand for service assurance of managed IP services, which is a complex problem -- how to support sophisticated new IP-based services, while leveraging some of the same systems and processes already in place for other data services," said Jim Schleckser, president of Spirent's Service Assurance division. "This solution uses intuitive interfaces that are already familiar and easy to learn for a provider's operational staff, so carriers will be able to ramp up service assurance support for IP services quickly."

The new 10/100/Gigabit Ethernet solution's expert abilities and distributed model help providers break down the barriers between their network operations centers, and solve service problems closer to the customer's first touch-point. The solution further saves carriers money by adding innovative new diagnostic and analytical modules to Spirent's existing REACT(R) OSS software. The new solution extends REACT's familiar and easy-to-master user interface with Ethernet and IP testing capabilities and network element auto-discovery features to avoid the capital and operational impacts of separate test OSSs for physical and logical layer analysis. The solution also includes Spirent's qScope(TM) 5000 remote logical layer network probes to collect network data and conduct application-specific tests and expert network analysis at the premise, provider and core network boundaries.

The solution has been sold to one of North America's four largest incumbent local exchange carriers, in a multi-million dollar deployment involving over a dozen USA metropolitan areas and a growing nationwide Gigabit Ethernet service footprint.

Spirent Communications