Who Makes What: Test & Measurement Gear for Next-Generation NetworksWho Makes What: Test & Measurement Gear for Next-Generation Networks

Help refine a taxonomy that lists vendors and products in categories including: * Services * Network Applications * Access & Transport

December 14, 2005

38 Min Read
Light Reading logo in a gray background | Light Reading

Welcome to another Light Reading project aimed at helping everybody get a better understanding of a rapidly evolving marketplace – in this case, test and measurement (T&M) gear for next-generation networks (NGNs). While NGNs can embrace almost anything that isn’t traditional circuit-switched TDM, they are understood here to be the packet-oriented (basically IP) broadband networks supporting converged multimedia applications, such as VOIP and IPTV.

As with previous Who Makes What reports, this article proposes a taxonomy, lists vendors, and invites readers to suggest improvements, point out omissions, and generally lend a hand in building a comprehensive view of what is going on in terms of products and vendors.

CALL TO ACTION: A questionnaire to enable vendors to categorize their products using the taxonomy of this Who Makes What can be downloaded by clicking on this link.

DEADLINE: Please submit your entry BEFORE Jan 31, 2006, to make sure your company’s products are included in the launch version of the directory.

Here’s a hyperlinked summary of the remainder of this report:

  • Page 2: Overview of NGN T&M
    Provides a big picture of what testing and measurement are needed in NGNs, and how this Who Makes What classifies the main types of product.

  • Page 3: Consolidated Vendor List
    Shows all the vendors so far included in the taxonomy pages, and invites readers to name vendors that should be included in this survey or comment on vendors already listed. This is intended to be a growing list, and we don’t claim to have included everybody from the start. So please let us know who’s missing.

  • Page 4: Service T&M

  • Page 5: Network Application T&M

  • Page 6: Network T&M

  • Page 7: Access and Transport T&M

  • Page 8: Lab Gear

To comment, simply post your suggestions on the message board linked to this article. This is the preferred input method, but you can also contribute by email, addressed to [email protected]. Please include T&M for NGN in the subject field to help us identify your comments.

We will update the report in response to reader input, so if your company has been left off any of the lists by mistake, or you have any suggestions for improvement of the taxonomy, please get in touch. The initial version of the report represents our best effort at producing a directory, but we need your feedback to make it comprehensive.

This report dovetails with a previous Who Makes What report covering VOIP Infrastructure Equipment, as well as Light Reading's IP Services Software Directory.

— Tim Hills is a freelance telecommunications writer and journalist. He's a regular author of Light Reading reports.



Previous Light Reading Who Makes What reports:

  • Electronic Chips

  • Equipment 2003

  • Infrastructure Equipment

  • IP DSLAMs

  • VOIP Infrastructure Equipment

  • MSAPs & IP DSLAMs

  • Optical Components

  • OSS

  • OSS Update

  • ROADMs

  • Security Appliances

  • Telco Video

  • VOIP Applications Software



CALLING ALL SUPPLIERS OF IP SERVICES SOFTWARE:
Make sure your company and products are listed free of charge in Light Reading's IP Services Software Directory, which already lists products from more than 100 companies, by completing this questionnaire.



CALLING ALL VOIP SERVICE PROVIDERS:
Make sure your company and services are listed free of charge in Light Reading's VOIP Services Directory, now being compiled, by completing this questionnaire.



Test and measurement are becoming big practical issues for carriers and service providers as NGN services such as VOIP and IPTV start to become mainstream, and there is growing demand for VOIP T&M equipment from all types of service providers and carriers.

One sign of NGN T&M’s increasing maturity is the emphasis now being given to carrier-class systems and products for assessing real-time service performance and quality, in contrast to established products and tools aimed at the lab or standard field-engineering metrics. Frost & Sullivan estimates, for example, that the market for VOIP call monitoring will increase nearly sixfold to about $300 million between 2004 and 2011. (See F&S Reports on VOIP Monitoring.)

NGNs and NGN services often give scope for different product classifications, and T&M is no exception. Some vendors (often those with extensive product lines covering all areas of telecom and even other industries) classify their products by key technology. Others classify by application (usually defined fairly generally), and others use a combination of the two. On top of all this, the dominance of software in NGNs makes functional integration in some form or another virtually universal, so the boundaries between functional categories are often blurred.

This report uses a different approach – perhaps drill-down would be a good name – to emphasize the shift in carrier and service-provider interest toward real NGN services, and therefore operations-oriented T&M. It is based on the idea of starting with the end result that the customer sees – the service – and then digging down further into the layers of software and infrastructure supporting it. So it looks like this, with four broad categories arranged from top to bottom as:

  • Service T&M: Covers (a) how users perceive the service (subjective quality, etc. – e.g., Is the VOIP call audio quality acceptable?); and (b) how the service is performing technically (QOS, objective performance characteristics, parameter measurements, etc. – e.g., Why does the audio quality sound awful? Are we meeting the SLAs?).

  • Network Application T&M: Covers how the network application is performing technically (what’s going on with the technology immediately supporting the service – e.g., all the VOIP components, protocols, etc., that provide IP telephony).

  • IP Network T&M: Covers how the IP network is performing technically (as a whole, in terms of getting packets from A to B – e.g., packet jitter and loss).

  • Access and Transport T&M: Covers how the underlying specific access and transport technologies are performing technically.

Obviously there is a connection with standard network layering, but it’s by no means an exact correspondence, and there is a lot of crossover. Typically, some vendors are beginning to build what might be called vertical T&M stacks – systems and products that aim to cover all the bases by providing tailored metrics across all these categories, either for specific areas of carrier operations, such as triple play or VOIP, or for all converged services as a whole. Figure 1 illustrates this idea.

Generally, this report anchors such products in the Service or Network Application categories, because this is where the most service-specific technology is located, but their functions can go both up and down through the other categories. Some products are listed under several categories.

Such vertical stacks, especially the larger ones, usually integrate with existing operational support systems (OSSs) and back-office applications, such as fault management, provisioning, and trouble-ticketing systems. This leads into the wider area of service and performance management systems.

Equally obviously, further categories could be added below Access and Transport T&M to get further into the detail of the various network Physical Layers (such as Sonet, GigE, WiMax, raw optics, and so on), but this would broaden the coverage so much that the NGN service focus would be lost, even though T&M at this level remains crucial to NGN functioning. However, a certain amount of coverage of these Physical Layers inevitably creeps into products classified here as Access and Transport T&M because of the crucial role of the Physical Layer.

Another broad category, aimed more at equipment development and evaluation than network operations, is Lab Gear. This covers such activities as equipment design and feature verification, conformance testing, interoperability testing, load and stress testing, and installation and acceptance testing. Inevitably there is some crossover between T&M equipment used as lab gear and that used in network operations and maintenance. For simplicity of presentation, this report lists T&M products intended mainly as lab gear in a single list.

This page lists all the vendors so far included in the various categories of the taxonomy. It is an initial list only, and we know that it cannot be complete. So please alert Light Reading to any missing names (and don’t be upset if your company has been omitted inadvertently!).CALL TO ACTION: A questionnaire to enable vendors to categorize their products using the taxonomy of this Who Makes What can be downloaded by clicking on this link.

DEADLINE: Please submit your entry BEFORE Jan 31, 2006, to make sure your company’s products are included in the launch version of the directory.

To comment, simply post your suggestions on the message board linked to this article. This is the preferred input method, but you can also contribute by email, addressed to [email protected]. Please include T&M for NGN in the subject field to help us identify your comments.

When a sufficient number of companies have sent in completed questionnaires, Light Reading will launch an interactive directory based on them. Vendor names will be followed by a live link to their entry in the directory.

Mergers and acquisitions are a continuing and complicating feature of telecom. Recent acquisitions are indicated in parentheses.

  • Adaptif Photonics

  • Agilent Technologies

  • Anritsu (NetTest)

  • Anue Systems

  • Apparent Networks

  • Apposite Technologies

  • Arca Technologies

  • Brix Networks

  • Catapult Communications

  • C-COR

  • Centellax

  • Computer Associates International (Concord Communications)

  • Consultronics

  • Digital Lightwave

  • Dilithium Networks

  • Ellacoya Networks

  • Empirix

  • EXFO

  • Fluke Networks

  • GL Communications

  • HCL Technologies

  • IneoQuest

  • InfoVista

  • Innocor

  • Interworking Labs

  • Ixia

  • JDSU (Acterna)

  • Minacom

  • mPhase

  • Navtel

  • NetHawk

  • netIQ

  • Net-O2 Technologies

  • Network Instruments

  • Nexus Telecom

  • Niksun

  • Opticom

  • Packet Data Systems

  • PacketStorm

  • Pivetal

  • Pixelmetrix

  • Prosilient Technologies

  • Psytechnics

  • QoSmetrics

  • QoVox

  • Radcom

  • Sage Instruments

  • Shenick Network Systems

  • Solinet

  • Spirent Communications

  • Sunrise Telecom

  • SyncVoice Communications

  • TDsoft (VocalTec)

  • Telchemy

  • Tektronix

  • Tollgrade

  • Touchstone Technologies

  • Trilithic

  • Vierling

  • Viola Networks

  • Visual Networks

  • WildPackets

As some vendors have a very large number of individual products for specific purposes over the whole domain of next-generation test and measurement, only a selection can be given in the following lists, and many related products have been subsumed under a generic family heading.

Strictly, Service T&M handles two different (but related) types of service assessment:

  • Subjective service performance and quality

  • Objective service performance and quality

However, many T&M products in this category are tightly integrated with functions for Network Application and IP Network T&M.

Live monitoring of VOIP traffic becomes very important as the volume of traffic grows, because carriers need to be aware of quality problems before they become significant. Quantitative measures (such as MOS) can be monitored automatically and used to trigger alarms if preset thresholds are crossed.

Voice-quality testing can be active or passive – test signals can be injected into the network and monitored (active), or characteristics of existing traffic can be monitored (passive).

Web applications now involve dynamic multimedia content, and IP devices (such as switches, firewalls, and load balancers) have to be increasingly content aware. Web T&M therefore has to extend across Layers 4 to 7.

Subjective service performance and quality measures and assesses how users perceive service output, such as speech, audio/music, and video. The crucial issue is to relate objective measures of service performance and quality to users’ subjective experiences of service quality. This is done usually by software scoring algorithms based on international standards (for example, from the ITU) and extensive databases of the results of human tests. The aim is to keep any objectively measured signal degradation introduced by the NGN to within acceptable subjective limits.

These T&M products have two main modes of use:

  • Real-time service monitoring (for example, monitoring VOIP call quality)

  • Pre-deployment testing for network and service dimensioning and troubleshooting

Typical products comprise controlling hardware and software, and distributed probes and device monitors (which may be pure software or firmware, and fully integrated into end devices or network components). Probes and monitors can be active (using special generated test signals) or passive (using natural traffic only).

Products in this category frequently integrate test and measurement of objective service quality, together with network application and network IP performance, to give a comprehensive real-time monitor of user QOS and SLAs, and to aid network diagnostics. Such products frequently merge with service and network management systems.

Objective service performance and quality covers how the service is performing in terms of various engineering metrics, some of which will be specified in SLAs and QOS guarantees. Products in this category are concerned with fundamental service characteristics – for example, VOIP call setup times, numbers of blocked or dropped calls, and conformance to voice-signal specifications.

As with subjective service quality, products can be integrated with network application and network IP performance, to give a comprehensive real-time monitor of service QOS and SLAs, and to aid network and service diagnostics. Such products frequently merge with service management systems.

The presentation of VOIP quality results is important within a carrier and service provider organization if they are to be used most effectively. Different departments (e.g., customer services and field engineering) have different requirements. Modern testing systems increasingly allow results to be presented and used in different ways.

Table 1: Service T&M Gear

Vendor

Product(s)

Agilent Technologies

J1981C Agilent Voice Quality Tester (VQT)

J5479A Voice Quality Tester (VQT)

NgN Analysis System � network monitoring system for next-generation telephony networks

Anritsu

InterQuest Analyzer Network & Service Performance Analysis for GSM, CDMA, GPRS/EDGE, UMTS, SS7, and VoIP Networks

MasterQuest Network and Service Assurance System

MasterQuest Service Performance Monitoring

Advanced VoIP Test Suites

Advanced Video Test Suite

Anue Systems

SONET/SDH Network Emulator

SONET/SDH Path Layer Network Emulator

Ethernet Network Emulator

Ethernet Layer 2+ Network Emulator

Fibre Channel Network Emulator

Bridge Technologies

IPTV monitoring systems

Brix Networks

BrixMon Software � testing, analysis, and reporting capabilities for VoIP management

BrixWorx Software � testing, analysis, and reporting capabilities for VoIP management

Centellax

10-Gbit/s BERT TG1B1-A

40-Gbit/s PRBS TG1P4-A

C-COR

CableEdge VoiceAssure

Computer Associates International

eHealth Voice Quality Monitor

Consultronics

Network Quality Monitoring Systems

Digital Lightwave

NIC 2.5G

NIC 10G

NIC EP / NIC RT

NIC Ethernet

NIC Plus

OWN / SpanView System for DWDM

Ellacoya Networks

IP Service Control System � measurement, analysis and control of traffic by application, activity, and subscriber

Voice Quality Reporter

Empirix

Hammer Call Analyzer

Hammer FX

Hammer NetEm

Hammer NXT

Hammer Voice Quality Test Suite

Hammer XMS Services Monitoring

EXFO

IQS/FTB-8510G Packet Blazer 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Module

IQS/FTB-8520 Packet Blazer SAN Fibre Channel Test Module

Network Protocol Analyzer���EXpertNPA

InfoVista

VistaFoundation

Ixia

IXIA 1600T/400T

IXIA 250

IxANVL

IxChariot � Traffic Predeployment and Decision Support Tool

IxLoad � Traffic Generation and Analysis Application

IxNetwork

IxScriptMate

IxVoice

IxVPN

IxWLAN

Optixia X16

Optixia XL10

Minacom

DirectQuality QoS Management Platform

PowerProbe 6000 Service Level Testing Probe

PowerProbe 2108 ROTL Trunk Testing Probes

PowerProbe 6000 ROTL - NEBS

Navtel

Voice Quality Tester

netIQ

AppManager VOIP Management Solution

Nexus Telecom

Nexus8610

Nexus8620

NexusHorizon

NexusNetview

NexusTrace

Niksun

NetVoice 2005 VoIP Network Monitoring and Troubleshooting Solution

Opticom

OPERA � Objective Perceptual Signal Quality Analyzer

Pivetal

VoIProbe

QspeeQ Voice Quality Monitoring network appliance

Prosilient Technologies

PTAnalyzer � Distributed production network data, VOIP, IPTV, multicast supervision system with built-in tool support for installation and verification such as RFC2544 and load test. 50us accuracy without external sync source (e.g., GPS)

Psytechnics

IP Director � Portable Software Probe Manager

Perceptual Service Assessment Modules (SAMs) � IP Speech and Video

QosMetrics

Net Advisor

QoVox

NAS-6131 Network Assurance System

Radcom

Omni-Q Voice Quality Management System

Solinet

A8619 VQA Voice Quality Analysis

SOLINET Call Monitoring

SOLINET Network Analysis

SyncVoice Communications

VXTracker VoIPToolBox

TDsoft

Essentra TMS Traffic Management System

Tektronix

K1297-G20

K15

K18

NetTek

NSA

Spectra2

Spectra/SE

Spectra2/VQM

Telchemy

P.862 � Perceptual Estimation of Speech Quality

SQmediator OEM VoIP QoS report collection, aggregation and analysis product

SQprobe OEM Gigabit Ethernet VoIP probe

VQattest � Active VoIP Call Generation

VQmon/EP � Call Quality Monitoring for IP Phones and Gateways

VQmon/SA � Call Quality Analysis for Probes, Analyzers and Routers

VQmon/SA-VM � Video Quality Analysis for Videoconferencing and IPTV

Tektronix

K1297-G20

K15

K18

NetTek

NSA

Spectra2

Spectra/SE

Spectra2/VQM

Tollgrade

Cheetah CMD-E

Cheetah CMD-P and CMD-P-Euro

CheetahXD

DigiTest EDGE

DigiTest HUB

LoopCare Test OSS

Vierling

TiQoS.VoIP Speech Quality and Net Performance in IP Networks



Network Application T&M covers specific network technologies (or technology combinations) used to deliver specific NGN services – for example, VOIP to deliver voice telephony and IPTV to deliver TV. This category of T&M is thus heavily concerned with the application protocols and other technology specifics.

Triple Play

Triple-play converged voice, video, and data services involve several technologies and many different metrics for performance. Ixia, for example, characterizes these as including:

  • Transport Network – Data Plane: Jitter; latency; throughput; Mean Opinion Score (MOS – measure of voice quality); Media Delivery Index (MDI – measure of video quality)

  • Transport Network – Control Plane: routing capacity; convergence times; failover times; multicast performance

  • Subscriber Edge Services: Subscriber scaleability (PPP); channel-change latency (IGMP/MLD; join/leave); IP address management (DHCP scaleability); QOS policy marking; authentication scaleability; VOIP signaling scaleability

  • Content Network Testing: Video stream capacity; video server response; VOIP call server handling capacity; VOIP call setup rate; data concurrent session capacity; data connection setup rate

VOIP

VOIP testing is complex because so many protocols are (or can be) used in a VOIP network (vendors report instances of around 50 protocols being specified in some RTTs, for example). And it is necessary to test a lot of the protocols used to get a good view of the user experience.

Table 2: Network Application T&M Gear

Vendor

Product(s)

Triple Play

Agilent Technologies

Agilent N2X Solution

Anue Systems

SONET/SDH Network Emulator

Ethernet Network Emulator

Ethernet Layer 2+ Network Emulator

Brix Networks

TestYourVideo.com Video Over IP Self Testing Site

C-COR

CableEdge Network Optimizer

Consultronics

CoLT-450 Voice, Video and Data Test Set

Empirix

Hammer Call Analyzer

Hammer DEX

Hammer FX

Hammer NetEm

Hammer NXT

Hammer Voice Quality Test Suite

EXFO

IQS/FTB-8510G Packet Blazer 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Module

IQS/FTB-8520 Packet Blazer SAN Fibre Channel Test Module

Network Protocol Analyzer � EXpertNPA

IneoQuest

IQMediaMonitor Remote Video Over IP Monitoring System

IQMediaMonitor100 Real-Time Video Over IP Monitoring Probe

IQMediaMonitor Application For Remote Monitoring Video Over IP Networks

Ixia

Ixia

IXIA 250

IxTriplePlay Toolset

IxChariot � Traffic Predeployment and Decision Support Tool

IxLoad � Traffic Generation and Analysis Application

IxNetwork

IxScriptMate

IxVoice

Optixia X16

Optixia XL10

JDSU

HST-3000 IP Video Test Suite

Navtel

InterWatch

Nexus Telecom

Nexus8610

NexusNetview

NexusTrace

PacketStorm

Hurricane

Hurricane II

PacketStorm1800E

PacketStorm2600E

PacketStorm4XG

PScapture

Tornado

Pixelmetrix

DVShift

DVShift-HD

DVStation

DVStation-IP

DVStation-IP Portable

DVStation-Pod

DVStation-Remote

DVStor

Prosilient Technologies

PTAnalyzer

QosMetrics

Net Advisor

Tektronix

K1297-G20

K15

K18

NetTek

NSA

Spectra2

Spectra/SE

Spectra2/VQM

Telchemy

SQmediator OEM VoIP QoS report collection, aggregation and analysis product

SQprobe OEM Gigabit Ethernet VoIP probe

VQattest

VQmon/EP

VQmon/SA

VQmon/SA-VM

Tollgrade

Cheetah CMD-E

Cheetah CMD-P and CMD-P-Euro

CheetahXD

DigiTest EDGE

DigiTest HUB

LoopCare Test OSS

VOIP

Agilent Technologies

J4618C Agilent IP Telephony Analyzer

J6844A Telephony Network Analyzer

Anue Systems

SONET/SDH Network Emulator

Ethernet Network Emulator

Ethernet Layer 2+ Network Emulator

Apparent Networks

AppareNet Professional Voice � network diagnostic, assessment and measurement solution

Apposite Technologies

Linktropy 4500 link emulator

Brix Networks

Advanced VoIP Test Suites

Advanced Video Test Suite

TestYourVoIP.com VOIP Self Testing Site

Consultronics

CoVALT - VoIP, DSL and POTS Test Set

Empirix

Hammer Call Analyzer

Hammer DEX

Hammer Enterprise

Hammer FX

Hammer NetEm

Hammer NXT

Hammer Voice Quality Test Suite

Hammer XMS Services Monitoring

EXFO

IQS/FTB-8510G Packet Blazer 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Module

IQS/FTB-8520 Packet Blazer SAN Fibre Channel Test Module

Network Protocol Analyzer � EXpertNPA

Fluke Networks

NetTool Inline VOIP Tester

Ixia

Ixia

IXIA 250

IxTriplePlay Toolset

IxChariot

IxLoad

IxNetwork

IxScriptMate

IxVoice

Optixia X16

Optixia XL10

JDSU

(Acterna) PVA-1000 VoIP Network Analysis Suite

CPO - Ameritec ALG/NLG Call Generators/QoS Analyzer

Navtel

ISUP Performance Test Suite

Megaco/H.248.1 - Conformance Test Suites

Megaco/H.248.1 Media Gateway Functional & Performance Test Tool

Megaco/H.248.1 Media Gateway Controller Functional & Performance Test Tool

MGCP (Media Gateway Control Protocol) - Conformance Test Suites

MGCP Media Gateway - Functional & Performance Test Tool

MGCP Media Gateway Controller - Functional & Performance Test Tool

PacketCable� CMS Performance Test Suite

SIP Discovery

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) - Conformance Testing

SIP/SIP-T User Agent - Functional & Performance Test Tool

Nexus Telecom

Nexus8610

NexusHorizon

NexusInsight

NexusNetview

NexusTrace

PacketStorm

Hurricane

Hurricane II

PacketStorm1800E

PacketStorm2600E

PacketStorm4XG

PScapture

Tornado

Prosilient Technologies

PTAnalyzer

Radcom

Prism UltraLite VoIP/Cellular/Traditional DataCom Testing

SAGE Instruments

925VST Handheld VoIP Service Tester

Solinet

SOLINET Network Analysis

Spirent Communications

SmartSight Diagnostic Solution

Sunrise Telecom

NeTracker

STT-MSA

Tektronix

Spectra2

Spectra/SE

Telchemy

SQmediator OEM VoIP QoS report collection, aggregation and analysis product

SQprobe OEM Gigabit Ethernet VoIP probe

VQattest

VQmon/EP

VQmon/SA

VQmon/SA-VM

Tollgrade

Cheetah CMD-E

Cheetah CMD-P and CMD-P-Euro

CheetahXD

DigiTest EDGE

DigiTest HUB

LoopCare Test OSS

Touchstone Technologies

WinEyeQ - Voice and Video Monitoring, Analysis and QoS

WinSIP - SIP Call Generation

Win323 - H.323 Call Generation

Trilithic

860 DSPi

Guardian System II

Visual Networks

Visual UpTime Select



The characteristics of the underlying IP network are crucial to the performance of NGN applications and services. While IP Network T&M is long established, the high-bandwidth, real-time, multimedia nature of many NGN applications and services emphasizes different aspects than do traditional data communications. QOS metrics are particularly important, and these have to be made and related at, not only at Layers 2 and 3, but also at higher layers.

IP network T&M issues include:

  • IP Packet Loss: This clearly affects VOIP quality. But it is much more audible if the traffic is bursty. Packet latency, as it grows, leads to increased echo. Excessive packet jitter will cause packets to be dropped from equipment buffers, and therefore packet loss will increase.

  • Echo: It is very difficult to detect echo by just looking at the IP signal; telcos really have to look at the (reconstructed) analog voice signal.

  • Audio Volume: This is not normally an IP network issue (the voice audio volume is encoded in the packet data). But RTP used in VOIP can be monitored as a way of handling network issues (and a new extension to RTP is being developed to handle this better).

    Multicasting is important in applications such as video conferencing, distance learning, streaming media, and video over IP, but places big demands on routers and switches.

    Table 3: IP Network T&M Gear

    Vendor

    Product(s)

    Anritsu

    Ethernet/IP Network Data Analyzers

    MasterQuest Network Performance Monitoring

    Anue Systems

    SONET/SDH Network Emulator

    SONET/SDH Path Layer Network Emulator

    Ethernet Network Emulator

    Ethernet Layer 2+ Network Emulator

    Fibre Channel Network Emulator

    Apposite Technologies

    Linktropy 4500 link emulator

    Digital Lightwave

    NIC 2.5G

    NIC 10G

    NIC EP / NIC RT

    NIC Ethernet

    NIC Plus

    Dilithium Networks

    Dilithium Networks Analyzer (DNA)

    Empirix

    Hammer Call Analyzer

    Hammer DEX

    Hammer NetEm

    Hammer Voice Quality Test Suite

    EXFO

    IQS/FTB-8510G Packet Blazer 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Module

    IQS/FTB-8520 Packet Blazer SAN Fibre Channel Test Module

    Network Protocol Analyzer � EXpertNPA

    GL Communications

    GL PacketGen

    GL PacketScan

    GL RTP Toolbox

    Interworking Labs

    Maxwell Network, Protocol and Packet Impairment System

    Ixia

    IxExplorer

    IxLoad � Traffic Generation and Analysis Application

    IxNetwork

    IxScriptMate

    IxVPN

    Navtel

    InterWatch

    RTP [Real-Time Transport Protocol] - Generation & Analysis

    Net O2 Technologies

    Net-O2 Attest Test Suites

    Network Instruments

    Observer

    Nexus Telecom

    Nexus8610

    Nexus8620

    NexusHorizon

    NexusInsight

    NexusNetview

    NexusTrace

    Packet Data Systems

    Clarinet protocol analyser & simulator

    PacketStorm

    Hurricane

    Hurricane II

    PacketStorm1800E

    PacketStorm2600E

    PacketStorm4XG

    PScapture

    Tornado

    Pixelmetrix

    DVShift

    DVShift-HD

    DVStation

    DVStation-IP

    DVStation-IP Portable

    DVStation-Pod

    DVStation-Remote

    DVStor

    Prosilient Technologies

    PTAnalyzer

    Shenick Network Systems

    diversifEye network, application and security attack QoS performance test system

    Solinet

    SOLINET Network Analysis

    Spirent Communications

    IP Service Assurance � IP QOS

    SmartSight Diagnostic Solution

    Tektronix

    Spectra2

    Spectra/SE

    Spectra2/VQM

    Tollgrade

    Cheetah CMD-E

    Cheetah CMD-P and CMD-P-Euro

    CheetahXD

    DigiTest EDGE

    DigiTest HUB

    LoopCare Test OSS

    Viola Networks

    NetAlly VoIP



    DSL and cable modems currently form the backbone of the broadband access networks needed for NGN applications and services. These are large, high-density installations, and need to be tested efficiently for Layer 2–3 performance, PPPOx performance, and user QOS under real traffic conditions generated by higher-layer protocols.

    DSL testing covers a wide range of DSL flavors, such as ADSL2+/ADSL2/ADSL, G.SHDSL, HDSL2, IDSL, SDSL, VDSL.

    Broadband access is beginning to move to various flavors of FTTx and Ethernet.

    Table 4: Access and Transport T&M Gear

    Vendor

    Product(s)

    Anritsu

    Ethernet/IP Network Data Analyzers

    Anue Systems

    SONET/SDH Network Emulator

    SONET/SDH Path Layer Network Emulator

    Ethernet Network Emulator

    Ethernet Layer 2+ Network Emulator

    Fibre Channel Network Emulator

    Centellax

    10-Gbit/s BERT TG1B1-A

    40-Gbit/s PRBS TG1P4-A

    Consultronics

    CoLT-250+ ADSL, ADSL2, RE-ADSL & ADSL2+ Test Set

    CoLT-150 ADSL Testing

    Digital Lightwave

    NIC 2.5G

    NIC 10G

    NIC EP / NIC RT

    NIC Ethernet

    NIC Plus

    Empirix

    Hammer Call Analyzer

    EXFO

    IQS/FTB-8510G Packet Blazer 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Module

    IQS/FTB-8520 Packet Blazer SAN Fibre Channel Test Module

    Network Protocol Analyzer � EXpertNPA

    Ixia

    1 Gig Ethernet Load Modules

    10 Gig Ethernet Load Modules

    ATM Load Module

    IXIA 1600T/400T

    IXIA 250

    IxAccess � Performance and Scalability Analysis of Edge Aggregation Equipment

    IxANVL

    IxChariot � Traffic Predeployment and Decision Support Tool

    IxExplorer

    IxLoad � Traffic Generation and Analysis Application

    IxScriptMate

    Optixia X16

    Optixia XL10

    SONET Load Modules

    JDSU

    CPO - ELektronika ELQ2-DT xDSL Line Qualifier

    mPhase

    Broadband Loop Watch System for Automating Maintenance of Broadband Networks

    DSL Test Access Shelf

    IxLoad � Traffic Generation and Analysis Application

    Navtel

    InterWatch

    Net O2 Technologies

    Net-O2 Attest Test Suites

    Nexus Telecom

    Nexus8610

    Nexus8620

    NexusHorizon

    NexusNetview

    NexusTrace

    PacketStorm

    Hurricane

    Hurricane II

    PacketStorm1800E

    PacketStorm2600E

    PacketStorm4XG

    PScapture

    Prosilient Technologies

    PTAnalyzer

    Spirent Communications

    DSL Service Assurance

    Sunrise Telecom

    SunSet MTT

    Tektronix

    K1297-G20

    K15

    K18

    NetTek

    NSA

    Spectra2

    Spectra/SE

    Spectra2/VQM

    Tollgrade

    Cheetah CMD-E

    Cheetah CMD-P and CMD-P-Euro

    CheetahXD

    DigiTest EDGE

    DigiTest HUB

    LoopCare Test OSS

    Vierling

    VIT-A1 ADSL Handheld Tester for Service Personnel

    VIT-A2 ADSL2/ADSL2+ Handheld Tester for Service Personnel

    Maestro MTDU Qualification, Monitoring and Maintenance of XDSL Copper Lines

    Maestro VSA Analysis of Signals and Interference on Copper Lines

    Fibercare Maintenance and Supervision of Optical Fibers

    WildPackets

    EtherPeek NX Ethernet Protocol Analyzer

    EtherPeek SE Ethernet Network Traffic and Protocol Analyzer



    Products in this category are intended largely for equipment design and feature verification, conformance testing, interoperability testing, load and stress testing, robustness and stability testing, or installation and acceptance testing. Major systems offer considerable functional and feature integration, with large protocol libraries and network-simulation capabilities.

    There is inevitably some crossover between this and the other categories.

    Table 5: Lab T&M Gear

    Vendor

    Product(s)

    Anritsu

    Optical Test Solutions � WDM Testers, Optical Power Meters, Optical Attenuators, Optical Light Sources, E/O, O/E Converters (Optical), Optical Time Domain Reflectometers, Optical Test Sets, Optical Spectrum Analyzers

    Anue Systems

    SONET/SDH Network Emulator

    SONET/SDH Path Layer Network Emulator

    Ethernet Network Emulator

    Ethernet Layer 2+ Network Emulator

    Fibre Channel Network Emulator

    Apposite Technologies

    Linktropy 4500 link emulator

    Arca Technologies

    emutel|Harmony VOIP Performance Tester � development, performance verification and pre-deployment testing

    Catapult Communications

    DCT2000 & MGTS � multi-user, multi-protocol, programmable test systems

    Centellax

    10-Gbit/s BERT TG1B1-A

    40-Gbit/s PRBS TG1P4-A

    Digital Lightwave

    NIC 2.5G

    NIC 10G

    NIC EP / NIC RT

    NIC Ethernet

    NIC Plus

    OWN / SpanView System for DWDM

    Empirix

    Hammer Call Analyzer

    Hammer FX

    Hammer NetEm

    Hammer NXT

    Hammer Voice Quality Test Suite

    EXFO

    IQS/FTB-8510G Packet Blazer 10 Gigabit Ethernet Test Module

    IQS/FTB-8520 Packet Blazer SAN Fibre Channel Test Module

    Network Protocol Analyzer � EXpertNPA

    HCL Technologies

    VOIP Conformance Test Suite / SIP & MGCP Test Tools

    Innocor

    PHY(PHYsical) Master for Physical Bus Implementations

    TestPoint Family of Test Instruments for 10GbE LAN/WAN with or without FEC, 10G Fibre Channel, GbE, SONET/SDH, VCAT/GFP for Ethernet over SONET/SDH, OTN G.709, and ATM

    Interworking Labs

    Maxwell Network, Protocol and Packet Impairment System

    Ixia

    1 Gig Ethernet Load Modules

    10 Gig Ethernet Load Modules

    ATM Load Module

    IxAccess

    IxANVL

    IxChariot � Traffic Predeployment and Decision Support Tool

    IxExplorer

    IXIA 1600T/400T

    IXIA 250

    IxLoad � Traffic Generation and Analysis Application

    IxNetwork

    IxScriptMate

    SONET Load Modules

    IxVoice

    IxVPN

    IxWLAN

    Optixia X16

    Optixia XL10

    JDSU

    Multiple Application Platform for Optical or Electro-Optical Test and Measurement Applications

    Swept Wavelength System (SWS)

    Luna Technologies

    Optical Vector Analyzer (OVA) � integrated loss, dispersion, and PMD analyzer for high bit-rate fiber optic components and modules

    Navtel

    InterWatch

    NetHawk

    NetHawk EAST � heavy-duty load testing system

    Nexus Telecom

    Nexus8610

    Nexus8620

    NexusHorizon

    PacketStorm

    Hurricane

    Hurricane II

    PacketStorm1800E

    PacketStorm2600E

    PacketStorm4XG

    PScapture

    Tornado

    Prosilient Technologies

    PTAnalyzer

    Radcom

    Performer VoIP Testing System � predeployment and recurring testing of VoIP system performance

    Solinet

    H.323 Conformance Tester

    MEGACO Conformance Tester

    MGCP Conformance Tester

    SIGTRAN M2UA Conformance Tester

    SIGTRAN M3UA Conformance Tester

    SIGTRAN IUA Conformance Tester

    SIGTRAN SCTP Conformance Tester

    SIGTRAN M2PA Conformance Tester

    SIGTRAN V5UA Conformance Tester

    SIP Conformance Tester

    SIP-T Conformance TesterTektronix

    Spectra/SE

    Spirent Communications

    Triple Play Solutions -- Avalanche, Abacus 5000, AX/4000, Spirent Converged Network Impairment Emulator, mAXSLAM, TestCenter

    Tektronix

    K1297-G20

    K15

    K18

    NetTek

    NSA

    Spectra2

    Spectra/SE

    Spectra2/VQM

    Telchemy

    SQmediator OEM VoIP QoS report collection, aggregation and analysis product

    SQprobe OEM Gigabit Ethernet VoIP probe

    VQattest

    VQmon/EP

    VQmon/SA



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