Spirent Communications has integrated V-Factor, developed by QoSmetrics, into the Spirent IPTV Quality of Experience test system

March 20, 2006

2 Min Read

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Spirent Communications (NYSE: SPM; LSE: SPT), a provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems for next-generation network technologies, today announced that it has integrated V-Factor into the Spirent IPTV Quality of Experience (QoE) Test System. V-Factor, developed by QoSmetrics, is an implementation of the Moving Picture Quality Metric (MPQM) standard for network-delivered video assessment and displaces the older, primitive Media Delivery Index (MDI) approach.

By employing the Spirent IPTV QoE Test System with V-Factor, network equipment manufacturers and service providers can rapidly deliver the highest quality IPTV service. By accurately anticipating subscriber's IPTV service experience, V-Factor is critical to the successful launch of IPTV networks and services. This drives service adoption, increases subscriber loyalty and reduces churn. Hitachi is one of the first IPTV network equipment manufacturers to employ Spirent's V-Factor enabled test system.

The Spirent IPTV QoE Test System along with V-Factor technology provides a higher class of fidelity testing metrics. It determines video quality as perceived by a subscriber and offers the highest correlation with user's actual quality of experience. V-Factor, which also includes audio performance assurance, takes into account network impairments such as delay variation and packet loss episodes that impact the video buffer used to restitute a video image as well as image complexity and the type of codec used. The technology enables the service provider to understand how network performance issues impact this perceived quality, in advance of the service being launched. Obsolescent testing metrics such as MDI merely attempt to infer subscriber QoE based on network performance indicators.

"MDI only looks at two network parameters and is blind to video stream content making it unsuitable for video quality assessment," said Bahaa Moukadam, vice president, IP Telephony, Spirent Communication. "The Spirent test system combined with V-Factor looks at both network impairments and video stream content to report a video MOS score and a wide range of relevant statistics for comprehensive diagnostics of network and coding problems enabling service providers to successfully rollout IPTV services."

Spirent Communications

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