Agilent Technologies' N2X multiservices test solution enables triple-play quality-of-experience verification

Test-automation tools offer powerful emulations of next-generation services and converging infrastructure

CHICAGO, Supercomm, Booth No. 32015, June 6, 2005

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the industry's most comprehensive solution for validating performance and scalability characteristics of next-generation network equipment for voice, video and data (triple-play) services. Network equipment manufacturers and service providers can now gain unique insight into quality of experience (QoE) of each individual subscriber service under real-world conditions. N2X addresses the test challenges triple-play services impose across the core, edge and broadband-access networks, enabling a more complete characterization of service quality. Using the new emulation software, focused built applications and industry-leading hardware test cards, users can test a broader range of test cases in much less time than ever before.

Broadband telecommunications networks are being upgraded to support real-time services, such as VoIP and IPTV. Next-generation devices, such as B-RAS and IP-DSLAMs, must now accommodate traffic prioritization policies and multicast technologies as well as higher-speed Ethernet aggregation. Agilent N2X is able to accurately characterize the ability of these devices to deliver triple-play services by:

• Providing insight into the QoE of each end-user IPTV subscriber during real-world traffic loads. The new N2X N5570A IPTV Channel Zapping productivity application accurately profiles channel-change times on a per-subscriber basis. This provides unique insight into each end-user's experience, rather than an aggregate performance measure.
• Verifying the performance of broadband-access devices under real-world traffic conditions. The N2X Access Protocol test solution can easily set up large aggregate PPPoX, DHCP and L2TP client sessions to determine the scalability of the device. N2X can also generate wire-speed traffic to test whether the forwarding capability falls within acceptable QoS limits.

IPTV services and other multicast applications, such as video conferencing and distance learning, are fueling the adoption of multicast technologies such as Multicast VPNs (mVPN) in edge networks. Such new technologies as carrier Ethernet services will revolutionize the efficient delivery of services through the service provider's network to end-users. Agilent N2X assures equipment manufacturers and service providers that their edge equipment can meet triple-play service requirements by:

• Verifying the multicast scalability limits and interoperability of edge routers. N2X can concurrently emulate thousands of PIM and IGMP sessions, while also generating multicast traffic to thoroughly validate the functional, scalability and conformance aspects of mVPN implementations.
• Validating functional conformance of carrier Ethernet services across the UNI. The new N2X N5590A MEF9 Conformance Suite incorporates hundreds of test cases for Ethernet private line (E-line) and Ethernet LAN (E-LAN) services, saving test engineers hours of programming needed to verify that these services can be reliably delivered in a multivendor, multiservice environment.

To facilitate the delivery of real-time services, service providers need to ensure their core IP/MPLS networks are available and are able to continue forwarding traffic under protection and restoration conditions. N2X simplifies and accelerates testing of network reliability by:

• Saving months of engineering effort by automating IETF-based High Availability test methodologies. The new N2X N5571A High Availability productivity application provides a turnkey solution for complex multiprotocol emulation scenarios around control plane restart and protection re-route validation.
• Thoroughly testing the various elements of high-availability procedures using complete and concurrent multiprotocol graceful restart emulation for OSPF, IS-IS, RSVP, BGP, and LDP available through the N2X E7882A and E7883A emulation software.
• Thorough stressing of the routing and traffic scalability for IPv4 and IPv6 at 10G Ethernet or even up to 40 G packet-over-SONET with the industry's highest-performance traffic-generation and analysis hardware.

"The breadth and depth of solutions of the Agilent N2X demystifies the complexities of testing triple-play-capable networks," said Dave Bass, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Data Networks Division. "With the new capabilities, N2X provides the most comprehensive multiservices test coverage across the entire telecommunications network. It delivers unique insight into per-subscriber QoE, thereby accelerating triple-play service deployment."

More information is available at www.agilent.com/comms/N2X.

Product photos are available at www.agilent.com/find/n2x_image.

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world's premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company's 28,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2004. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

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Contact:

Janet Smith, Agilent
+1 970 679 5397
janet_smith@agilent.com

Johanna Vallecillo
Weber Shandwick, for Agilent
+1 408 530 8400 X2232
jvallecillo@webershandwick.com