Chicago (SUPERCOMM, June 22, 2004)

Spirent Communications? (NYSE: SPM; LSE:SPT) today announced that it has developed the industry’s first high port density ADSL2+ platform for testing performance and quality of service (QoS) of new generation Triple-Play enabled DSLAMs under realistic loads.

Today’s DSL service providers need to extend their service offering beyond basic high speed Internet services by offering packages targeting the 'Triple-Play' of voice, video and Internet. Many of the leading network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) are developing next-generation DSLAMs that combine the latest ADSL/ADSL2/ADSL2+ chipsets, which enable higher DSL data rates, with the ability to support the QoS and protocol requirements of Triple-Play services.

The additional functionality and intelligence demanded by Triple-Play services, combined with increased DSL port density and sustained high throughput, requires new testing techniques Recognizing its customers’ testing requirements, Spirent has developed a high port density ADSL/2/2+ mAX SLAM interface card for its market-leading AX/4000 traffic generator and analyzer. The mAX SLAM interface offers an unprecedented resource to test Triple-Play performance and QoS by emulating both modem and subscriber traffic. With 12 ports taking the space of a single modem, and systems scaling from 24 to over 12000 ADSL/2/2+ ports, mAX SLAM reduces lab space requirements and simplifies test system management.

"The view that voice and video are simply other applications on the DSL data network is a risky path in the xDSL industry. Voice and video are much more sensitive to jitter and packet loss, and have a much higher level of expectation in terms of dependability and availability as compared to data," said Steve Courtney, vice president of marketing for Spirent Communications’ Access Emulation unit. “Our first-to-market test solution is intended to boost the confidence of DSLAM vendors and service providers by providing realistic high density Triple-Play testing of QoS, mitigating the technical risks associated with the transition of DSL Triple-Play services to converged networks, replace large racks of CPE and wiring, and provide a new standard of testing for next-generation DSLAMs.”

Currently, DSLAM performance is tested using a traffic generator/analyzer emulating a single stream of IP traffic through a real modem. While this is acceptable for DSLAMs only supporting Internet traffic where packet loss, latency and jitter issues go largely undetected by the end-user, it presents many problems for Triple-Play enabled DSLAMs. Voice and video traffic is very sensitive to packet loss, latency and jitter, and it is important to verify the DSLAMs management of QoS to ensure voice, video and data traffic are prioritized correctly. In addition, when testing using actual modems, results are obscured by inclusion of the modem performance in the overall results.

Spirent’s mAX IP [G/A – what’s this?] and mAX SLAM interface for the AX/4000 can generate and analyze multiple streams of Layer 3 control and data plane traffic, revealing interactions between traffic of different QoS levels. Additionally, the test platform provides new functionality and granularity to test analysis by introducing support for protocols such as IP multicasting for video delivery and isolation of performance analysis to the DSLAM without including performance of modems bundled in test results.

Leading NEMs and Service Providers have selected Spirent’s mAX SLAM solution to test the performance and QoS of the new generations of higher bandwidth, intelligent DSLAMs. The addition of the high port density ADSL2+ platform allows them to assess packet loss and service interactions between voice, video and data in the lab, before deploying in the live network, mitigating service disruption and lost productivity. In addition, pre-deployment testing and verification of multi-service networks allows customers to ensure optimal scalability without added cost, maximize performance with inherent reliability, and guarantee interoperability with proven voice quality. This allows for bundling of services, which increases customer subscription rates for DSL and with added services, per user revenues.

Spirent's AX/4000 mAX IP and mAX SLAM Triple-Play DSLAM Test Solution are available now. The product features include:

Layer 3 control and data plane traffic generation and analysis for testing triple play applications
User port grouping for quick provisioning of ports with like traffic profiles
High port density (168 ADSL2+ ports in a 7U chassis)
High scalability (24-12000 ports controlled by a single GUI)
Graphical reporting
Scripting for automation of recurring tests