Forbes.com Selects Equipment from Spirent Communications to Test Its Web Infrastructure; Avalanche Ensures Performance and Availability of Popular Business Site

Business Wire, June 14, 2004

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 14, 2004

Spirent Communications(TM) (NYSE:SPM)(LSE:SPT) today announced that Forbes.com, homepage for the world's business leaders, uses its Avalanche(TM) load testing appliance to ensure the performance and availability of its information-rich public Web site -- www.forbes.com. Spirent's Avalanche provides superior realism and comprehensive testing capabilities designed to ensure network and application performance and increase security.

As a top business site on the Web, Forbes.com receives a high volume of traffic every day. Traffic levels spike even higher when the Forbes lists are released--particularly "The World's Richest People" list, which generates interest worldwide. In addition, each week Forbes.com adds new functionality to the 150-plus applications that run the site. Regular testing with Avalanche challenges their network and application infrastructure to stand up to the load and complexity of the real-world, helping Forbes.com prevent unanticipated downtime, ensure performance and save money.

"We've deployed Avalanche for three years, but most recently used Avalanche to test the limits of a new site until we felt it was ready to go live," said Michael Smith, vice president and general manager of operations of Forbes.com. "When we moved the new site from the lab to deployment, we had every confidence that it would run perfectly--and it did."

Spirent's Avalanche 2500 can simulate a high number of simultaneously connected users with unique IP addresses, can generate thousands of requests per second, and can challenge any computing infrastructure's ability to stand up to the load and complexity of the real-world. Avalanche's Flexible Load Specification simulates real users in different locations with different traffic patterns.

"Highly-trafficked web sites such as Forbes.com require superior availability and performance," said Alan Newman, director of marketing for Spirent Communications' Enterprise business unit. "Testing with Avalanche helps Forbes.com and our other enterprise customers make better decisions and answer important infrastructure questions such as: Is the new site ready to go live? Is the network infrastructure designed and configured correctly? Do the applications have the required performance?"

Spirent's Avalanche product supports HTTP/1.0, HTTP/1.1, HTTPS, RTSP/RTP (Apple QuickTime(R)), RealSystem(R) streaming, Microsoft(R) Windows Media(R) 8 and 9 Series, SMTP, POP3, DNS, Telnet and FTP. In addition, Avalanche can generate Distributed Denial of Service attack traffic inline with any mix of multi-protocol traffic. Real-world conditions are accurately replicated with network error conditions and realistic user behavior. This helps developers and network engineers to deploy business applications which will withstand operational problems -- and high volumes of traffic.

About Forbes.com

Forbes.com Inc. (www.forbes.com), home page for the world's business leaders and the No. 1 business site on the Web, is among the most trusted resources for senior business executives, providing them the uncompromising commentary, concise analysis, relevant tools, community and real-time reporting they need to succeed at work, profit from investing and have fun with the rewards of winning. Throughout the business day, Forbes.com publishes more than 1,500 articles, delivering the best of Forbes journalism and that of its selected partners with all the immediacy, depth and interactivity that the Web allows. In fact, more people get their business news on Forbes.com than any other source in the world -- covering business, technology, markets, personal finance and lifestyle, with streaming video broadcasts several times a day. Voted "Best Media Website" in 2003 by the Web Marketing Association, and min's Best of the Web winner for "Editorial Excellence" in the consumer category, Forbes.com continues to set industry standards for its innovative advertising offerings, and for its award-winning journalism.

About Spirent Communications

Spirent Communications (www.spirentcom.com) is a global provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems that enable the development and deployment of next-generation networking technology such as Internet telephony, broadband services, 3G wireless, global navigation satellite systems, and network security equipment. Spirent's solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers in 30 countries, including the world's largest equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprises and governments. Based in Rockville, Md., Spirent Communications reported 2003 revenue of $394 million and has 1,800 employees worldwide. The company is the largest business group of Spirent plc, traded on the London and New York Stock Exchanges (LSE:SPT)(NYSE:SPM)(CUSIP number:84856M209). www.spirent.com. Spirent Communications' sales to the United States government are made through Spirent Federal Systems. www.spirentfederal.com