Spirent Communications Helps Move IP Telephony out of the Lab and into the Network

Business Wire, June 22, 2004

CHICAGO -- IP Services Solutions Showcased at SUPERCOMM, Along With Other Market-Leading Broadband Test & Measurement Solutions

At this year's SUPERCOMM trade show, the air will be filled with talk about IP Telephony. But one company -- Spirent Communications(TM) (NYSE:SPM)(LSE:SPT) -- will have its feet firmly grounded in the realities of IP services deployment.

"We bring a unique understanding of the realities of deploying IP telephony due to our presence in both the development labs and the networks," said My Chung, president of Spirent Communications. "We've been involved with IP since it started along the technology cycle at standards development. Now, we have comprehensive test solutions for conformance and scalability testing prior to deployment and a comprehensive new diagnostic and troubleshooting solution to help monitor the network and ensure quality of service."

Most carriers acknowledge that managed IP networks post a unique challenge. There are a host of technical and organizational hurdles to overcome to roll out IP services -- including that IP services are much more difficult to manage than legacy transport services; carriers are currently relying on expert technicians to manage the network; and that a lot of time and resources are being spent to get the network management systems right. Yet, while carriers are at varying stages of deploying IP telephony, they are motivated by competitive necessity and opportunity to provide customers with a low-cost solution.

To help carriers, Spirent has an arsenal of IP telephony test and diagnostic service assurance solutions, many of which will be showcased at SUPERCOMM. They include:

--SmartSight(TM) -- a new portfolio of diagnostic software and appliances, network interface devices, and professional services to help wireline, wireless, cable service providers, and enterprises diagnose specific service failures for IP-based services such as VoIP, IP VPNs, Video over IP, and Ethernet VLANs.

--TRT Interactive -- for the evaluation of new voice, video and data services in complex IP routing networks. TRT Interactive can reveal the "five nines" of performance quality for the rollout of new services and can ensure network infrastructure and services are secure and IPv6 compatible.

--Abacus 5000 IP Telephony Test Migration System -- the industry's first test platform capable of emulating an entire VoIP/PSTN network in a single system to address key technical issues for migration to next-generation networks, including integration with legacy systems and issues of scalability, performance, and voice quality.

--Spirent All-In-One Testing -- Enables the Abacus 5000 IP Telephony Test System to emulate a call agent, signaling gateway, IP end-points, PSTN network elements, and generate real voice and RTP packets. Its integrated testing capability is critical to adequately verify the migration from circuit to packet and to avoid performance, interoperability, and voice quality pitfalls associated with deploying new VoIP products or services.

"As the Broadband industry moves further from delivering basic high-speed access and into a new phase that is focused on delivering IP-enabled value-added services, the ability to monitor and troubleshoot the network becomes more essential," said Matt Davis, director, E-Networks and Broadband Access Planning Services, of The Yankee Group. "Spirent has demonstrated leadership in this area for years, and its SmartSight product line provides valuable tools for service providers to support QoS essential for the delivery of latency sensitive applications such as VoIP and IP Video."

In addition to its IP services solutions, Spirent will showcase a host of other solutions in and outside of its booth at SUPERCOMM. These include:

--Push-To-Talk (PTT) Service Assurance Solution -- enables system-wide network monitoring, diagnostic, and performance measurements such as registration delays, call setup delays, floor availability delays, audio delays and audio quality. These measurements assist service providers in optimizing performance for PTT services as well as analyzing and measuring the impact of new software releases on those services

--AX/4000 with mAX IP and mAX SLAM -- the industry's first high port density ADSL2 platform for testing performance and QoS of new generation Triple-Play enabled DSLAMs under realistic loads.

--CopperMax(R) product portfolio -- a comprehensive portfolio of DSL service assurance solutions that has significantly lowered the cost of ownership for monitoring and assuring DSL networks. Among featured solutions is the CopperMax/ITH -- the industry's first full-featured, end-to-end integrated test head that easily plugs into a DSLAM line card slot, virtually eliminating engineering and installation costs.

--TASKFORCE(TM) -- a field service OSS that automates real-time scheduling of service provider work forces, optimizing coordination of each job's location, technician skills, equipment inventory, and time windows. The result is greatly increased operational efficiency that readily scales to the largest workforce.