Acterna's NetComplete Delivers Complete Test and Management Support for Deploying Metro Ethernet Services

Business Wire, May 9, 2005

GERMANTOWN, Md. -- Company also Unveils QT-600 Distributed Ethernet Testhead for True End-to-End Automated Metro Ethernet Service Turn-up Verification, Fault Isolation and Troubleshooting

To meet the challenges that today's network operators face delivering a proliferation of IP services over Ethernet technology, Acterna today announced that its NetComplete(TM) IP Service Assurance Solution now offers a complete set of service turn-up verification and troubleshooting capabilities that allow providers to deploy reliable and efficient Metro Ethernet services.

Acterna, the leader in test and management solutions for consumer and business broadband communications, is introducing its NetComplete Metro Ethernet Service Assurance solution, as well as solutions for VoIP and IPTV, at SuperComm 2005, booth #43021, June 7-9.

NetComplete's Metro Ethernet capabilities are a part of Acterna's Service Assurance Solutions (SAS) division, which provides "triple-play" next generation network operators with a robust modular portfolio of independent and interoperable solutions to enable end-to-end service management across their converged broadband IP infrastructure. For providers deploying and scaling Metro Ethernet services, NetComplete is a complete test solution that drives cost savings and efficiency by greatly reducing the need for repeat dispatches. It does so by delivering the necessary tools and procedures to automate and simplify service turn-up verification, fault isolation and troubleshooting.

"In today's next-generation networks, service providers encounter new provisioning verification and troubleshooting challenges with the increased complexity of data networks and the increase of IP services being delivered over Metro Ethernet," said Roger Lingle, vice president of marketing for Acterna's Service Assurance Solutions division. "Our NetComplete Metro Ethernet capabilities, including the QT-600 Distributed Ethernet Testhead, provide the procedures, tools, and visibility into customer traffic that can verify service turn-up, fault isolation and troubleshoot. This instills confidence in service deployment, helps avoid dispatching multiple technicians, lowers operational costs, avoids missed revenue, and fosters customer retention."

To deliver IP services, the use of Metro Ethernet in metropolitan areas has been a popular technology that avoids bandwidth bottlenecks associated with multiple corporate networks connected to one metropolitan area network. Industry analysts have noted tremendous growth in metro Ethernet technology, placing sales of Metro Ethernet gear at a range from $5 billion to more than $6 billion by 2006.

NetComplete enables greater service provider efficiency with Acterna's QT-600, a new NetComplete Distributed Ethernet Testhead that supports several key functions to support successful management of Metro Ethernet services, among other technologies. In combination with NetComplete's Test OSS, NetAnalyst NGT, service providers can use the QT-600 to help verify turn-up of services without coordinated dispatches to multiple remote sites. In addition, service qualification can be conducted using the full suite of RFC 2544 tests (such as throughput, latency, frame loss and back to back) with the QT-600's support of automatic loopback commands to Acterna's FST-2802 and various third-party customer premise devices. Other features include sophisticated monitoring capabilities that have capture, flexible trigger and filtering functions, ping and trace route. It can also rapidly troubleshoot and isolate faults remotely from a single centralized location.

About NetComplete

NetComplete is the core component of Acterna's Service Assurance Solutions that delivers end-to-end applications for service turn-up verification, fault isolation and troubleshooting, performance monitoring and capacity planning targeted for the service provider environment. Service providers can maximize revenue while lowering costs by removing operational inefficiencies within and between these areas. By leveraging the operational synergies between these functional areas, NetComplete can not only identify poor or degrading service, but also drill down to the next level to further isolate and troubleshoot the degradation. NetComplete also delivers a sophisticated set of testing and monitoring capabilities by giving the service provider visibility into the end-user experience.

About Acterna Service Assurance Solutions (SAS)

Acterna's Service Assurance Solutions was created to proactively address the critical business challenges facing today's telecom and cable network operators competing to efficiently and rapidly deliver the "triple play" bundle of advanced voice, data and video services over IP networks. Service Assurance Solutions provides next generation network operators with a robust portfolio of interoperable NetComplete Solutions to enable end-to-end service management across their converged broadband IP infrastructure. Capable of performing quick service turn-up, fault isolation, troubleshooting, ongoing performance monitoring and network capacity planning, it is ideally positioned to help network operators quickly deploy IP-based broadband services while lowering operating expenses.