New Agilent RouterTester tools speed deployment of IP-based equipment and services for metropolitan area networks

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, Sept 13, 2002

Agilent Technologies introduced new metro/edge testing tools for its RouterTester platform, designed to speed evaluation and deployment of advanced IP-based equipment and services for metropolitan area networks. The new tools stress service implementations of metro networks past their breaking points, thereby allowing service providers to identify performance limitations prior to deployment.

New RouterTester tools, including industry-first Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) testing capabilities, enable service providers and network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) to reduce the cost and time required to assess the performance and scalability of key protocol implementations required for delivery of VPN and IP multicast services.

RouterTester now supports interoperability and scalability testing of Layer 2 over MPLS VPNs (L2oMPLS - Martini Draft), used to carry native legacy data (Ethernet, ATM and Frame Relay) on a consolidated basis over a single IP/MPLS infrastructure. Users can verify Layer 2 virtual circuit functionality, determine session set-up rates, and evaluate the number of sessions the device can support under normal and extreme network conditions.

The PPP test tools support ATM (PPPoA) and Ethernet (PPPoE) versions of this important protocol, used to establish point-to-point data connections for individual users. Each RouterTester interface supports a full PPP stack, enabling set up and authentication over 100 PPP sessions per second, as well as simulation of thousands of client and hosts. RouterTester can emulate up to 16,000 PPP sessions per port, the industry's highest available PPP emulation. Manufacturers of access concentrators and edge routers can measure PPP session capacity, set up/tear down rates and packet forwarding performance. These new tools complement RouterTester's existing RFC 2547-bis VPN and VLAN protocol testing capabilities. New 10/100 and 10 GbE LAN/WAN options have also been added to RouterTester's wide range of available Ethernet, POS and ATM interfaces.