pRODUCT SPOTLIGHT:
TESTING & MONITORING
From the October 2005 issue of Communications News
Portable VoIP vision
Designed
to reduce the time it takes to troubleshoot IP phone deployment, the
handheld NetTool VoIP tool combines cable, network, IP phone
and PC configuration testing into a single device. The power of inline
testing is in the hands of the front-line technicians, meaning fewer
problems are escalated to higher-level engineers with more complex tools.
New features give users the ability to monitor VoIP service at the edge,
enabling technicians to see into VoIP calls by connecting between the phone
and the network. With this edge tool, technicians can see the quality of
calls in progress by measuring the RTP stream and displaying the number of
frames, frames dropped and out-of-sequence frames, and jitter. Call setup,
configuration and tear-down signaling is all visible to the user.
Fluke Networks
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Proprietary application emulation
Unlike legacy capture-replay techniques, Network Tester recreates real transport protocol sessions with unique port numbers and multiplies traffic in a realistic and scalable manner. This makes quantifying the effectiveness of application traffic-management methods possible, such as P2P rate limiting, Layer 7 “deep packet” classification and tagging, and application prioritization. By combining proprietary protocol support with its existing emulation capability, Network Tester enables insight into the quality of experience under realistic traffic conditions by emulating realistic application traffic mixes, simultaneously emulating multiple denial-of-service attacks, and by providing transaction variability and real-time control of traffic emulations to modify the application mix on the fly. It can also create realistic stateful traffic transactions without scripting over integrated IPSec, IPsecv6, PPPoE, DHCP, 802.1x and VLANs.
Agilent Technologies
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VoIP infrastructure testing
The Hammer VoIP Test Solution for Enterprises allows enterprises to reduce risk and speed the rollout of VoIP services and IP telephony applications (such as messaging, speech self-service, conferencing and CTI) by accurately assessing how their infrastructure and applications will perform as a live, enhanced IP service. By enabling enterprises to test applications running on VoIP networks in their own environments, companies can perform upgrade and migration testing on an ongoing basis. In addition, Hammer VoIP Test Solution for Enterprises can be used to analyze and troubleshoot both pure VoIP networks and hybrid IP/TDM environments. The test solution is comprised of three elements, including a feature test platform for IP environments that generates test IP calls and evaluates voice quality; a graphical scripting and reporting tool for creating test call flows; and a diagnostics and troubleshooting solution that enables users to visualize and debug signaling and voice-quality problems in VoIP networks.
Empirix
www.rsleads.com/510cn-300
Web site monitoring
Log Analyzer Professional 3.0 is a Web site traffic-analysis tool that helps Web masters do search engine optimization, Web site promotion and pay-per-click (PPC) campaign management. In addition to offering standard reports, including entry pages and page views, a report that shows which pages are underperforming in search engines allows Web masters to change tags, content or links and get search engine traffic they have been missing. The software also helps Web masters get a realistic picture of genuine traffic and identifies the sources of referring spam/fraudulent clicks. Reports specific to PPC and contextual traffic only include paths by search phrases or URLs, and view depth by search phrases or referring Web sites. These reports help owners calculate ROI rates for each particular ad campaign or bid term.
AlterWind Software
www.rsleads.com/510cn-303
Network emulation
Version 3.5 of the Virtual Enterprise solution delivers enhanced automation for rapid testing and assurance of dynamically changing network environments. The product recreates an exact model of the production environment, including the WAN, remote offices, end-users and background traffic–providing a place where administrators can safely test and experiment with the network, applications and infrastructure. The version also includes expanded integration with related performance solutions, including Segue Software’s SilkPerformer, and scalability for modeling large distributed enterprises. This adds to existing support for Web user automation, integration with Mercury’s LoadRunner 8.0, and custom-developed tools and application traffic generators. The entire testing process can be automated, from application scripting and scheduling, through network emulation and reporting.
Shunra Software
www.rsleads.com/510cn-306
High-speed testing
The
FTB-8510G Packet Blazer can help ensure quality of service on
high-speed 10-GigE interfaces in the network core. Test capabilities like
packet jitter, traffic generation and analysis, and RFC 2544 (a testing
methodology that includes throughput, latency and frame-loss measurements)
are available to thoroughly test Ethernet-based, Internet protocol networks.
Using a flexible configuration, the device can characterize local and/or
wide area network physical interfaces (LAN PHY and/or WAN PHY) with the same
test module at all available wavelengths. All interfaces are field
exchangeable and provide the suppleness to test any standard 10-Gigabit
Ethernet access point in a network.
EXFO
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Fibre channel testing
The
FCAccess 4000 is a multifunction card that can be used as a
Fibre Channel (FC) analyzer, generator, error injector or bit error rate
tester. It supports all FC standard transmission speeds and all topologies
or port types. When operating as an FC analyzer, the card captures FC
traffic and displays it to the user in an easy-to-read format. Single or
multiple users can use the card locally or remotely. The trace memory is
available up to a maximum size of 4 GB. By cascading several analyzers, it
can be expanded to a much larger recording space. An API software package
allows for the design of custom test suites to be written in the C
programming language.
Ancot
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