Brix Networks Expands VoIP Service Assurance Offering For Cable Providers

Company’s BrixCall Software Adds NCS Protocol and Loopback Support That Gives Cable Operators QoS Visibility Into Subscribers’ Homes

CHELMSFORD, Mass. — Brix Networks, the leading provider of converged service assurance solutions, today announced the addition of several enhancements to its BrixCall™ Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) analysis and correlation application that gives cable operators unprecedented quality of service (QoS) visibility into subscribers’ homes.

BrixCall now provides support for the Network-based Call Signaling (NCS) protocol commonly used in cable environments, and correlates passive monitoring thresholds and active test results to help automate and streamline troubleshooting, fault isolation, and overall call quality and performance in a cable infrastructure.

According to a study by industry research firm IDC, VoIP cable subscribers in the United States are forecasted to grow from 6.4 million in 2006 to 25.5 million in 2010. In order to maintain this rapid growth, cable companies are deploying service assurance solutions to reliably deliver the quality demanded by their subscribers.

“The ability to test, measure, and monitor the quality of Internet telephone service from the headend to the home is essential for the successful deployment of VoIP initiatives,” said Tracy Corbo, senior analyst in IDC’s Network and Service Management program. “End-to-end testing, including support of NCS signaling and loopback, enable cable operators to ensure the quality of service subscribers will expect from their VoIP services.”

“Our customers include some of the largest cable companies in North America and they have asked for greater service assurance capabilities -- particularly across the last mile and into the home,” said Steve DesRochers, vice president, solutions, at Brix Networks. “With BrixCall, network operators gain important insight into live calls by being able to proactively measure the performance of the network and call signaling paths, and passively monitor the performance of live media and signaling.”

BrixCall provides comprehensive visibility and passive monitoring of live VoIP traffic, and also offers advanced correlation of active test results to ensure call quality from the core of a service provider’s network to customer care.

Deployed in conjunction with the Brix family of Verifiers, BrixCall is an integrated component within the company’s BrixWorx™ central-site software engine, and closes the visibility gap from expected network performance to actual customer experience. Providers use BrixCall to accelerate their VoIP deployments with confidence and satisfy their subscribers by delivering a high-quality service along with high-quality customer care.

As a call signaling protocol used to control communication units, such as IP telephones, NCS is used to setup, manage, and terminate multimedia communication sessions in a centralized communications system. In addition to NCS, BrixCall also supports the H.323, H.248, and SIP-T protocols.

Brix Networks’ seamlessly integrated hardware and software products, collectively called the Brix System, are indispensable to VoIP service delivery and user adoption. The Brix System features the unique Brix Tri-Q™ Analysis that provides total VoIP service testing across the three most vital areas that impact the success of this real-time service, namely: signaling quality (signaling path performance), delivery quality (media transport performance), and session quality (overall quality experience).

Availability and Pricing

BrixCall for Cable is scheduled to be available in 60 days, and pricing is based on the size and scale of a network operator’s deployment.