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Agilent Technologies’ N2X Multiservices Test Solution is First to Validate IPTV Quality of Experience on IPv6 Next-Generation Networks


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Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced that its N2X multiservices test solution is the industry’s first test solution for validating Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service quality for thousands of subscribers on IPv6 network architectures, also referred to as next-generation networks (NGNs). Network equipment manufacturers and service providers can use the N2X solution to characterize the ability of individual IPv6 network elements or entire networks to meet IPTV Quality of Experience (QoE) expectations prior to deployment.

The Agilent N2X solution emulates IPv6 triple-play subscribers and generates high-bandwidth IPTV, Voice over IP (VoIP) and stateful data traffic to identify the true service quality experienced by every IPTV subscriber.

Major carriers are investing heavily in NGN IPv6 networks. These networks offer a variety of services to subscribers including IPTV, VoIP and high-speed Internet service over a high bandwidth broadband infrastructure. A critical success factor for increasing IPTV service adoption and subscriber retention is satisfaction with the service quality.

Dynamic subscriber behaviors, such as IPTV channel zapping, combined with a mix of triple-play traffic, severely stresses network equipment, potentially compromising video quality. Agilent’s N2X IPTV QoE Productivity Application for IPv6 addresses these issues and characterizes the service-quality aspects on a per-subscriber basis. Each N2X port can emulate thousands of IPTV subscribers with simulated dynamic behaviors, as well as generate and receive highly scalable combinations of video, voice and stateful data traffic. The N2X can uniquely test the scalability limits of each network device, as defined by RFC 4445, by measuring Media Delivery Index (MDI) delay factor and loss metrics on a per-subscriber basis.

“Only by emulating thousands of subscribers with dynamic triple-play traffic patterns can engineers be confident the IPv6 networks they are building will be able to deliver the IPTV service quality levels that end-users demand,” said Rod Unverrich, operations manager of Agilent’s Data Networks Operation. “The N2X’s new capabilities provide a complete and scalable environment to cost-effectively help manufacturers and providers validate their IPv6 networks’ ability to deliver quality services.”

Benefits of the Agilent N2X IPTV QoE solution for IPv6 include:

* test access test edge nodes, broadband network gateways, PON OLTs, DSLAMs, metro switches and home gateways for IPTV QoE over IPv6 in a lab environment;
* validate IPTV infrastructure scalability limits by emulating and measuring thousands of subscribers and up to 1,024 channels per port of real MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 high-definition video;
* measure channel-zapping performance for subscribers using Multicast Listener Discovery (MLDv1/v2) protocols;
* perform Ethernet testing using connections from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps at full line rate; and
* view actual video quality by replaying captured video, providing faster “time to insight.”

In addition to the N2X with IPTVv6 test capabilities, Agilent will demonstrate its triple play product portfolio at TelcoTV 2007, including:

* The Agilent J6900A Triple Play Analyzer, a complete in-service monitoring, analysis and troubleshooting tool for voice, data and video applications. The analyzer provides accurate measurements of broadband data, VoIP, IPTV and video on demand (VoD) QoE as well as channel-zapping analysis on IPv4 and IPv6 networks.
* The Agilent NgN Analysis System, a carrier-grade, network-wide troubleshooting and monitoring solution for VoIP and IMS. It delivers powerful integrated analysis capabilities to help operators improve quality of service and network connectivity, increase reliability, reduce operational costs and increase customer satisfaction.
* The Agilent FrameScope Pro, a low-cost, handheld triple play services troubleshooter to field test IPTV deployments for QoE. It performs packet and transport stream measurements on multicast and VoD streams at the residential gateway.

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The Agilent N2X multiservices test solution is available now at a starting price of $20,000. More information is available at www.agilent.com/find/n2x. Product photos are available at www.agilent.com/find/N2X_images.



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