Ixia is First Test Vendor to Work with Nortel to Test Carrier Ethernet Interoperability
Ixia (NASDAQ:XXIA), a leading, global provider of IP performance test systems, has joined Nortel’s (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT) Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem initiative as a key test solution supplier. Ixia and Nortel will cooperate to ensure cross-vendor compatibility with new protocols for Carrier Ethernet deployments including PBB (Provider Backbone Bridging) and PBB-TE (PBB-Traffic Engineering).
Nortel is taking a lead position in defining, developing and fielding Carrier Ethernet for Service Providers. Service Providers need to satisfy the needs of their Enterprise clients for point-to-point connections, private LANs and Triple-Play traffic. These requirements have historically been satisfied with IP-MPLS, which require high performance routers throughout the core. Carrier Ethernet allows these needs to be satisfied with lower-cost, high-bandwidth switches. PBB and PBB-TE are key protocols that make this possible.
“Carrier Ethernet has the potential to change the game for service providers, lowering the cost and complexity of metro networks while increasing the amount of available resources to meet the growing bandwidth requirements from video, IPTV, advanced business applications and other next-generation network services,” said Mike Adams, vice president of Strategy and Architecture for Nortel's Metro Ethernet Networks. “Our focus is to ensure the existence of a robust ecosystem that delivers Carrier Ethernet solutions that are pre-integrated, pre-tested and ready for deployment. Ixia's expertise in interoperability and performance testing will be a key enabler to meet these goals.”
With its recent IxNetwork product release, Ixia introduces PBB/PBB-TE, Ethernet OAM/CFM and Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) testing support. Now Ixia offers the broadest range of Carrier Ethernet testing running on its single Optixia XM test platform. Ixia’s PBB/PBB-TE capability is part of its new comprehensive Carrier Ethernet Test Solution and it is the first to verify both PBB/PBB-TE and MPLS-based Carrier Ethernet.
“Ixia recognizes that Carrier Ethernet has the potential to bring the reality of Ethernet services into the mainstream across Service Providers,” said Victor Alston, senior vice president of Product Development. “Ixia is committed to being the leader in providing performance, functional and conformance testing across all Carrier Ethernet Standards and supporting Nortel’s goal of enabling Carrier Class Ethernet deployments with improved cost savings and performance gains.”
The promise of Carrier Ethernet is to provide high-speed, low-cost, easily managed core networks operating at Layer 2 that provide all of the services that have been performed by IP networks. Current Metro Ethernet networks allow customer-separated services, but with a catch – only 4,096 distinct customers can be supported. PBB extends this to allow virtually unlimited numbers of individuated customers on a network. PBB-TE (IEEE 802.1Qay), proposed by Nortel, answers the needs for Triple-Play traffic separation and protocol-agnostic tunneling.
Nortel’s Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem provides Service Providers the ability to create and extend Carrier Ethernet at a fraction of previous costs. A switch-based core network is significantly easier to configure and maintain solution, which leads to reduced operating expenditures.
About Ixia
Ixia is a leading provider of performance test systems for IP-based infrastructure and services. Ixia's test systems are used by Network and Telephony Equipment Manufacturers, Semiconductor Manufacturers, Service Providers, Governments, and Enterprises to validate the functionality and reliability of complex IP networks, devices, and applications. Ixia's Triple-Play test systems address the growing need to test voice, video, and data services and network capability under real-world conditions.
For more information, contact Ixia at 26601 W. Agoura Road, Calabasas, CA 91302; 818-871-1800, Fax: 818-871-1805; Email: info@ixiacom.com or visit our Web Site at http://www.ixiacom.com.
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This material is for informational purposes only and subject to change without notice. It describes Ixia’s present plans to develop and make available to its customers certain products, features and functionality. Ixia is only obligated to provide those deliverables specifically included in a written agreement between Ixia and the customer.