UNH-IOL to provide GPON interoperability and conformance testing via TraceSpan GPON Xpert analyzer

UNH-IOL, a neutral, third-party laboratory dedicated to testing data networking technologies through industry collaboration, and broadband analysis and monitoring equipment vendor TraceSpan Communications say they will collaborate to create a testbed for GPON interoperability and conformance testing.

The new test environment will enable UNH-IOL to expand its activities to include GPON testing, including among others interoperability testing according the BBF WT-255 test plan.

TraceSpan's GPON Xpert analyzer will provide the test engine. The multi-layer analyzer is designed to provide full visibility to the content of all the protocols and layers in a GPON network, including MAC and OMCI layers, as well as the user traffic on the GPON in protocol layers such as Ethernet, PPP, PPPoE, IPv4, IPv6, TCP, IGMP, and HTTP. In addition, its Validation Testing mechanism will allow UNH-IOL to provide go/no-go indications about compliance with the test cases, as well as with other user-defined test cases.

"As UNH-IOL expands its GPON testing activities, we identified the need for a GPON analyzer as a major building block for our test environment," said Lincoln Lavoie, UNH-IOL senior engineer, broadband technologies. "As a world-recognized test lab, an architect of the BBF WT-255 Interoperability Test Plan, and a leading contributor to the BBF.247 conformance test plan, we are committed to creating the best GPON testing environment possible. We feel TraceSpan and their GPON Xpert product are a great fit in this environment and will improve the GPON testing available at the UNH-IOL."