- to showcase Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet functionality at Networld+Interop, 29 April-2 May 2003.
28 April 2003 Utica, New York, Lightwave Europe--NetTest has announced another testing application for its CMA 5000 Multi-Layer Network Test Platform.
The addition allows developers, installers and users of SANs to characterise the behaviour and performance of Fibre Channel systems with a portable tester.
Whether qualifying the function of a single switch or characterising an entire system with hundreds of ports, the Fibre Channel application provides power, scalability and ease-of-use to improve SAN performance, NetTest says.
As a prominent technology for implementing SANs, Fibre Channel protocol offers a range of capabilities for interconnecting storage devices, sub-systems and server systems.
With optical technology extending the benefits of SANs over Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs), emphasis is being placed on Carriers and Network Service Providers to ensure that their Fibre Channel SAN environment will support customer policy management; from the fault management perspective to security management.
The CMA 5000 Fibre Channel application can support all three topologies and generate traffic streams at full line rate to simulate virtually any type of storage network loading for both 1Gb and 2Gb Fibre Channel fabrics.
It will automatically decode over 30 of the most popular protocols and the pluggable physical layer interfaces enable the user to switch between multimode and singlemode optical links as well as copper connections.
Unlike some Fibre Channel analyzers, the CMA 5000 can perform simultaneous capture and statistics gathering, avoiding the user having to shut down the statistics window to perform a capture.
As a complementary solution to their recently announced Gigabit Ethernet functionality for use in the CMA 5000 Platform, NetTest is leading the industry by introducing pioneering solutions that span multiple network layers to effectively address test and measurement trends.
"The combination of Gigabit Ethernet, SONET/SDH and our new Fibre Channel analysis application within the CMA 5000 platform, provides a flexible test solution for characterizing and optimizing the most popular types of SAN protocols," said Jim Nerschook, NetTest VP, R&D and Marketing.
"With one platform providing complete testing solutions, our customers can minimise training, increase user efficiency, reduce equipment inventory, and decrease test time via best-in-breed specifications; therefore reducing their total cost of measurement."
Where to See the New CMA 5000 Fibre Channel Application
NetTest will showcase the new Fibre Channel and the new Gigabit Ethernet functionality at Networld+Interop, 29 April-2 May 2003, at Booth 7199. A press conference will be held on Tuesday, April 29 at 11:30 AM in room N261 to launch these major additions to NetTest's CMA 5000 Multi-Layer Network Test Platform.