January 9, 2006 Calabasas, CA -- Ixia has announced the first release in a line of interface load modules capable of testing both traditional TDM and packet-based carrier infrastructure. The company says its Multi-Services Module (MSM) product line offers a powerful blend of performance and service testing capabilities for high speed 2.5- and 10-Gbit/sec networks.
According to the company, the MSM line integrates the feature set of the company's 10-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) LAN Services Module (LSM), applying these features to the testing of Packet over SONET/SDH (POS), Ethernet over SONET, and 10-GbE networks.
The company maintains that traditional SONET/SDH networks in many service provider deployments are being enhanced with packet-level capabilities in a convergence of SONET and Ethernet - often called Metro Ethernet or Carrier Ethernet. According to the company, this "next generation" SONET can efficiently transmit multi-gigabit rate Ethernet data and dynamically scale channelized SONET connection rates up or down to meet bandwidth demands. The company says its line of MSM testing platforms is specifically designed to make it possible for network equipment manufacturers and service providers to accurately and efficiently test these converged networks.
The company says its MSM product line targets the performance, scalability, and functional validation of multi-service provisioning platforms, multi-service switching platforms, edge and core routers, digital cross connect systems, and add-drop multiplexers. The MSM line is designed to fit the testing needs of network equipment manufacturers during the development of these types of products, as well as the needs of service providers, including RBOCs, IXCs, and PTTs, during the qualification and roll out of new infrastructure and services.
The MSM platform is backwardly compatible with the company's existing test platforms, including the IXIA 1600T and 400T, and forwardly compatible with the company's Optixia X16 platform. A range of proprietary test applications can run tests over the MSM, including the company's: IxNetwork for IP routing, MPLS, and multicast performance and functional testing; IxScriptMate for automated Layer 2/3 data and control plane testing; IxExplorer for Layer 2/3 data plane testing; and IxANVL for protocol conformance testing
In addition, according to the company, the MSM's Linux-based architecture facilitates high-performance Layer 4-7 application layer testing, including building custom test applications using the company's Linux Software Development Kit.
Other MSM product line feature highlights, according to the company, include: 2.5G and 10G testing with up to 16 ports in a single Optixia X16 or IXIA 1600T chassis; traffic generation of up to millions of unique flows per port; the ability to track and analyze up to millions of flows per port in real-time for latency, inter-arrival time, packet loss, data integrity, and sequence checking; and integrated data/control plane traffic generation and analysis for IPv4/v6 routing protocols, L2/L3 VPN, multicast, and L4-7 testing.
The initial product in the MSM line is a 2.5G Load Module supporting concatenated OC-48c POS. A 10G Load Module capable of concatenated OC-192c POS and 10-GbE LAN/WAN will be available in February 2006. The company says these platforms will support upgrades to a Metro Ethernet feature set - including channelization, GFP, VCAT, and LCAS - set for availability later this year.