Ixia Introduces World’s First Probeless Voice and IPTV Service Verification System

IxRave Helps Service Providers Detect and Fix Problems without Deploying Probes; Expands IPTV Monitoring for ITU-T Standard

Ixia (NASDAQ:XXIA), a leading, global provider of IP performance test systems, today announced the release of IxRave™ Voice, an enhancement of its IxRave service verification system that enables service providers to assure voice over IP (VoIP) quality of service and alerts service providers of problems before subscribers become aware of them. IxRave Voice is an inexpensive and efficient system that can be used with VoIP services provided over xDSL, optical or cable networks.

IxRave 3.0 also expands its IPTV service verification offering with support for QoS and QoE monitoring based on ITU-T Recommendation G.1080. Service providers have welcomed this standard method for QoS and QoE monitoring as an alternative to many proprietary methods that were fielded by vendors in the early stages of IPTV development.

With the explosive growth of VoIP services, service providers are seeking to identify and fix problems before subscribers notice and thus avoid costly technician truck rolls. This pro-active service assurance increases service providers’ bottom line by reducing churn for voice customers who have many alternatives for voice service. Early adopters of IxRave Voice include Buckeye Cable System of Toledo, Ohio, and Armstrong Cable of Butler, Pennsylvania.

“IxRave Voice enables us to isolate issues that can affect voice quality before our customers even notice,” said Don Tacik, VP – Technical Operations, Armstrong Cable. “It is very important in today’s market to have tools in place that allow service providers to retain their customers. The automated service verification of the voice quality along with the visual mapping techniques has proven to be a great tool at all levels of our organization.”

Joe Jensen, CTO of Buckeye Cable, echoed Tacik’s sentiments.

“Before, when we needed to reconfigure our network topologies, validating that the quality of service was satisfactory after an upgrade was a painful and labor intensive process,” said Joe Jensen, CTO, Buckeye Cable. “With IxRave Voice, we can automatically test an entire network topology before and after reconfiguration and get immediate feedback regarding voice service quality. What used to take hours now takes minutes and is automated.”

IxRave Voice is a unique probeless, web-based system accessible by multiple service provider organizations, such as field service technicians and installers. The Ixia solution can place automated “test calls” to customers’ devices at predetermined times as a proactive solution. A customer care agent can perform on-demand tests immediately upon receipt of a customer call, and in some cases test the house wiring at the customer location to determine the location of the fault. The solution rates test-call quality based on the PESQ algorithm. For customer-made calls, network call data records (CDRs) are analyzed for poor IP metrics. These voice quality metrics, along with other data gathered from network elements, enable service providers to determine the root cause of service issues in their network.

“With IxRave Voice, we’re offering service providers a thorough, cost-effective way to assure voice quality over IP transports,” said Atul Bhatnagar, president and CEO of Ixia. “Bundling voice, video and data over an IP-based network has great revenue generating potential for service providers. Our new VoIP solutions will help them assure delivery of quality service, which in turn allows service providers to reduce cost, retain their customers and their associated revenues.”

IxRave measures end-to-end performance for multi-play services across an entire network. IxRave’s patent-pending architecture features a combination of software probes and Ixia test chassis to achieve full network coverage on a carrier-grade scale. Millions of subscribers are efficiently covered without special-purpose hardware at each network node, DSLAM or customer location.

About Ixia

Ixia is a leading provider of IP service verification platforms and 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 performance and reliability of complex IP networks, devices, and applications. Ixia’s multiplay 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 {at} ixiacom(.)com or visit our Web site at http://www.ixiacom.com.

Ixia, IxRave and the Ixia four-petal logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Ixia. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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 capabilities. Ixia is only obligated to provide those deliverables specifically included in a written agreement between Ixia and the customer.

Contacts

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