Acterna Introduces NetAnalyst 5.1; Provides OSS Test Support, Reduces Operational Costs and Drives Process Improvement for New Services Deployment.

GERMANTOWN, Md. -- Acterna today introduced NetAnalyst(TM) 5.1, a next generation test OSS system designed for network operators to significantly accelerate the delivery of advanced communications services while improving quality and reducing the costs of deployment. With NetAnalyst 5.1's ability to integrate customized automated testing, quickly respond to repair and turn-up requests, as well as offer an easy-to-access web-based technology, service providers can now drastically reduce operational costs associated with new service turn-up and network maintenance testing.

Acterna's OSS solutions, including NetAnalyst 5.1, will be on display at the Telemanagement World Forum, Long Beach, CA, October 12-14, booth 219.

Building on Acterna's popular NetAnalyst brand, version 5.1 provides network operators with greater efficiency and accuracy when managing the entire lifecycle of a service deployment. Of the new capabilities, there are two highlights. First, NetAnalyst TestRules(TM) allows service providers to specify and deploy their own expert testing, avoiding costly custom software development or integration. This function also brings an expert test engine "environment" that allows customers to easily "build in" customized expert analysis capabilities. Second, NetAnalyst TestPortal(TM) provides web services accessibility to NetAnalyst TestRules procedures, as well as a J2EE compliant plug-in extension Application Programming Interface (API), that cost-effectively add external system capabilities into the NetAnalyst TestRules information model.

Acterna's NetAnalyst TestRules procedures are also designed to be leveraged by non-testing personnel such as customer care technicians or end-customers from NetAnalyst directly or via trouble ticketing systems or customer managed network portals. With the 5.1 version, network operators now have the tools to offer superior customer service and enjoy the benefits of increased customer intimacy and responsiveness by providing quicker time-to-respond, repair and turn-up end-user services.

"Acterna is committed to providing the most effective network analysis and monitoring tools for deploying new services reliably and cost-effectively," said John Govert, vice president of marketing for Acterna's Service Assurance Solutions division. "With NetAnalyst 5.1, Acterna is able to improve the efficiency of our customer's business operations by cost effectively integrating test and network analysis expertise with the processes and systems that increase productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, reduce training times and staffing requirements, and support emerging and existing network architectures."

NetAnalyst 5.1 provides a TMF NGOSS consistent Test OSS application for managing and integrating the test and maintenance of DS0 to OC-192 transport services, as well as ATM, frame relay and IP data services. It includes a powerful expert automation feature set that enables "building-in" custom expert analysis using NetAnalyst TestRules. NetAnalyst TestRules are a non-programmer based rule syntax that allows testing subject-matter experts to configure NetAnalyst test procedures with conditional logic for modifying testing actions that are dependent on dynamic test inputs, results or events. TestRules can be used to define specific pass/fail criteria derived from dynamic SLA thresholds, determine root-cause analysis, provide predictive or next-step recommendations, and build-in exception handling capabilities to ensure the automated testing environment is both robust and reliable. These powerful and flexible capabilities cannot be found in legacy centralized test systems.

All Acterna company or product names mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of Acterna Inc. or one of its subsidiary companies.

About Acterna

Acterna is the world's largest provider of communications test solutions for telecommunications and cable network operators. A trusted communications test partner for more than eight decades, Acterna offers an unmatched portfolio of award-winning instruments, systems, software, and services that help its customers reduce network costs while improving performance and reliability. Headquartered in Germantown, Md. -- with European and Asia-Pacific operations based in Eningen, Germany, and Hong Kong -- Acterna serves nearly every major communications service provider and equipment manufacturer around the world through a skilled sales and support organization in 31 countries.