Acterna Releases Single Solution for IP Analysis of Ethernet, WAN, ATM and Packet-Over-SONET Networks.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CeBIT 2004

GERMANTOWN, Md. & HANNOVER, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2004

Analyzer Ideal for Carriers Needing a Consolidated Platform to Perform Monitoring, Analysis and Troubleshooting of IP Traffic Over a Wide Variety of Network Topologies

Acterna, the largest provider of test and management solutions to telecommunications network operators, today announced the release of the Acterna DA-3600A, the industry's most powerful analyzer of wire-speed performance up to 2.4 Gbps. The tester, which also has the most comprehensive hardware filtering mechanism in the industry, will be introduced this week at CeBIT 2004 in Hannover, Germany.

Service providers continue to seek solutions for reducing network expenses while simultaneously increasing productivity. As more advanced technologies are deployed, the need to find such solutions amplifies. With its introduction, the DA-3600A helps carriers address the challenge by providing full monitoring and analysis of IP networks over a wide variety of network interfaces. Flow classification is supported for Packet over SONET (POS) and Ethernet networks and a user-friendly interface is supported for Ethernet, ATM and high-speed WAN.

The new DA-3600A is a consolidated platform that adds all of the features currently available for the DA-3400 and DA-3600, two of the industry's most widely deployed IP network troubleshooting and data analysis platforms. In addition, the DA-3600A has the capability of supporting MPLS over Ethernet and features hardware upgrades that improve processing capability, add one Gigabyte capture buffer size (the largest in the industry) and include an internal hard disk of 40 Gigabytes.

"Carriers needing the ability to view IP traffic over a variety of network interfaces have been asking for a one-box solution like the DA-3400A," said Dave Marcellino, product marketing manager for the Acterna DA-3600A. "Based on initial customer feedback, it is the easiest-to-use tester for service providers analyzing IP traffic."

Users will now have a choice of two different platforms: the DA-3600A supporting Ethernet, High Speed WAN, ATM and POS at Speeds up to OC-48c/STM-16; and the DA-3400 supporting ATM, Ethernet or high-speed WAN at speeds up to Gigabit Ethernet.

Additional highlights of the DA-3600A include: support for all interface modules currently available for the DA-3400 and the DA-3600, a command line operation for POS and Ethernet, full remote capability via IP, and support for VoIP and VoATM. The DA-3600A also has a single connection wizard to connect to any DA-3600A or DA-3400.

The DA-3600A consolidates the DA-3400 and DA-3600 platforms, historically known as the Cyclone family of analyzers. The consolidation of this family of products provides the DA-3600A with real-time and historical analysis of data/IP traffic to assist operators and IT professionals in identifying the root cause of problems in complex, multi-application data networks. Its intuitive graphical displays, on-line expert analysis system, and hardware-enabled analysis engine enable service providers to quickly identify difficult-to-find problems on LAN, LAN/WAN, ATM, Frame, and POS networks at traffic speeds up to 2.5Gb/s. The unit can be used locally or under a test OSS (such as Acterna's NetAnalyst test OSS) to provide a carrier-class distributed analysis system.

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, Maryland, USA - 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.