Empirix Looks for Trouble in IMS Deployments; VoIP test leader brings expertise to IMS realm, with major extensions to its award-winning Hammer portfolio.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- From the Spring VON 2006 conference, Empirix(R) Inc., which helps organizations adopt complex communications solutions with confidence, announced that its award-winning portfolio of Hammer(R) products has been broadly extended to enable transitions to IMS in device and application development labs, pre-deployment system test labs, and field trials right through to operational networks.

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture requires a set of tools that enable feature verification of new converged applications, enable multi-vendor device interoperability, emulate real-world network environments, and accelerate time-to-market for IMS device vendors and time-to-revenue for service providers. Empirix's Hammer portfolio is focused on providing best-of-breed device development test, pre-deployment system test, and operational-network monitoring solutions spanning legacy PSTN, NGN, and converged fixed/mobile and multi-media IMS architectures.

Sonus Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONS), a leading supplier of service provider Voice over IP (VoIP) infrastructure solutions, was one of the first Network Equipment Manufacturers (NEMs) to leverage Empirix solutions for pre-deployment IMS testing. "With IMS protocols continuing to evolve, leveraging the experience of a company like Empirix for pre-deployment testing is a tremendous asset to us, and by extension, our customers," said Chuba Udokwu, Vice President, Worldwide Engineering, Sonus Networks. "Empirix test equipment enables us to perform comprehensive element and load testing in our system labs before our solutions are shipped to our valued customers who depend on us for reliable, scalable, carrier-class IMS solutions."

Empirix, the market-share leader in VoIP test, has been refining its test solutions with input from early adopters of IMS over the past year. Duane Sword, Vice President of Product Management at Empirix, noted that IMS has created the demand for an application-oriented testing method. "IMS offers a solid case for reducing service provider operating costs and increasing service revenue, but these advantages are offset by a higher degree of complexity," said Sword.

According to Sword, while SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is at the heart of the converged IMS core, there are many additional legacy and access-specific signaling methods, vendor-specific variants, and complex transcoding functions for both wireline and wireless networks that must be supported. IMS vendors and operators must ultimately ensure a seamless end-to-end experience for the user despite these new complexities. "Empirix is the only company that spans the entire lifecycle of deployment from equipment and application development, to service provider operations all the way to the enterprise, so we can find issues early that will help our customers later," said Sword.

Empirix already provides test coverage for the vast majority of real-world functions and devices that comprise the converged IMS core architecture such as SIP servers, soft-switches, gateways, application servers, media servers, session border controllers, registration servers and proxies. The Empirix Hammer portfolio consists of feature testing, end-point load generation, IMS device emulation and diagnostics products that:

--Verify device interoperability - Programmable signaling engine that emulates vendor-specific protocol implementations and supports negative testing;

--Confirm feature functionality - Comprehensive scripting for automated validation of new IMS-enabled applications and regression testing of existing features for baselining;

--Validate application integrity - Ensure that hop-by-hop, carrier-to-carrier, and end-to-end quality is preserved and deterministic through all communication layers from transport, control, middleware to service;

--Ensure end-user Quality of Experience - Hammer's best-in-class, scaleable media test solutions include active tests, passive probing, and impaired network emulation for diagnosing and analyzing voice quality issues; and

--Troubleshoot complex VoIP and SIP-centric sessions - To help identify problems and their source, a patented correlation engine is used to consolidate massive amounts of signaling and media data records collected from multiple network points.

Recent enhancements to the Hammer portfolio that make it ideal for IMS testing include:

--SIP extensions to support testing of presence-based IMS applications across core and access networks;

--Programmable device emulations of generic IMS functions including: P-CSCF, S-CSCF, MGW, MGCF and BGCF;

--Megaco/H.248 support for automated MGW to MGCF, MRFC to MRFP, and TISPAN Border Gateway testing;

--Portable, software-based IP call generation for IMS trials and live revenue-generating service deployments; and

--Multimedia enhancements, including support for video and mobile codecs from the latest generation of UMTS/CDMA2000 handsets.

"Empirix has a long track record in helping NEMs, service providers and enterprises successfully transition to new technologies including CTI, TDM/PSTN, VoIP and next-generation networks," Sword added. "Customers are now looking to us in their IMS initiatives, given our strong domain with IP- and SIP-enabled applications. Our roadmap of products and test services are fully aligned with IMS - we have an aggressive schedule in place to support IMS functionality as its various standards emerge."

"Though the promise of IMS is great, NEMs and service providers are now faced with how to get the most benefit from the architecture and mitigate the complexities," said Becky Watson, Program Manager at Frost & Sullivan's Stratecast division and author of the recently published research, Mastering the Complexities of IMS Applications. "A detailed test plan and thorough test coverage designed to eradicate both interoperability and interworking issues are absolutely critical."

IMS Testing White Paper available at www.empirix.com

To download the Stratecast white paper, Mastering the Complexities of IMS Applications, visit www.empirix.com/imspaper. To learn more about Empirix and its Hammer solutions, visit www.empirix.com, call 1-866-EMPIRIX or email [e-mail].

About Empirix

Empirix helps organizations adopt complex communications solutions with confidence. We combine the industry's deepest knowledge of telecommunications and self-service applications with award-winning testing and monitoring solutions to ensure our customers realize the promise of their technology investments. Empirix is the only company with expertise that spans the evolution of these advanced technologies across multiple markets - from testing in R&D labs through monitoring the end-user experience. For over a decade, thousands of quality-conscious network equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprises worldwide have trusted Empirix to reduce the time and cost of integrating new technologies into existing environments. Visit www.empirix.com.

Empirix and Hammer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Empirix Inc. in the United States. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.