InterWorking Labs Releases New Tests for SNMP Counters and Interfaces.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2001

Integration with Spirent Communications'(TM) SmartBits 2000 Network Performance Analysis System Provides Comprehensive Testing for

SNMP Counter and Interface Implementation

InterWorking Labs, developers of state-of-the-art tests for computer networking standards compliance, today announced the release of the Traffic Generator Extension, a new test suite for network equipment manufacturers and Internet Service Providers to test the accuracy of counter and interface implementations.

Manufacturers and ISPs who purchase SilverCreek, the SNMP Test Suite, to test SNMP protocol and MIB compliance, can now more fully and comprehensively test the SNMP counters. By using Spirent Communications' SmartBits system to generate specific kinds of traffic at specific speeds, SilverCreek can check the product's counters for accuracy, syntax, overflows and rollovers.

"Up until now, manufacturers had to integrate and customize these products themselves, a process that could take two to four months of senior engineering resources," said Chris Wellens, president & CEO, InterWorking Labs. "Now these resources can be freed up, and customers can set up both products quickly and easily to begin testing."

"Spirent Communications' customers will benefit from an integrated SilverCreek, SmartBits' solution. The combination provides comprehensive testing for SNMP counter and interface implementations with large-scale switching and routing performance tests," said Bahaa Moukadam, vice president, Product Marketing, Spirent Communications' SmartBits Division. "Our customers have recognized the individual benefits of both products, and this integrated solution from InterWorking Labs gives them a more complete picture of network performance."

The counters and interfaces are defined in documents produced by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). These include: RFC 1213 management information base for network management of TCP/IP based internets, RFC 2011 SMIv2 management information base for the Internet protocol, RFC 2233 the interfaces group MIB using SMIv2, RFC 2863 the interfaces group MIB, and RFC 2665 definitions of managed objects for the Ethernet-like interface types.

Both manufacturers and ISPs who implement these RFCs need a way to determine if they have done the job correctly. This means they must verify that, for example, the interface for the incoming multicast packets counter (ifInMulticastPkts), accurately counts all the multicast traffic flowing through the target product. The SmartBits' system generates multicast packets and sends that traffic to the product under test. SilverCreek then reads the incoming multicast packets counter to see if the value in the counter is the same as the number of packets sent by the SmartBits' system. If the values match, then the counter was implemented correctly. SilverCreek sends commands to the SmartBits to start the flow of traffic for each counter, then checks and verifies the accuracy of the results, and determines a result condition PASS, FAIL, etc.

According to Cliff Hall, chief development officer and VP of Engineering, Surgient Networks, Inc., "The SilverCreek-SmartBits integration provides Surgient a more integrated test environment, so that we can reduce the time and complexity of setting up test fixtures, and get more comprehensive testing of our products in a shorter timeframe."

SilverCreek is available exclusively from InterWorking Labs and is supported on Solaris, Linux, and Windows. The licensing fee for the Packet Generator Extension is $2,495.

About InterWorking Labs

InterWorking Labs specializes in developing Internet standard conformance testing solutions for network hardware and software manufacturers. SilverCreek, the SNMP Test Suite, was developed to verify correct operation of SNMP agents and their standard and proprietary MIBs.

InterWorking Labs has its offices at:

4113 Scotts Valley Drive Suite 200

Scotts Valley, CA 95066-4547

Voice: 831/430-3610

Fax: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

http: www.iwl.com

SilverCreek and InterWorking Labs are registered trademarks of InterWorking Labs, Inc.

About Spirent Communications

Spirent Communications unites the best in performance analysis technology with network operations expertise. The company's award-winning solutions enable customers to accelerate the development, deployment and assurance of next-generation network equipment and services worldwide.

Spirent Communications designs and manufactures Adtech, DLS, Edgcumbe, GSS, Hekimian, Net-HOPPER, SmartBits, TAS and Zarak products. More than 2,500 of the world's leading network and terminal equipment manufacturers, network service providers, corporate enterprises and test laboratories rely on our first-to-market products to verify and measure the performance and services of networks and communications devices.

Spirent plc is the parent of Spirent Communications. Spirent plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT) and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209), with one American Depositary Receipt representing four ordinary shares. Further information about Spirent plc can be found at www.spirent.com.

Note to Editors: Spirent and SmartBits are trademarks of Spirent, Inc.