Ixia Adds Industry's First Online Gaming Traffic Simulation Tool to Its Service Provider Test Suite; IxChariot 6.30 Extends Support for Pre- And Post-Deployment Assessment of Converged Service Provider Networks.

CALABASAS, Calif. -- Ixia (Nasdaq:XXIA), a leading provider of IP performance test systems, today announced the industry's first online gaming traffic simulation tool. As part of the latest release of IxChariot(R), the new capability extends IxChariot's portfolio of more than 140 simulated applications, which make it the most robust general purpose tool for assessing the performance of converged network services prior to deployment and verifying their health once in production.

According to a new report from DFC Intelligence, the worldwide online game market is forecasted to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to over $13 billion in 2011. This is leading to a growing number of consumer subscription services, the emergence of online digital distribution and increasing acceptance of games as an advertising mechanism. The report also indicates that the leading online game category is expected to remain high-end massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs).

"MMOGs have a sophisticated online business model that drives a great deal of revenue for the top products," said DFC analyst David Cole.

IxChariot 6.30's support for gaming includes scripts that simulate popular networked first-person shooter games and MMOGs. This allows network service providers and network equipment manufacturers to simulate the traffic loads caused by many hundreds of game players using a network simultaneously.

"With online gaming growing explosively, service providers, cable companies and equipment manufacturers must ensure these applications work flawlessly on their networks if they want to compete in the consumer market," said Errol Ginsberg, CEO of Ixia. "IxChariot already supports the simulation of data, video, VoIP and peer-to-peer traffic. By combining all these traffic types, an IxChariot user can accurately simulate the likely load on a network, and understand ahead of time how users will experience performance for all applications they will be using, including gaming, which is very bandwidth intensive and latency sensitive."

IxChariot 6.30 also introduces a Test Scheduler module, which enables the creation, execution and analysis of test plans. For pre-deployment tests, network administrators can schedule multiple tests to run prior to a network going live or run regular health checks on a network. IxChariot's test comparison functionality can be used to compare current behavior with baselines, so that automatic alerts may be sent if performance is not acceptable. Device manufacturers can also use IxChariot Test Scheduler to run test suites overnight to verify the functionality of new devices.

IxChariot 6.30 includes DHCP support as well, which enables carriers to send test traffic over their live network to troubleshoot customer connectivity and performance issues thus eliminating the need for costly truck-rolls for field diagnosis. Finally, management traffic to IxChariot's endpoints is now encrypted, making communication with remote endpoints secure.

The combined new features of IxChariot enable service providers and enterprises to run realistic tests that are critical to ensuring the reliability of network services prior to deployment, and continue to troubleshoot and improve performance once services are in active use.

To learn more about IxChariot, visit http://www.ixiacom.com/solutions/display?skey=ixchariot.

About Ixia

Ixia is a leading provider of performance test systems for IP-based infrastructure and services. Its highly scalable solutions generate, capture, characterize, and emulate network and application traffic, establishing definitive performance and conformance metrics of network devices or systems under test. Ixia's test systems are used by Network and Telephony Equipment Manufacturers, Semiconductor Manufacturers, Service Providers, Governments, and Enterprises to validate the functionality and reliability of complex IP networks, devices, and applications. Ixia's Triple Play test systems address the growing need to test voice, video, and data services and network capability under real-world conditions. Ixia's vision is to be the world's pre-eminent provider of solutions to enable testing of next generation IP Triple Play networks. Ixia's test systems utilize a wide range of industry-standard interfaces, including Ethernet, SONET, ATM, and wireless connectivity, and are distinguished by their performance, accuracy, reliability, and adaptability to the industry's constant evolution.

For more information, contact Ixia at 26601 W. Agoura Road, Calabasas, CA 91302; 818-871-1800, Fax: [phone]; Email: [e-mail] or visit our Web Site at http://www.ixiacom.com.

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