Spirent Communications, for the sixth consecutive year, played a key role in the European Advanced Networking Test Center AG (EANTC) Carrier Ethernet interoperability testing event. The test examined and assessed leading equipment manufacturers’ solutions for Carrier Ethernet, MPLS-TP and timing. The interoperability test was recently showcased at Carrier Ethernet World Congress, September 17-20 in Barcelona and will once again be hosted at Carrier Ethernet World Congress APAC, December 3-5 in Hong Kong.

The growing demand for high bandwidth applications and always-on mobile connectivity is driving the deployment of Carrier Ethernet technologies in backhaul networks. However, Carrier Ethernet has critical challenges such as distributed timing and maintaining synchronization in the backhaul, validating interoperability of Ethernet OAM procedures among vendors, and ensuring the performance of Ethernet in the presence of high scale traffic.

“The ongoing developments in Carrier Ethernet make interoperability and performance testing important and this Carrier Ethernet World Congress demonstration gave us an opportunity to showcase the progress the industry is making,” said Carsten Rossenhövel, managing director, EANTC AG. “Spirent remains a trusted partner in public testing events and Spirent’s solutions in the interoperability events were important to help showcase the advances in the implementation and features of Carrier Ethernet.”

Spirent TestCenter and Spirent Paragon-X products were used in the generation, impairment and analysis of traffic during the interop event.

• Spirent TestCenter terminated MPLS-TP tunnels and validated QoS on MPLS-TP connections over microwave links
• Spirent TestCenter emulated 1588v2 and SyncE clocks and validated Grandmaster switchover scenarios on both Ethernet and microwave links
• Spirent Paragon-X was used in multiple tests to introduce constant and variable delay, packet drops, and to measure the accuracy of DUT clocks by measuring and plotting MTIE/TDEV and Packet TIE statistics.

“We’re pleased to continue to play an important role in advancing the deployment and use of carrier-grade Ethernet services,” said Rajesh Rajamani, senior product marketing manager, Spirent. “With our strong portfolio of Ethernet testing solutions, we deliver the industry’s most comprehensive set of offerings, enabling equipment vendors, service providers and enterprises to validate solutions before they are released or deployed.”

To learn more about the test and its results, download the EANTC test report at http://www.eantc.de/showcases/carrier_ethernet_world_congress_2012/intro.html.

For more information about how prepare networks for advanced Carrier Ethernet service visit http://www.spirent.com/Networks-and-Applications/Mobile_backhaul.

About EANTC

The European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC) offers vendor-neutral consultancy and test facilities for network equipment manufacturers, service providers and enterprise customers. Primary business areas include interoperability, conformance, and performance testing for Carrier Ethernet, IP/MPLS, and Triple Play technologies and applications. For more information visit http://www.eantc.com or contact Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director, at +49.30.3180595-0 or via e-mail at cross@eantc.com.

About Spirent Communications plc

Spirent Communications plc. (LSE: SPT), a global leader in test & measurement offers an extensive portfolio of solutions to test data centers, cloud computing environments, high speed Ethernet networks and services, 3G/4G wireless networks and devices, network security, and global navigation satellite systems. For more information visit http://www.spirent.com/about-us/News_Room/About_Spirent_Communications_plc.aspx