With all sights set on expanding bandwidth and speed, 10/40 gigabit Ethernet promises to capture a lot of attention this year. 40GE switches are the new muscle cars that are beginning to power leading-edge enterprise networks. Virtualization and network convergence is driving huge volumes of traffic across data center switching fabrics. The capacity and forwarding performance of this fabric is critical to ensuring timely delivery of service and application traffic, and the associated end-user experience. Read more »

Available this month, IxNetwork 6.20 adds support for new infrastructure and protocol features. The main target of the release is to implement key protocol features and add support for Xcellon-Lava 40/100GbE Load Modules.
Following is a complete feature list per segment for IxNetwork 6.20 EA: Read more »

MPLS has come a long way since its original goal to allow core routers to switch packets faster using a simplified header. MPLS is now a foundation of IP-based networks, providing value-added services such as traffic engineering and VPN services. The success and familiarity of MPLS in the core is driving service providers to deploy MPLS beyond the core network and into access, aggregation, and backhaul networks to support broadband, business, and mobility services. With active development in standards bodies, MPLS is also emerging as an industry standard to enable connection-oriented packet transport with MPLS-TP. Read more »

As Ethernet and IP continue to win the battle for transport and networking technology there are challenges in migrating legacy services and building new converged services leveraging these lower cost-per-bit networks. One of the significant gaps is that native Ethernet does not have an embedded timing distribution capability, which is required for certain applications. Examples of the need for precision timing include: Read more »

Following is a list of recently-released features and functions for Ixia’s major software and hardware products. To download a new release, go to Ixia’s downloads and updates web page. For information on new products, contact our sales team.
Hardware updates are included for: Read more »

Test equipment is playing a critical part in the functional, interoperability, and performance validation of MPLS-TP. Ixia has been working with network equipment manufacturers (NEMs), service providers, and test labs to validate MPLS-TP features and functionality, troubleshoot and resolve implementation issues, and satisfy the milestones that will precede deployment. Read more »

Leading the way
Ixia is the leading, global provider of converged IP network test solutions and customer confidence in our products is bolstered because of this market position. But Ixia’s leadership is not just reflected in its position in the market. It invests heavily in innovating leading-edge technologies and is first to market with key advances in testing, including the world’s first test systems for both 40 gigabit Ethernet and for 100 gigabit Ethernet. The company also has a burgeoning trophy case of industry awards, including: Read more »

For some companies, like financial institutions that rely on stock ticker feeds, a slight difference in network latency could mean a difference of millions of dollars. Enterprises and government agencies also rely on ultra-low latency networks (ULLN) and devices to power their time-sensitive applications; and communications providers employ them to enable differentiated, premium services. To remain competitive, today’s network equipment providers (NEMs) labor to eliminate sub-micro-seconds of forwarding latency in their routers, switches, and optical equipment.
Ultra-low latency (ULL) has become one of the hottest trends in information technology and ULL testing has come to the forefront. Read more »

Enterprise and data center managers who have not been concerned with ‘testing’ in the past are in for a rude awakening now that we’re in the era of the cloud. Server virtualization and cloud computing are fast-moving, game-changing technologies that impact all parts of the data center from the servers themselves to the load balancing mechanisms and the converged fabric infrastructure. Read more »