Spirent Communications launches Video Quality Analyzer and GEM IP network impairment emulator

March 10, 2008 – Spirent Communications has launched two new products for performance analysis and service management of IPTV deployments, which it will demonstrate at the IPTV World Forum to be held in London later this week.

Video Quality Analyzer (VQA) is a new tool that allows network equipment manufacturers and service providers to assess over 100 metrics related to delivering IPTV.  The second launch is the TIA-921A feature on Spirent GEM, a hardware-based Ethernet Network Impairment Emulator from Anue Systems.  The release allows for the emulation of ‘real world’ IPTV focused network impairments based on the American National Standards Institute/Telecommunications Industry Association ANSI/TIA-921A Standard and International Telecommunications Union ITU-T G.1050-2007 Recommendation.

“IPTV is particularly complex to deliver and even small amounts of content or network impairments can significantly impact the end user experience,” said Jack Douglass, Director of Video Technology at Spirent.  “The launch of Spirent’s VQA and the TIA-921A feature on GEM help provide network equipment manufacturers with essential test tools that they need to monitor, analyse and troubleshoot IPTV problems under ‘real-world’ conditions prior to deployment.”

Spirent VQA is available in both a standalone and rack-mount chassis within Spirent’s TestCenter platform.