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IPTV Programming Featured Article
March 10, 2008
VAQ and IP Network Impairment Emulator Launched by Spirent to Accelerate IPTV Adoption
By Jayashree Adkoli, TMCnet Contributing Editor
Spirent Communications (News - Alert) announced the launch of two new products Video Quality Analyzer (VQA) and TIA-921A feature on Spirent GEM. Both the products are expected to accelerate the adoption of IPTV
all over the world.
Spirent Communications is a provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems that enable the development and deployment of next-generation networking technology such as Internet telephony, broadband services, 3G
wireless, global navigation satellite systems, and network security equipment.Spirent’s newly launched Video Quality Analyzer (VQA) is a comprehensive software tool which enables network equipment manufacturers and service providers to measure video quality and assess more than one hundred metrics related to delivering high quality IPTV (News - Alert).
Spirent VQA is available in both a standalone and rack-mount chassis on Spirent’s TestCenter platform. This enables low total cost of ownership
, seamless integration with existing test equipment and also the ability to use interfaces and functionality with which users are familiar.Spirent’s one more new launch TIA-921A featured on Spirent GEM (News - Alert), which is a hardware-based Ethernet
Network Impairment Emulator from Anue Systems. The new release allows for the emulation of ‘real world’ IPTV focused mainly on 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.Spirent GEM enables users to follow the ‘real-world network, so that technology and delivery issues can be ironed out before IPTV services are introduced to consumers. This is a very important factor in making IPTV a success, because users expect high video quality. This also helps IPTV to gain a foothold in the profitable market to deliver high definition TV services.
Jack Douglass, director of video technology at Spirent Communications, said in the press release: “IPTV is particularly complex to deliver and even small amounts of content or network impairments can significantly impact the end user experience. For instance 0.5% packet loss doesn’t sound like much but in the context of IPTV it’s enough to seriously degrade picture quality. Spirent has the experience, equipment and professional services that are needed to overcome the technically complex challenges of delivering high quality IPTV services. The launch of Spirent’s VQA and the TIA-921A feature on GEM help provide network equipment manufacturers and service providers with essential test tools that they need to monitor, analyze and troubleshoot IPTV problems under ‘real-world’ conditions prior to deployment.”
Steve Rago, principal analyst at iSuppli, said in the press release: “Telephone companies worldwide are transitioning from voice and data service providers to value added multi-media service providers. Their very survival depends on successfully executing on this strategy. The initial service that they are targeting is video. iSuppli estimates that from 2007 through to 2013 Telco TV will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 58 percent, reaching over 150 million subscribers by 2013. A necessary condition for the successful transition to multi-media is providing a high quality consumer experience. iSuppli projects that 80% of the video subscribers will receive their video service over copper loop. This infrastructure poses significant hurdles to providing a high quality user experience in order to guarantee consumer satisfaction. Service providers need to utilize such tools as Spirent VQA and GEM to tune their networks for success.”
Spirent is demonstrating its IPTV solutions at IPTV World Forum in London, UK.
Jayashree Adkoli is a TMCnet Contributing Editor.
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