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Acterna Teams With Covaro Networks to Support Intelligent Ethernet Service Deployment

Posted on: Tuesday, 31 May 2005, 09:00 CDT

Acterna, the leader in test and management solutions for consumer and business broadband communications, today announced its NetComplete(TM) Service Assurance Solution can be used to provide seamless end-to-end automated Ethernet service turn-up testing and verification capabilities in conjunction with Covaro Networks' Etherjack(R) customer premise demarcation products. Acterna and Covaro Networks will display the end-to-end Ethernet OAM capabilities featured in the agreement at SuperComm 2005, booth #43021 and booth #57005 respectively, June 6-9.

This joint marketing agreement benefits customers because it leverages Acterna NetComplete's ability to perform centralized automated RFC-2544 tests using automatic loopback capability for service turn-up testing and out-of-service testing. It augments this capability with Covaro Network's Etherjack customer premise demarcation devices that allow automation and mechanization of testing and performance monitoring, including the last mile connection to the customer premise.

"For service providers to profitably deploy and deliver Metro Ethernet service, they require fast and accurate performance monitoring, throughput testing and service qualification - that's the power of our NetComplete Metro Ethernet solution that is partnering with Covaro's cutting edge Etherjack demarcation solutions," said Roger Lingle, vice president of marketing for Acterna's Service Assurance Solution division. "Together, we deliver a complete package that gives carriers the confidence that their Ethernet services are being deployed with faster service turn-up, cost effectiveness and swift troubleshooting techniques."

"By partnering with Acterna, Covaro is able to offer a complete Ethernet OAM solution to its customers," stated Fred Ellefson, vice president of marketing for Covaro. "Interoperability with the industry leading NetComplete Metro Ethernet solution provides tremendous value by enabling carriers to utilize familiar central-office based testing techniques in support of profitable and intelligent Ethernet service offerings. We are excited about the possibilities that the Acterna- Covaro partnership brings to our customers."

"As Infonetics has reported, Ethernet is on a fast pace toward metro service dominance over the next five to ten years," said Michael Howard, principal analyst of Infonetics Research. "Customers are interested in Ethernet services, lower prices, and the convenience of incremental bandwidth -- and providers are taking notice. Implementing Ethernet equipment, technology, and network management solutions to help manage the network and assure that service is reliable and efficient are required to help meet this demand."

Part of the recently announced Service Assurance Solutions division, Acterna's NetComplete Metro Ethernet Solution provides a comprehensive test and management package for providers delivering triple-play services over IP networks. Covaro's Etherjack demarcation products, with deployments in more than 10 countries and dozens of carriers, are leaders in the emerging Ethernet demarcation market.

With NetAnalyst NGT Test OSS, in conjunction with the QT-600 Distributed Ethernet Testhead, Acterna NetComplete will conduct service turn-up testing and out-of-service testing for Ethernet services by automatically managing the loopback capabilities of the Etherjack demarcation device embedded in the Covaro Network equipment located at the customer premises. This automatic test and troubleshoot feature of the Acterna QT-600, combined with Covaro Network's Etherjack demarcation technology, will enable the delivery of reliable and efficient Ethernet services to end users, greatly reduce the need to dispatch technicians to customer sites when problems occur, foster speed of service delivery and drive revenue growth opportunity.

About Covaro Networks CC-8XX and CC-4XX

The Covaro Network products included in this joint marketing agreement include the CC-4XX and CC-8XX demarcation devices for Ethernet applications up to 100M and 1000M respectively. The customer premise located demarcation devices supply Covaro's intelligent Etherjack(R) technology, incorporating both a network interface device (NID) and an Ethernet user network interface (UNI). The NID, which is Ethernet-in-the-first-mile (EFM) aligned, gives service providers the ability to remotely monitor, test, loopback and manage services. This capability, referred to as operations, administration and maintenance (OA&M), is possible on both sides (network interface and customer) of the demarcation point. In addition, the service UNI, which is aligned with the Metro Ethernet Forum recommendations for Ethernet service definition, ensures consistent quality of service (QoS) and priority when the service must be rate-limited at the customer premises.

About Acterna's NetComplete

NetComplete is the core component of Acterna's Service Assurance Solutions that delivers end-to-end applications for service turn-up verification, fault isolation and troubleshooting, performance monitoring and capacity planning targeted for the service provider environment. Service providers can maximize revenue while lowering costs by removing operational inefficiencies within and between these areas. Acterna's QT-600 is a new NetComplete Distributed Ethernet Testhead that supports providers delivering triple play (voice, video and data) services. In combination with NetComplete's Test OSS, called NetAnalyst NGT, service providers can use the QT-600 to verify turn-up of services without coordinated dispatches to multiple remote sites. NetAnalyst Test Management software provides operators with an open platform (Web and XML based), intelligent test system that supports multi-vendor, multi-protocol, and multi-architecture networks.

About Covaro Networks

Covaro Networks is a leader in the intelligent Ethernet demarcation space for Ethernet WAN applications, and provides products that enable service providers to offer intelligent Ethernet services profitably over any facility--copper, fiber, SONET/SDH and DS3/E3/DS1/E1. Using Covaro's unique Etherjack(R) demarcation technology, service providers can offer carrier-grade service definition, monitoring and diagnostics for Ethernet-based services. Covaro Networks is headquartered in Richardson, Texas, in the Telecom Corridor(R). For additional information, visit www.covaro.com.

About Acterna

Acterna is the world's largest provider of communications test solutions for telecommunications and cable network operators. A trusted communications test partner for more than eight decades, Acterna offers an unmatched portfolio of award-winning instruments, systems, software, and services that help its customers reduce network costs while improving performance and reliability. Headquartered in Germantown, Md. -- with European and Asia-Pacific operations based in Eningen, Germany, and Hong Kong -- Acterna serves nearly every major communications service provider and equipment manufacturer around the world through a skilled sales and support organization in 31 countries. For additional information, visit www.acterna.com.

All Acterna company or product names mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of Acterna Inc. or one of its subsidiary companies.

Covaro Networks, the Covaro logo and Etherjack are trademarks or registered trademarks of Covaro Networks Inc

Source: Business Wire

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