IXIA VALIDATES CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGIES AT MPLS & ETHERNET WORLD CONGRESS 2012
Ixia Characterizes IPv6 Translation Strategies and MPLS-TP
Calabasas, CA, February 07, 2012 – Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA), the leading global provider of converged IP and wireless network test solutions, is participating in a live, public, and wide-ranging MPLS and Ethernet multi-vendor interoperability showcase at MPLS & Ethernet World Congress, February 8 – 10, 2012 in Paris, France. The 10th annual MPLS and Ethernet interoperability test showcased 13 vendors that demonstrated emerging technologies enabling cost-efficient, scalable, and reliable delivery of services over packet networks. Ixia is a key participant in the demonstration, testing need-to-have technologies including IPv6 and MPLS-TP. The showcase was organized by the European Advanced Networking Test Center (EANTC).
With the supply of publically-available IPv4 addresses exhausted, widespread adoption of IPv6 is finally imminent. Given the extent to which IPv4 addresses are embedded in networks and applications, IPv4 and IPv6 addresses will co-exist for decades. Ixia’s IxNetwork and IxN2X products support the most comprehensive portfolio of both IPv4 and IPv6 protocol emulations and features. Ixia’s IPv6 test solution offers conformance, interoperability, and performance testing to network operators comparing different equipment and IPv6 transition mechanisms for network upgrades, including dual-stack, IPv6 rapid deployment, DS-Lite and IPv6 web proxy.
MPLS-TP adds transport-like operation, OAM, and resilience characteristics to carrier-class MPLS technology. This makes MPLS-TP an attractive option for access, aggregation, and backhaul networks that support broadband, business, and mobility services. Ixia’s draft standard MPLS-TP emulations validate OAM, protection switching and recovery, and MPLS interworking.
At the show, Ixia was instrumental in demonstrating key technologies within IPv6 and MPLS-TP that assist vendors, network operators, and enterprises in deploying the latest advances necessary to keep up with the growing demands of user. At the event, Ixia used IxNetwork to test:
· For IPv6:
o Verify the algorithmic mapping between IPv6 and IPv4 addresses with 6rd using IPv4 infrastructure.
o Dual-stack lite broadband deployments using DS-lite AFTR function and IPv6 native connectivity.
o Dual-stack PPPoE establishing PPPoE service, followed by the PPP session negotiation and establishment, in particular the IPCP for IPv4 and IPV6CP for IPv6.
o Dual-Stack PPPoE and L2TP as the PPPoE server and LAC, and a second DUT as the LNS, while the L2TP tunnel from the LAC to the LNS was configured using IPv4 addresses.
· For MPLS-TP:
o MPLS-TP protocol emulations are being used to verify MPLS-TP 1:1 LSP tunnel protection functionality employing two MPLS-TP LSPs using 1:1 protection on two different links between the DUTs.
o For MPLS-TP fault management, Ixia verified that the network elements could properly generate and receive fault management messages in the presence of a failure condition in the MPLS-TP network.
Both scenarios successfully demonstrated the tested equipment meets interoperability requirements according to technology standards.
Key Facts:
· Ixia’s IPv6 test solution tests all system aspects in an end-to-end IPv6 network, individually or collectively, including:
o BRAS
o DSLAM
o LAC
o LNS
o Relay Agent
o DHCPv4/v6 server
o 6rd Border Relay
o Carrier-grade NAT device
o Aggregation switch
o Dual-stack router
o Gateway/host devices
o Firewall (using IPv6 rules)
· Ixia’s MPLS and MPLS-TP protocol emulations are being used to verify MPLS-TP 1:1 LSP tunnel protection functionality using bi-directional forwarding detection (BFD) OAM, validate interworking and service delivery between MPLS and MPLS-TP transport domains, and measure protection switchover and recovery time.
Supporting Quotes:
· “Ixia has played a key role supporting our interoperability event, enabling realistic test scenarios with IxNetwork’s extensive emulation capabilities,” said Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director, EANTC. “Troubleshooting issues with multiple vendors in advanced IPv6 and MPLS-TP test scenarios can be a burden; Ixia’s solutions helped to reduce the fault analysis efforts substantially and increased the outcome of the interoperability test event.”
· “Along with the continued interest in MPLS and MPLS-TP as cost saving solutions, IPv6 is going to being popping up on networking radars as the Internet slowly shifts to that as its default routing protocol,” said Tara Van Unen, Director, Market Development at Ixia. “As our participation in this conference demonstrates, Ixia is a go to solution for almost all MPLS and Carrier Ethernet issues.”
Resources:
· For more information on Ixia’s MPLS solution, see http://www.ixiacom.com/solutions/mpls/index.php.
· For more information on Ixia’s MPLS-TP solution, see http://www.ixiacom.com/solutions/mpls_tp/index.php.
· For more information on Ixia’s IPv6 solution, see http://www.ixiacom.com/solutions/testing_ipv6/index.php.
· For more information on EANTC, see its website.
· For more information on MPLS/EWC, see its website.
· For a white paper detailing the interoperability tests, see EANTC’s Interoperability Event web page.
About Ixia
Ixia provides the industry’s most comprehensive converged IP testing solution – from the wireless edge to the Internet core. Network equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprises, and government agencies use Ixia’s industry-leading test and simulation platforms to design and validate a broad range of wired, Wi-Fi, and 3G/LTE networking equipment and networks. Ixia’s solutions create real-world conditions by emulating a full range of high-scaling networking protocols and generating media-rich application traffic to validate performance, conformance and security of cloud, core, data center, wireless and multiplay networks. For more information, visit www.ixiacom.com.
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 IP, MPLS, Carrier Ethernet, and Voice over IP-related network technologies and applications. For more information contact Carsten Rossenhoevel, Managing Director, at +49.30.3180595-0 or via e-mail at cross@eantc.com. http://www.eantc.com/.
