Tollgrade Communications Inc. has introduced four new products for network assurance: the DigiTest HUB test platform, the DigiTest Multi-Service Access System (MSAS), the CheetahXD broadband service assurance platform and the Cheetah DOCSIS-compliant VoIP test point (CMD-E).
The DigiTest HUB is a central office test platform, designed to support multiple testing and assurance environments. It addresses emerging broadband testing requirements, but also retains interfaces to legacy equipment.
The DigiTest MSAS provides metallic test access, enabling service providers to non-intrusively monitor the line, or to perform intrusive upstream or downstream testing. Both four-wire (T1, HDSL, specials) or two-wire (POTS, DSL) services can be tested via modular configuration of the MSAS.
The CheetahXD broadband service assurance software suite features Web-based fault and performance testing features to monitor standards-based, DOCSIS-based and HMS transponders, as well as legacy proprietary transponders. Tollgrade’s Cheetah product line is designed to lower HFC network operational support costs through integrated, proactive network assurance.
The Cheetah CMD-E DOCSIS-compliant transponder is the industry’s first environmentally hardened, line-powered combination E-MTA and DOCSIS test point in a strand-mountable housing. This device can be deployed anywhere within the HFC network, from optical node to end-of-line, to measure VoIP quality from the head-end to the very edge of the network.
“The introduction of these new products reflects our continuing focus on developing practical solutions for network assurance of broadband systems delivering voice, video and data,” says Mark Peterson, Tollgrade’s president and CEO. “Our customers will benefit from these solutions, whether they are building new networks or transitioning from traditional infrastructures to offering revenue-generating IP services. We remain committed to helping customers to effectively bridge their own technology and product offerings, and we’re excited to bring these solutions to the telco and cable markets.”
Following completion of industry testing and certification, Tollgrade expects the products to be generally available during the second half of 2005.
