Alcatel-Lucent has chosen Agilent as a formal test and measurement (T&M) partner for its IPTV ecosystem. The partnership will enable collaboration to ensure that new IP-based video deployments meet end-to-end service-quality expectations.

Agilent test solutions provide a holistic approach to measuring and monitoring video service quality from R&D and lab-based performance validation, through to service assurance and network troubleshooting. Realizing the critical role that T&M solutions play in the effective delivery of IP-based video services, Alcatel-Lucent has proactively established formal relationships with best-in-class vendors in the IPTV T&M segment.

Service providers and network equipment manufacturers face the challenge of converging new IP-based video services, such as IPTV and video on demand (VOD), with existing voice and data services to residential customers over a single access point. Ensuring network integrity, quality of service (QoS) and subscriber quality of experience (QoE) is critical to the success of video service deployments.

Agilent offers a portfolio of solutions for testing video service quality, including research and development through to network installation and ongoing monitoring. Agilent equipment provides stress testing and service validation prior to and during the installation process, which significantly reduces post-deployment performance issues and helps prepare new service offerings for production networks. Agilent's monitoring tools provide real-time video-quality analysis and troubleshooting for live video service deployments, which is critical given the complexity and ever-changing conditions within next-generation triple play networks. These test solutions help network equipment manufacturers and service providers reduce time-to-market, lower development costs and minimize risks for new IP-based service offerings.

Alcatel-Lucent's IPTV ecosystem includes the following Agilent equipment:

• The Agilent N2X multiservices test solution, which provides pre-deployment verification of IPTV service quality under highly scaled and dynamic triple play network conditions. The N2X emulates thousands of dynamic IPTV subscribers and generates triple play video, voice over IP and data (high-speed Internet) traffic to place significant stress on IPTV network equipment. N2X delivers real-time MDI metrics, protocol decodes and post-capture replay for IPTV traffic.
  
  
  
• The Agilent J6900A triple play analyzer, which provides complete analysis and troubleshooting in a single platform for installation, monitoring and troubleshooting of voice, data and video services. The analyzer provides accurate measurements of VoIP, IPTV and VoD Quality of Experience as well as real-time channel-zapping analysis.
  
  
  
• The Agilent FrameScope Pro hand-held instrument, which allows technicians to measure point-to-point network performance and to correlate triple play transport quality and QoS with end-user QoE. Its network test toolbox provides insights into network impairments and helps locate failures and bottlenecks.

"Agilent equips network equipment manufacturers and service providers with the tools they need to measure video service quality at the most granular level," said Rod Unverrich, business manager of Agilent's Data Network Operation. "Our video test solutions address all stages of the test cycle to improve both the time-to-market and performance of new video service deployments."

Additional information about the test solutions on display is available at www.agilent.com/find/tripleplay.