Brix Networks), provider of the most widely deployed converged service assurance solutions, today unveiled its new BrixVision IPTV service assurance portfolio, a comprehensive offering that gives service providers complete visibility into the quality of video content, the underlying delivery infrastructure, and the overall customer experience.

This latest solution set from Brix, which builds on the company's industry-leading experience and heritage in VoIP and IP video service assurance, has been developed specifically for IPTV deployments, and delivers the unequaled service visibility that providers demand which has been unmet by legacy test and measurement tool suppliers.

"IPTV is a very complex and highly performance-sensitive service that places increased demands on a network. As a result, the importance of the customer's quality of experience has been greatly elevated," said Kaynam Hedayat, chief technology officer at Brix Networks. "Built on an open, extensible architecture, and developed with input from our customers, our new BrixVision portfolio enables providers to compete and grow top-line revenue based on quality."

With BrixVision, service providers can perform root-cause analysis to identify IP transmission versus video quality impairments, monitor end-to-end video quality, and proactively monitor and manage their subscribers' experience throughout the lifecycle of their services.

"When it comes to IPTV, picture quality and response times are everything, as users have very high expectations and a low tolerance for anything but a positive experience," said Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research, a market research and consulting firm. "With Brix Networks' converged service assurance solutions, providers can verify the performance of their bundled offerings - including data, video, voice, and mobile - and thereby assure their subscribers' quality of experience for any IP-based service, over any network, to any endpoint."

In conjunction with today's announcement, Brix Networks also introduced the IPTV Infrastructure Verification Package, the initial offering within the BrixVision portfolio that allows providers to perform continuous, proactive testing of their multicast infrastructure quality. The Infrastructure Verification Package simulates user-initiated channel changes, which gives providers valuable insight into their customers' quality of experience (QoE) by monitoring channel change response times.

Additionally, the IPTV Infrastructure Verification Package measures the key performance indicators (KPIs) of a network, such as jitter, latency, and frame loss, and correlates these metrics with the overall user experience, which is critical when troubleshooting quality problems. The Infrastructure Verification Package also includes an IPTV dashboard that provides network operators with configuration, scheduling, monitoring, and reporting capabilities to enable proactive means of assuring customer satisfaction.

Furthermore, with the Brix IPTV Infrastructure Verification Package service providers can now identify whether infrastructure impairments occur in their national, regional, or local content aggregation and distribution locations.

The IPTV Infrastructure Verification Package is scheduled to be available in 90 days, and pricing is based on the size and scope of the network involved. Additional BrixVision products covering customer care, content quality, and usage patterns will be introduced and made available throughout the year.

Brix Networks' seamlessly integrated hardware and software products, collectively called the Brix System, are strategic service assurance solutions that proactively monitor VoIP and IP video quality. Network operators use the Brix System to guarantee the successful launch and ongoing, profitable operation of their VoIP and IP video services.

The company also offers two free, self-service testing portals - www.TestYourIPVideo.com and www.TestYourVoIP.com - that enable users to independently measure the quality they are receiving from their interactive IP-based video and VoIP services, respectively.