Ixia Launches Network Testing Tool For Enterprises

Ixia, a company that provides testing tools for network equipment vendors, has just introduced the IxNetwork v6.00 test application, which includes a new, intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), productivity tools, and automated test suites. The company said it is expanding from network equipment makers to directly serve enterprise data centers and service providers, such as wireless phone carriers, which have an increasing need to test their networks before putting them into production. Ixia demonstrated IxNetwork v 6.0o at the Interop IT Conference and Expo 2011 being held this week in Las Vegas.

Previously, it was sufficient for network testing to be done only by network equipment vendors, such as Cisco Systems or Juniper Networks, but now, service providers and other enterprise data centers find that their networks are handling vastly more traffic and have become more complicated with virtualization, cloud computing and increasing demands for compliance with regulations regarding uptime, latency and security, said Kelly Malloy, an Ixia spokeswoman.

Testing had previously been done on network levels 2 and 3, but has now expanded to levels 4 through 7, Malloy said, down to the application layer. Data centers are going through a "significant transformation," added Tara Van Unen, market development manager for Ixia.

"It's one of the most significant reasons why enterprises are starting to pay a little more attention and diligence to doing pre-deployment testing, because they are having to upgrade their entire network infrastructure," Van Unen said.

Because enterprises and service providers may be new to network testing, IxNetwork v6.00 is designed for ease-of-use, she said. The GUI is designed for click-through automation to configure testing scenarios and pre-packaged performance benchmarking tests for various devices in the data center.IxNetwork v6.00 is designed to run in Ixia hardware such as its Xcellon-Flex 10/40GE Accelerated Performance module that offers both 10 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and the coming 40 GbE speed ports. Also on Wednesday, Ixia introduced the new Xdensity high-port-count 10GE load module, which features 32 ports on a single slot load module, scaling up to 384 ports in a single Ixia XM12 chassis to deliver 3.84 terabits of test traffic.

Enterprises are deciding to do their own testing because they are the ones responsible for compliance with regulations such as HIPAA for health care, PCI for the credit card industry or Sarbanes-Oxley for public companies, said Van Unen. They had been taking network equipment vendors' claims about the quality of their equipment at face value but now need to prove it for themselves.

"[Vendors] are all claiming to have the highest-capacity switch with the lowest latency and the best power consumption," she said. "Enterprises are looking to do testing on their own but most testing has been developed for network equipment manufacturers who are expert in these areas. The enterprise needs ... an easy-to-use platform with a lot of automation."

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