Empirix® Inc. Press Release

Empirix® Inc., which helps organizations adopt complex communications solutions with confidence, announced today the availability of its Hammer G5 test platform, the most comprehensive single-box solution for testing Voice over IP (VoIP) among other real-time applications in its class. The Hammer G5 offers an integrated package for pure feature and load testing, in addition to more sophisticated scenarios of functional-load testing. These capabilities are in particular demand from the world’s leading network infrastructure suppliers, Cable/PacketCable labs, and Voice over “X” application test labs for fixed and mobile operators. The first unveiling of Hammer G5 will be at Fall VON Boston from Empirix booth #955.

Since 1992, the Hammer product line has been focused on the end-to-end user experience, with a particular emphasis on voice applications. Empirix’s Hammer started with the earliest forms of computer telephony — testing packages for Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) — and then was able to adapt to the industry’s technological advances over the years in order to stay competitive. This includes the next wave of basic Voice over IP (VoIP), the expansion into the broader set of Next Generation Network (NGN) requirements for signaling, media and quality assessments, and the latest extensions of voice over anything with IMS.

Empirix has received many product awards during its five years in existence, such as market-share leadership for VoIP test from Frost & Sullivan (four consecutive years), to product accolades from a variety of industry-leading publications for its Hammer solutions.

The new Hammer G5 platform is built on Empirix’s Hammer FX (VoIP feature test) and Hammer NXT (high density VoIP load generation) products, offering the combined capabilities of both in a unified user and programming interface.

The Hammer G5 will be most valuable to the large and globally installed base of Hammer customers, where Empirix has shipped well in excess of four million test ports. In addition, there will be a variety of upgrade packages for customers varying from software-only to hardware-accelerated for performance test, with no impact to any scripting and automation packages.

Some of the key attributes of this class-leading VoIP test platform include:

– Seamless upgrade for any Hammer FX-IP and Hammer NXT-IP customer;
– Wideband codec support for VoIP, be them in fixed and wireless
applications;
– Full IMS SIP User Equipment emulations;
– Emulation packages for SIP, H.323, MGCP, NCS, Cisco Skinny, and QSIG;
– Signaling and media transport over IPv4 and IPv6;
– Signaling transport over TCP and UDP, as well as TLS for secure
transport;
– Dynamic call rate control for characterization of the system under
test;
– Testing of Open Mobile Alliance Push to Talk (OMA PoC) based
applications; and
– Scalable from very low density feature tests to ultra-high density
stackable load test scenarios

“The Hammer G5 is Empirix’s most significant test offering this year, and certainly the most impactful solution we have introduced in the last two years,” said Duane Sword, Vice President of Product Management at Empirix. “By packaging functional and load testing into one unit with an easy-to-use interface, our customers will benefit from being able to switch from feature to performance testing seamlessly, and can execute a mix of complex features while applying realistic background load. The launch of Hammer G5 comes right at a time when the service providers are particularly concerned with service integrity and the impact of scale on quality, security and interoperability, and we’re happy to be the company that, yet again, is leading the way on product advancements for specific customer needs.”