Agilent Technologies Inc. today introduced a conformance test solution for the emerging Generalized Multi-protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) optical networking standard. GMPLS, under development by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is key to integrating today's IP routing and networking equipment with tomorrow's all-optical networks.
Conformance testing is a critical requirement for ensuring that network equipment will operate properly in a multi-vendor environment, say Agilent representatives. The company's automated GMPLS RSVP protocol conformance test suite, available on the Agilent RouterTester platform, provides network equipment manufacturers with a series of tests to verify that each GMPLS function operates properly and meets the standard's specifications. The suite includes tests for the new Link Management Protocol (LMP), used to manage and monitor interconnections between nodes in the GMPLS network.
The suite supports in-band and out-of-band testing and provides more than 200 scripted test cases for examining each of the actions specified in the GMPLS standard. Debugging features sequentially track and record all errors identified by the analysis software. Users also can customize the test cases to evaluate their own proprietary protocol extensions and store customized test objects and scripts for later reuse.
The new test suite complements Agilent's conformance test products for the optical User-Network Interface (UNI) defined by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF). Additional product information is available at www.agilent.com/comms/RouterTester.