Spirent(R) Communications Drives Data Centre Ev...

CRAWLEY, England, September 15 /PRNewswire/ --

    - Spirent TestCenter(TM) FCoE Allows Equipment Providers, Enterprises to 
Validate Performance of Data Centres



    Spirent Communications plc (LSE: SPT), a global provider of performance
analysis and service management solutions, today announced the launch of
Spirent TestCenter(TM) Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Solution, the
industry's first test product to validate the performance characteristics of
FCoE systems, an emerging technology for enterprise data centre networks. A
demonstration of this FCoE solution is being showcased at the Spirent Proof
of Concept (SPoC) Labs and Collaboration Centres in Beijing, London and
Sunnyvale.


(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080909/CLTU016LOGO )

    FCoE is a proposed industry standard designed to extend data connectivity
in addressing current and future business requirements. FCoE maintains
existing management paradigm and tools for storage and will serve as a bridge
between storage networking and other next-generation data centre networks.
Initially, FCoE offers SAN and systems administrators the benefit of being
able to reduce the number of physical network interfaces in the server, which
reduces costs and simplifies management. FCoE utilizes the mission-critical
characteristics of Fibre Channel technology and works with existing
infrastructure and applications.


    The Spirent TestCenter FCoE solution helps assess the interaction of
storage and data centre traffic over a common interface. Built on Spirent's
Fibre Channel hardware and software expertise, the introduction of its FCoE
solution demonstrates the company's market leadership and commitment to
advancing the development and deployment of the latest technologies. By
leveraging its extensive expertise in the Fibre Channel and Ethernet
marketplaces, Spirent delivers the most complete product of its kind with the
ability to support Layer 2-7 network performance testing with a broad
platform specifically designed for multi-play networks and multi-device
technologies.


    "Brocade is a pioneer who helped create the SAN industry and customers
are now turning to us as a strategic and trusted vendor. Specifically, they
are asking us to help them evolve their data centres with new technologies in
mind while continuing to enjoy the benefits of the most innovative,
high-performance data centre fabric technologies available today," said Marty
Lans, senior director in the Data Center Infrastructure Division at Brocade.
"With the only product capable of pre-testing the performance and
interoperability of the FCoE protocol for storage networks, working with
Spirent will help ensure that our FCoE solutions will maintain
industry-leading latency and loss behaviours and maintain Fibre Channel-like
integrity of data connectivity"


    "Testing is becoming a strategic imperative for our customers, especially
as they consider developing technologies such as FCoE," said Tim Jefferson,
general manager for Spirent TestCenter at Spirent Communications. "Spirent is
in a unique position to serve this market since we are able extended our
knowledge of Fibre Channel and Ethernet testing, and our expertise in the
10-Gigabit arena to develop the most comprehensive solution for testing a
superior breed of storage network and data centre solutions."


    Test engineers now have the ability to analyze a number of critical
occurrences including the encapsulation of a native Fibre Channel frame into
an Ethernet frame, the emergence of Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) to help
ensure lossless fabric, and the effect of replacing a Fibre Channel link with
MAC addresses in CEE environments. Spirent TestCenter FCoE provides support
for FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP), a control plane protocol, and
Priority Flow Control (PFC), the advanced quality of service protocol for
Ethernet. Ultimately, users of Spirent's FCoE solution can easily understand
latency issues as well as the impact of packets which are dropped and
scenarios such as loss of power.



About Spirent Communications plc

    Spirent Communications (www.spirentcom.com) is a global provider of
integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems that enable the
development and deployment of next-generation networking technology such as
Internet telephony, broadband services, 3G wireless, global navigation
satellite systems, and network security equipment. Spirent Communications'
solutions are used by more than 1,700 customers in 30 countries, including
the world's largest equipment manufacturers, service providers, enterprises
and governments. Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Spirent Communications has 1,300
employees worldwide.


    Spirent Communications plc Ordinary shares are traded on the London Stock
Exchange (ticker: SPT). The Company operates a Level 1 American Depositary
Receipt ("ADR") programme with each ADR representing four Spirent
Communications plc Ordinary shares. The ADRs trade in the US over-the-counter
("OTC") market under the symbol SPMYY and the CUSIP number is 84856M209.
Spirent Communications' sales to the United States government are made
through Spirent Federal Systems Inc. www.spirentfederal.com.



    Spirent, Spirent Communications and the Spirent logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Spirent Communications plc. All other trademarks or
registered trademarks mentioned herein are held by their respective
companies. All rights reserved.


    
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              Spirent Communications           Spirent Communications
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Website:  http://www.spirent.com