Fluke Networks has announced the addition of VoIP phone functionalities to the MetroScope carrier Ethernet analyzer. With the added internal VoIP calling capability, the MetroScope analyzer now offers service providers the ability to get real-time results from actual VoIP calls made over a carrier Ethernet line, making VoIP troubleshooting faster and more efficient.
The internal VoIP phone provides more thorough testing and troubleshooting by allowing service providers to make actual calls over the carrier Ethernet line to other VoIP phones, the call managers or even other MetroScope analyzers. By measuring the quality of the call, on MOS or R-Factor scales (or both), technicians get increased visibility into the carrier Ethernet line's performance with the ability to instantly see quantifiable diagnostics on the portable MetroScope analyzer.
“VoIP technologies are becoming an integral part of today's work environment,” said Mark Mullins, carrier Ethernet marketing manager at Fluke Networks. “We understand how critical a crisp and clear call is to users. We have designed the new VoIP functionality of the MetroScope analyzer to provide faster, more accurate testing and easier to understand results of those VoIP calls.”
Technicians can use their MetroScope analyzer VoIP phone to make a VoIP test call, call other technicians or call center mangers, produce a long-duration call (up to 24 hours) to test quality over an extended period of time, or generate VoIP call traffic to simulate multiple calls on the network at one time, all while getting a real-time visual report of the network's performance on the handheld analyzer's screen. Instead of a subjective quality control check where environmental factors could skew the technician's interpretation of the results, the new MetroScope VoIP function provides hard metrics on the quality of the carrier Ethernet line.
In addition to the new VoIP phone, MetroScope was also recently upgraded with a newly designed ProVision test suite. This new test capability makes MetroScope the first field tester designed to treat carrier Ethernet as a service, saving time, money and producing more relevant results
The new version of MetroScope Service Provider Assistant with the ProVision test suite will be available in December 2008. The product will be available for order and delivery through Fluke Networks' carrier sales channels worldwide.
