In partnering with standard bodies, independent test labs, and industry forums, Spirent contributes to the advancement of new technology and test methodologies. Spirent solutions have continued to be the first choice of customers when considering a public test of their products.
Public Tests—2009
11/09: H3C S5800/S5820X Series Flex Chassis 10GbE Switches
Tolly engineers selected several models from 3Com’s H3C S5800 and S5820X series of 109 gigabit Ethernet flex chassis switches to verify the performance and key features that make them optimally suited for deployment as acess or aggregation switches in data center networks, carrier networks, or enterprise networks where there is a need to aggregate voice, data and video applications.
11/09: Brocade ServerIron ADX 10000 10 GbE Performance and Scalability
The application-aware switch is an essential element of both enterprise and service provider networks. High performance and robustness in the face of attacks are important attributes for such environments. Brocade’s ServerIron ADX 10000 application switch leverages the power of 32 processing cores to deliver outstanding performance suitable for very demanding environments.
10/09: HP blade takes a stab at Cisco
In this exclusive Clear Choice test, we assessed the HP ProCurve Threat Management Services zl module (TMS) in terms of its features, usability and performance. What we found is a well-designed, easy-to-use implementation that packs most common security functions into a small form factor.
10/09: Cisco Integrated Services Router Generation 2
Cisco’s Integrated Services Router Generation 2 platform models 1941W, 2911, 2951 and 3945 were evaluated by Miercom for performance feature validation while being used in branch office scenarios. The objective was to validate increased levels of voice, video, security, wireless, mobility and data service integration. While testing the features and services offered by the ISR G2 branch routers, performance and throughput was observed, to ascertain if the activated services affected the throughput.
09/09: SYNC‐E: Enabling Convergence of All Traffic over Ethernet
Alcatel-Lucent engaged Iometrix to test and validate the ability of the Alcatel-Lucent IP/MPLS based 7705 SAR, 7450 ESS and 7750 SR products, acting as Synchronous Ethernet Nodes, to maintain accurate timing in a hybrid Ethernet/SONET/SDH environment. In addition, Iometrix analyzed a set of test results performed for Banverket Swedish Rail to verify the ability of the Alcatel-Lucent devices to distribute accurate timing (1) in a G.803 reference chain of 20 Sync-E nodes, (2) during synchronization reference failover events, (3) in a hybrid environment, (4) in extreme thermal stress conditions and (5) pushing the limits in a chain of 24 Sync-E nodes. To the best of our knowledge this series of tests is the first and most comprehensive publicly available examination of Sync-E timing distribution.
09/09: Cisco WAAS vs Riverbed RiOS WAN Optimization
Cisco Systems commissioned this test report which is an excerpt from an independent Industry Assessment on Wide Area Network (WAN) Optimization products that Miercom conducts annually. The tests depicted in this report provide an overview of key areas of performance, stability and reporting the difference between the Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) solution as tested using the Cisco WAAS appliance and the Riverbed RiOS software on Steelhead appliances.
09/09: Anue Systems, Inc. Anue 5200 Net Tool Optimizer - Performance and Feature Evaluation
The Anue 5200 Net Tool Optimizer significantly streamlines the deployment and use of tools by linking test and monitoring tools to any traffic on the network. This improves network visibility and maximizes return on investment for monitoring tools. The Tolly group evaluated the performance and features of the Anue 5204, testing throughput, filtering capabilities across a range of Layer 2, 3 and 4 criteria, traffic aggregation and broadcasting.
08/09: H3C S12500 Data Center Core Switch: Performance, Functionality and Cisco Interoperability
Tolly engineers evaluated the H3C 12508 data center core routing switch to verify its performance and feature support. Tests also focused on interoperability verification with several popular Cisco Systems, Inc switches and routers, and key features that make up the S12500 suitable for use as core switches in enterprise, campus, data center and metropolitan-area networks.
08/09: Cisco Aggregation Service Router 9000 Series
In this competitive performance testing, Miercom engineers compared the performance of two carrier class Ethernet services routers, the Cisco Aggregation Services Router 9000 Series and the Juniper MX 960 Ethernet Services Router.
07/09: Switching on Energy Efficient Networks: Ericsson SM 480 and SmartEdge 1200
Ericsson engaged Iometrix to test and validate the power consumption of its SM 480 Metro Ethernet Service Transport platform and its SmartEdge® 1200 Multi-Service Edge Router with fully configured services and traffic loads to reproduce conditions of use typical of an operational network. This series of lab tests assesses power consumption under simulated operational conditions and levels of service delivery and provides strong evidence that energy efficient design can significantly impact the amount of energy required to support large numbers of subscribers in highly scaled networking environments.
07/09: Cisco Branch 881GW, 1861, 2851, and 3845 routers
Cisco’s Branch Office Router, modeled 881GW, 1861, 28551 and 3845 were evaluated by Miercom for system throughput with integrated security features enabled. The object was to validate the security service integration, while performance levels were maintained.
06/09: Testing Cisco's IP Video Service Delivery Network
Part 1 of 3: Light Reading commissioned EANTC to independently test Cisco Systems' video infrastructure called medianet. We challenged Cisco by asking: How much of the medianets vision is already available for an independent test today? Cisco was ready for our test of all aspects of the medianets infrastructure. It was an extraordinary effort: fifteen Cisco business units were involved, preparations took six months, and uncounted Cisco systems participated.
06/09: Video Experience & Monetization: A Deep Dive Into Cisco's IP Video Applications
Part 2 of 3: This is the second of three reports covering Light Reading's and EANTC's massive test effort of several aspects of the Cisco's IP video end-to-end solution. The first report focused on the service delivery network. The final report concentrated on the data center infrastructure. This report is dedicated to IP video applications, including the creation of a unique user experience and adding ways for service providers to make money on IP video services.
06/09: Testing Cisco's Media-Centric Data Center
Part 3 of 3: Having highlighted IP video applications and the service delivery network, it's logical to now consider the last piece of any media-aware network, or "medianet" – the service provider data center, the heartbeat of all the application services.
05/09: BLADE Network Technologies: RackSwitch G8000, G8100, and G8124 Functionality Certification and Cisco Catalyst Interoperability Evaluation
Tolly engineers evaluated the BLADE RackSwitch G8000, RackSwitch G8100, and RackSwitch G8124 top-of-rack switches' interoperability with the Cisco Catalyst 4900M. Engineers subjected the BLADE switches to advanced Layer 2 tests, including support for auto-negotiation, 802.1p/Q VLAN tag propagation, 10GbE LAN PHY Support, 802.3ad LACP support, Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol support, Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol support 802.1s, and Jumbo Frames.
05/09: BLADE Network Technologies RackSwitch G8100 Series: Competitive Performance Evaluation versus Cisco Catalyst 4900M Switch
Tolly Group engineers measured the Layer 2 throughput, latency and multicast performance of the switches in a variety of common network topologies as well as the energy usage for the switch operations with and without load. Engineers also compared the price/performance of the switches from both companies.
05/09: Brocade ServerIron ADX 8000 10 GbE Performance and Scalability
Brocade Communications, Inc. commissioned Tolly to validate the performance of its ServerIron ADX 8000 application switch. This device was outfitted with 16 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections and ran 32 application processing cores. Test covered L4-7 performance measuring transactions and connections per second, aggregate bandwidth, DNS query response capacity and resistance to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
05/09: Cisco ASA 5580
Cisco engaged Miercom to independently evaluate four enterprise firewall products targeting data center environments. The Cisco ASA 5580-40 Adaptive Security Appliance was compared to products from Check Point/IBM, Check Point/Kokia and Juniper.
04/09: 3Com/H3C switch test
3Com says it has an alternative for network managers considering high-end switches from Cisco and others. Our exclusive Clear Choice test of its new core switch backs up 3Com's claim. This chassis-based, 288-port device delivered line-rate throughput in all performance tests, supported more Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing sessions than we've ever set up and consumed remarkably little power all the while.
02/09: Juniper SRX 5800 firewall test
In our exclusive Clear Choice test, this hulking brute of a machine sped traffic at rates approaching 140Gbps through its 16 10Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, making it by far the largest and fastest firewall we or anyone else has ever tested. But "biggest" isn't the same as "most capable." For example, enabling intrusion prevention caused forwarding rates to drop to 30Gbps, even when handling only benign traffic.
01/09: Cisco ASR 1006 router test
In an exclusive Clear Choice test, the ASR not only moved traffic at 20Gbps but also did so while running QoS, security and monitoring functions on 120 million flows from hundreds of concurrent routing sessions. The ASR also proved a capable performer when handling multicast and IPSec VPN traffic. And with a 40-core processor, the ASR has enough headroom to run firewalls, load balancers and other services without requiring additional hardware. That's not to say the ASR isn't still a work in progress.
