Some VoIP testing tool news to share from one of my favorite VoIP testing tool companies - Empirix. (I have an Empirix Hammer system in the labs that I use to test VoIP equipment.)

Empirix, the leading supplier of VoIP testing systems, will introduce the Hammer XMS™ next-generation monitoring system for VoIP service providers and spotlight powerful enhancements to its Hammer product portfolio for lab and installation engineers this week.

The new carrier-class Hammer XMS, which allows service providers to monitor, analyze and troubleshoot next-generation voice services across their networks; innovations in IP signaling analysis tools with the release of Hammer FX-IP 2.0; and IP.DSP™; Hammer’s patent-pending VoIP media analysis DSP technology, which can significantly reduce testing costs and is now incorporated in Hammer RealStreamer.

“Virtually every major developer of VoIP infrastructure equipment relies on Hammer functional and load testing systems in the lab. These new breakthroughs directly add value for our extensive user base and will maintain our leadership in VoIP test as the focus grows on delivery of commercial services that meet customer ‘Quality of Experience’ expectations,” said Steven Gladstone, vice president and general manager.

Highlights include:
- The new Hammer XMS monitoring system, designed for service providers, which provides a comprehensive view of customer “Quality of Experience” metrics across carrier-class networks, while permitting engineers to analyze all VoIP and TDM protocol activity in real time for every call, 24x7. The next-generation monitoring system combines capabilities for distributed gigabit-rate signaling and media capture with centralized, CDR-based data analysis and correlation, speeding service deployment and troubleshooting while significantly lowering carrier-class monitoring costs. Already in trial at carriers, the system will be publicly demonstrated for the first time.

- Release 2.0 of Hammer FX-IP, recognized as a 2004 TMC Labs’ Innovation Award winner. Hammer FX-IP now features SigStudio™, an enhanced VoIP state-based signaling emulation engine, and new IP protocol scripting flexibility that together give users unprecedented control over signaling call flows. SigStudio delivers the flexibility to emulate next-generation services and easily adapts to variations in standards and extensions in features The system allows expanded control over IP signaling message content and sequences for testing VoIP applications and enhanced services including conferencing, messaging, IVRs, IP Centrex and IP PBXs, as well as interoperability, conformance and negative testing. The Hammer FX-IP also provides robust media features including the ability to play and detect user specified voice prompts and tones, as well as industry-standard voice quality measurements.

- Hammer RealStreamer media detection with IP.DSP, a breakthrough, patent-pending VoIP media analysis technology and methodology, now incorporated into the Hammer RealStreamer product. IP.DSP offers significantly reduced costs over traditional DSP implementations and provides real-time wire-rate media detection of applications for thousands of simultaneous streams, at lower cost and higher density.