(Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall)

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Tollgrade Communications, Inc. will demonstrate its latest service assurance platform called Stratum(TM), as well as extensions to the LDU(TM) family of test nodes which provide loop testing and pre-qualification for broadband services, at the ninth annual Broadband World Forum in Paris. Tollgrade officials will be on hand to demonstrate these latest software and hardware capabilities to European customers at this telecom technology exhibition at Booth #575.
Stratum is being introduced to telecom providers to help integrate new IP-based network testing initiatives with existing platforms, thus providing integrated test analysis across a variety of access technologies. Stratum will support multiple data inputs from a customer's network and test resources, including Tollgrade's existing 4TEL , Celerity and LoopCare(TM) software platforms and test probes, and perform combinational expert system analysis of faults in the access network to enable more effective dispatching of field resources. It is able to monitor and collect embedded performance and measurement data from network equipment, such as DSLAMs, MSANs, OLTs and ONTs; and from customer premises equipment such as DSL modems, Set Top Boxes and Remote Gateways. Stratum is currently being deployed in customer trials in the United States and South America.
LDU 50+(TM) and LDU 50W(TM) provide high frequency enhanced testing and higher layer xDSL service testing, respectively, for triple play services served from traditional switched networks, broadband DSLAMs, or IP-based FTTN networks. The LDU 50+ extends test measurements to the VDSL frequency range, while LDU 50W was developed to add DSL services testing to support the needs of customers already deploying the 4TEL and Celerity software platforms. The new LDU 50 products are currently undergoing international field trials.
"Our newest service assurance solutions in software and hardware are focused on improving testing and diagnostic capabilities of a telecom operator's next generation network," said Chris Barton, Tollgrade's Director of Technical Marketing. "Stratum is the new software solution that enables a fully-integrated test analysis across a range of access technologies. Also, LDU 50+ and LDU 50W both enhance the testing capabilities of existing systems that are largely embedded in European markets. These advances are cost-effective measures designed to improve customer service response for testing triple play services," added Barton.