New IMA interface for the Aurora Forte test set

Trend Communications announces the availability of IMA (Inverse Multiplexing for ATM) technology on the Aurora Forte.

HIGH WYCOMBE-- UK. Trend Communications announces the availability of IMA (Inverse Multiplexing for ATM) technology on the Aurora Forte.

The announcement of this new module demonstrates Trend's commitment to provide all the functions required by operators involved in the roll-out and maintenance of 3G/UMTS. Aurora Forte has an on-going development roadmap that tracks the deployment of ATM technology for 3G/UMTS networks. This announcement highlights Aurora Forte as the leading handheld network tester for this market.

The purpose of the IMA protocol is to multiplex several E1 lines together to provide a single connection with higher total bandwidth. IMA is recognised as a must-have technology by network operators for economic provisioning of fast, high-bandwidth connections. IMA is a cost-effective way of bandwidth provisioning at E1 increments, leading to more efficient use of circuits for carrying voice, video, or data.

Aurora Forte supports this protocol with an interface module that provides up to 8 E1 links for testing the aggregate ATM bandwidth. The key IMA parameters such as available link IDs and differential delay are indicated on Aurora Forte, as well as traditional ATM measurements such as QoS, IP Ping and network utilisation. This new module, along with the recently introduced optical module for STM-4/OC-12 and PC remote viewer software will enable the Aurora Forte to continue as the 3G reference test solution for providing expert assistance to field staff, and for use in long-term monitoring.