THE TOLLY GROUP DRIVES SANs TESTING TO NEW LEVELS WITH HELP OF INNOVATIVE SPIRENT TOOLS

The Tolly Group this week announced it is harnessing leading-edge testing software from Spirent Communications to benchmark the performance of storage area network (SAN) products that support high-speed Fibre Channel connections.

MANASQUAN, N.J., 01 May 2002 – The Tolly Group this week announced it is harnessing leading-edge testing software from Spirent Communications to benchmark the performance of storage area network (SAN) products that support high-speed Fibre Channel connections.

The testing, which The Tolly Group has already commenced on an undisclosed device, will yield important performance metrics such as throughput, latency and frame-loss statistics, that users need to differentiate SAN products. Moreover, the benchmarks will help SAN vendors better understand how to position their Fibre Channel offerings in the market with accurate results and advice from the industrys top testing authority.

With all of the innovation in the SAN market, especially with regards to Fibre Channel, users and vendors alike need the industrys leading independent testing voice to bring some clarity to the market," says Kevin Tolly, president and CEO of The Tolly Group. We are partnering actively with Spirent and key industry suppliers to bring definition to the Fibre Channel space via accurate performance benchmarks."

Tolly Group engineers are using SmartFabric, a Spirent application test suite for measuring SAN/Fibre Channel switching device performance characteristics such as throughput and latency.

"Working closely with industry-leading test labs like The Tolly Group is key for pushing the performance and scalability envelope of communication devices" says Bahaa Moukadam, Vice President of Product Marketing for Spirent Communications. "It is important to note that while Fibre Channel switches do not lose packets, there is a very significant difference in the way these switches perform with regard to throughput and fairness algorithms. For instance, there can be lower throughput among various switches caused by throttling back on the ingress port when they reach their limit. Spirent's solution makes it easy to detect such differences."

To prepare for this series of tests, Tolly Group engineers attended an on-site training session focusing on the Spirent test suite for testing storage area networks and storage devices.

Brian Mason, product manager, in the SmartBits division of Spirent, says the capabilities of the SmartMetrics Fibre Channel Module, which single-handedly is capable of emulating hundreds of attached devices such as servers and storage systems, along with Spirents SmartFabric software that is designed to measure the Quality of Service (QoS) of storage area networks and storage devices.

An important feature of the SmartFabric is that it allows users to create real-world traffic loads across all available network ports or devices, not just a single port," points out Mason. Testing with SmartFabric helps eliminate unexpected network errors, because you know how the devices or networks will perform before they actually are implemented."

Continuing education in the current developments of industry test tools keeps The Tolly Group engineers up to speed with the fast pace of technology development making it easy to break into the hottest technology fields.

With more than 12 years of independent testing experience, The Tolly Group has extensive knowledge on breaking into new test markets and industry trends. For more information about The Tolly Group and its SAN or Fibre Channel testing services, go to www.tolly.com, or call (732) 528-3300.

About The Tolly Group
The Tolly Group, an independent testing and strategic consulting organization based in Manasquan, N.J., offers a full range of services designed to furnish both the vendor and end-user communities with authoritative and unbiased information. Additionally, The Tolly Group is recognized worldwide for its expertise in assessing leading-edge technologies. For more information on the Tolly Groups services, visit its Web site at http://www.tolly.com, E-mail inquiries to info@tolly.com, call 1-732-528-3300 or fax at 1-732-528-1888.

http://www.spirentcom.com

http://smartbits.spirentcom.com//solutions/products/applications/pdf/FBC/index.htm

http://smartbits.spirentcom.com/solutions/products/applications/pdf/FBC/PDF/0102_1063RevA_SmartFabric.pdf