New Monitoring Solution Uncovers WiFi Issues That Impact Customer Experience

Sunnyvale, Calif. – October 8, 2014 — Today Spirent Communications unveiled a new comprehensive active network monitoring and testing solution for WiFi and fixed lined networks—AxonPulse. A quality Internet experience creates trust and loyalty from customers using an enterprise or business for work, visiting with friends or using it as their “go to” store. As part of Spirent’s Enterprise initiative, AxonPulse gives IT operation teams of any size, in any industry, the ability to efficiently find and fix network connectivity and performance issues before the end user is impacted.

AxonPulse complements current passive visibility solutions by accurately simulating customer network activity and measuring their experience. Hotels can use AxonPulse to test guest WiFi connectivity while simultaneously checking-in guests. In a retail network, AxonPulse tests the reliability of point of sale networks or the customer experience using apps such as Facebook, YouTube or a proprietary application over the store’s WiFi connection. Financial institutions can monitor and test network performance across branch offices to ensure a quality user experience for both employees and customers. And large entertainment and sports arenas can use AxonPulse to ensure smooth and seamless connectivity to public WiFi.

Solution Highlights

AxonPulse can be placed anywhere on the network from the edge to the core, wireless or fixed, and measures key performance metrics such as throughput, video quality, download and upload time as well as the performance of popular applications by actually using them.

AxonPulse is comprised of three components—AxonCore, AxonPoint, and AxonCloud Control. Designed to complement existing monitoring solutions, AxonPulse gives IT teams the tools to manage real user experience on fixed line or wireless networks—all managed from an easy-to-use cloud-based portal.

• AxonCore is designed for data centers and primary network locations. It provides monitoring and test capabilities on 1G and 10G fixed line infrastructure to ensure maximum performance across the core network.

• AxonPoint is designed for the edge of the network and gives network managers monitoring and testing capabilities on fixed line and WiFi networks, at branch offices or at the access level of large WiFi installations. It even gauges performance of user-facing connections to internal and external services such as Facebook and YouTube and other public applications.

• AxonCloud Control allows the solution to be configured and managed from the cloud. Field techs and IT managers can log in from virtually anywhere to get access to quality of service and user experience analytics, thus cutting down on time spent performing site visits.

Executive Quotes

“With the AxonPulse platform, IT operations teams can ensure they are delivering high quality and reliable services by measuring network performance and KPI’s from the customer standpoint, not just from inside the network,” said Jim Curtain, General Manager at Spirent Communications. “AxonPulse fundamentally shifts the focus from reactive to proactive detection and management. Everybody talks about finding potential customer experience issues before they’re out in the field, or before they’re noticed by customers. This platform delivers this capability in a new and exciting way. It doesn’t replace current visibility tools—it complements and amplifies them, allowing forward thinking organizations to drive progressively higher levels of quality into their networks.”