News for and about the Internet2 community

[Greg Wood <>]

ACADEMIC AND GOVERNMENT RESEARCH COMMUNITIES JOIN FORCES WITH INDUSTRY 
FOR FIRST CROSS-COUNTRY PERFORMANCE TESTS ON THE 10 GBPS ABILENE NETWORK

Internet2, Juniper Networks, Qwest and Spirent Pump Network with More 
Than 8 Gbps of Test Traffic

Research Triangle Park, NC (Februrary 18, 2003) — The North Carolina 
Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center (NC-ITEC), Juniper Networks 
(NASDAQ: JNPR), Spirent Communications (NYSE: SPM and LSE: SPT) and 
Qwest Communications International, Inc. today announced the successful 
completion of the first cross-country performance tests on the completed 
first phase of the next-generation 10 Gbps Internet2 Abilene backbone. 
As part of the network upgrade, engineers at the NC-ITEC were able to 
introduce test traffic in excess of 8 Gbps to stress the newly installed 
network components.

"We saw a unique opportunity to test the limits of both routers and 
circuits during the upgrade," said John Moore, technical director of the 
NC-ITEC, located in the CENTAUR Lab at North Carolina State University. 
"We were able to gain some valuable insight into how the backbone was 
performing during the build-out and the end-to-end results were very 
impressive."

Abilene, a high-speed Internet2 backbone network supporting research and 
higher education in the U.S., is undergoing a significant upgrade to 10 
Gbps using routing platforms from Juniper Networks and OC-192 circuits 
from Qwest Communications. Engineers at the NC-ITEC used Spirent 
Communications' performance analysis test equipment located in Qwest's 
Washington, DC and Sunnyvale, CA facilities to run the tests. The test 
equipment was directly attached to the Juniper Networks T640 Internet 
Routing Nodes using OC-192 interfaces and proved capable of generating a 
full 10 Gbps worth of test traffic.

"This type of testing validates the ability of the upgraded backbone to 
support high-bandwidth applications being developed by the Internet2 
community," said Neil Anderson, senior director of Spirent 
Communications' Advanced Test Programs. "Spirent is committed to 
partnering with industry leaders and the academic and government 
research communities to ensure the highest possible performance for the 
next-generation Internet, which requires thorough and rigorous testing."

Using the Spirent AX4000, NC-ITEC engineers were able to successfully 
generate greater than 8 Gbps of test traffic coast-to-coast using both 
IPv4 and the new IPv6 protocols. With the addition of normal production 
traffic, some backbone links saw an aggregate traffic load of greater 
than 9 Gbps during the test.

"One of the primary goals of Internet2 is to provide the research and 
education community with the most advanced infrastructure capabilities. 
These tests demonstrate the ability of the T640 platform to support the 
most demanding networks and Juniper Networks commitment to the 
development of IPv6.  We’re pleased to be part of this project," 
commented Pradeep Sindhu, Chief Technical Officer at Juniper Networks.

In one test, the Spirent AX/4000s generated 8.1 Gbps of combined IPv4 
and IPv6 traffic for more than 5 hours. The traffic consisted of a mix 
of packet sizes and was flowing in both directions across the continent 
simultaneously. A similar test with only IPv6 traffic was run for more 
than an hour with a tester-generated load of 8.6 Gbps.

"We were glad to see Abilene fully utilizing the capabilities of the 10 
Gbps Q-wave service during the test," said Debbie Montano, director of 
Advanced Internet Initiatives at Qwest. "The stability and performance 
of the circuits is key to supporting advanced applications for the 
Internet2 community."

About CENTAUR Lab at NCSU
The CENTAUR Lab at NCSU serves as a focal point within North Carolina 
for collaborations between state and national research and education 
networking communities and their corporate networking partners. It is 
the home of the North Carolina Internet2 Technology Evaluation Center 
(NC-ITEC) one of three ITECs chartered by Internet2 as a national test 
lab. Centaur also provides testing and research services for the North 
Carolina Networking Initiative (NCNI), a statewide GigaPOP. For more 
information, please see http://www.centaurlabs.com/ and 
http://www.nc-itec.org/

About Internet2(R)
Led by over 200 US universities, working with industry and government, 
Internet2 is developing and deploying advanced network applications and 
technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the 
creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships 
among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's 
Internet in its infancy. For more information about Internet2, see: 
http://www.internet2.edu/

About Juniper Networks
Juniper Networks transforms the business of networking by converting a 
commodity - bandwidth - into a dependable, secure, and highly valuable 
corporate asset.  Founded in 1996 to meet the stringent demands of 
service providers, Juniper Networks is now relied upon by the world's 
leading network operators, government agencies, research and education 
institutions, and information-intensive enterprises as the foundation 
for uncompromising networks.  Juniper Networks is headquartered in 
Sunnyvale, California. Additional information can be found at 
www.juniper.net

About Qwest
Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) is a leading provider 
of voice, video and data services to more than 25 million customers. 
The company’s 53,000-plus employees are committed to the "Spirit of 
Service" and providing world-class services that exceed customers' 
expectations for quality, value and reliability.  For more information, 
please visit the Qwest Web site at www.qwest.com.

About Spirent Communications
Spirent Communications is a worldwide provider of integrated performance 
analysis and service assurance systems for next-generation network 
technologies. Spirent’s solutions accelerate the profitable development 
and deployment of network equipment and services by emulating real-world 
conditions in the lab and assuring end-to-end performance of large-scale 
networks.

Spirent Communications is a wholly owned business group of Spirent plc, 
an international network technology company. Spirent plc is listed on 
the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT). The company is also listed on 
the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209). 
www.spirent.com

About Spirent’s Advanced Test Program (ATP)
Spirent’s ATP, in existence since 2000, is the first of its kind in the 
communications sector offering programs and expertise specifically 
designed to support key organizations conducting the industry’s most 
advanced test and measurement activities.  The ATP team supports test 
labs at leading universities, publications, trade shows, consortia, and 
advanced research facilities, as well as the industry’s most prestigious 
independent testing organizations.  ATP is a worldwide initiative that 
coordinates critical testing and research support across all divisions 
of Spirent Communications.

Contacts:
Internet2
Greg Wood

202-331-5360

NC-ITEC
T. Yokima Cureton

919.248.1907

Spirent Communications
Jackie Jefferson
(808) 780-5600


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