Empirix, a leading supplier of VoIP testing systems and home of Hammer test systems, said this week it will serve as BroadSoft's primary supplier of test tools for verifying and validating performance of its VoIP application software and platforms. Empirix also announced that Ditech Communications used its platform to develop its recently launched Packet Voice Processor.

BroadSoft is using the Hammer FX, NXT and Call Analyzer test systems to perform conformance, feature and scalability tests on its products. BroadSoft and Empirix co-developed specialized test applications to produce a variety of "real-world" scenarios and carrier-class loads.

BroadSoft identifies call flows and test scenarios that are repetitive and Empirix develops the scripts and capability so that with every new software release they only need to hit a button and do a regression run against that release.

"The more we can provide automation and test coverage, the better it will be for them in a whole number of areas," said Duane Sword, vice president of marketing for Empirix.

BroadSoft has more than 95 carrier customers, including BellSouth, MCI, Singtel, Telstra, and XO Communications, that use its BroadWorks application platform to provide VoIP applications that include: mobile PBX, hosted PBX, business trunking, residential broadband, hosted key system and IP multimedia services fully integrated into a single hosted communications platform.

"With BroadSoft we have worked together not only on testing their platform, but building a toolkit that can help their customers be more self-sufficient," Sword said. Empirix also provides BroadSoft and Ditech with professional services as part of their contracts.

Last week at the VON Conference, Ditech spread its wings and went beyond its role as a provider to other network equipment manufacturers and launched its own voice processing platform called the Packet Voice Processor that is sold directly to carriers and helps them deploy universal transcoding and toll-quality VoIP services.

To develop this product, Ditech used Emprix' Hammer FX, Call Analyzer and PacketSphere Network Emulator along with customized routines for functional testing, quality assurance and benchmarking.

"We were instrumental in the trenches helping Ditech with feature testing, debugging, quality assurance, building test plans, automation and shaking the product out from a performance and functional perspective," Sword said. "They were driving us pretty hard in terms of protocol support and automation, but it helped tremendously in building a better product.

Ditech's Packet Voice Processor overcomes voice quality impairments such as acoustic echo and voice level imbalances and incorporates its own Packet Quality Assurance technology to reduce the effects of packet loss, delay and jitter. It uses high-density media processing subsystems and can be configured for up to 16 Gigabit Ethernet ports in order to scale up to 50,000 transcoding or voice calls per rack.

Ditech used the Hammer platform at each stage of the product's development cycle. Ditech's voice products are high-capacity voice enhancement and echo canceller products that use advanced software and digital signal processor technology.

Ditech expects to conduct full trials in May. The product is designed to provide toll-quality voice even between peering providers. "Sometimes one carrier has no control over what another is doing and a lack of control is a big threat to stability for carriers," said Chalan Aras, vice president of marketing for Ditech.