Fax checking: HP test unit rolls out new name, IP network products

Less than a week after revealing its new name, Hewlett-Packard's test division launched HP Telegra, a line of tools designed to unravel complicated IP networks.

But what the company needs more, is a simpler marketing plan. In March, HP spun off its testing divisions into a new, independent company. Last week, Aligent Technologies was introduced to the public; however, its products can't reflect the new name until November because of legal issues. For the next three months, Aligent must refer to its new product line as HP Telegra.

The new suite, a result of the Telegra acquisition in April, includes the HP Telegra D, HP Telegra M and HP Telegra voice/fax-over-IP protocol analysis software. The D and M tools analyze the causes of quality of service (QOS) degradation and connectivity problems, and the analysis software verifies and analyzes protocols on voice-over-IP networks.

"These new networks require different testing tools because the traditional tools cannot test for delays or packet loss, and current IP test solutions aren't well-suited to test real-time traffic," said Stefan Pracht, voice over IP product marketing manager in HP's network systems test division.

While voice over IP has received the lion's share of attention, fax traffic over IP has been increasing steadily. One reason behind the growing IP fax traffic is its ability to tolerate lower QOS than voice.

And though customers may accept a small degree of quality degradation for fax and voice over IP, testing tools must continue to evolve to meet higher QOS demands. "This type of suite is critical for companies developing and deploying these core technologies," said Jeff Pulver, president of pulver.com.