Switching to Xena

A Chinese switch manufacturer urgently needed a traffic generation and analysis solution to test the stability and performance of different switches in an EMC test environment. The challenge, however, was that their Devices Under Test (DUTs) were located in different labs in different buildings, and on different floors.

Logistically, this made it impractical to deploy a single chassis that each development team could use – they wanted a portable solution that could meet their diverse testing needs at a price level that would allow them to buy multiple units.

Why ValkyrieCompact?

Xena China showed them the ValkyrieCompact chassis which is a robust and easy-to-transport 1U form factor. Each chassis can hold one test module and Xena has a range of 18 different test modules, each capable of testing different speeds from 1GE up to 400GE, and with different port densities. The decisive factor was the price/performance of the Xena testers. Being considerably less expensive than other solutions on the market, the switch manufacturer was able to justify purchasing multiple units from Xena.

Combined with the ValkyrieCompact’s convenient form-factor and Xena’s range of test module options, this solved the challenge of serving multiple locations and different port density requirements perfectly. The switch manufacturer could easily move the testers around, and when testing switches with, for example, 48 ports, they could quickly combine multiple testers for a single DUT test via a common GUI.

Plan to Buy More

The customer’s feedback had been overwhelmingly positive. After an initial purchase of multiple 1G ValkyrieCompacts, they are now planning to buy 10G modules, as well as more 1G ports – again in the convenient ValkyrieCompact chassis form factor – plus they have been recommending Xena to their enterprise customers.