Ixia Joins Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem

Ixia (NASDAQ:XXIA), a leading, global provider of IP performance
test systems, has joined Nortel's (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT) Carrier Ethernet
Ecosystem initiative as a key test solution supplier. Ixia and Nortel
will cooperate to ensure cross-vendor compatibility with new protocols
for Carrier Ethernet deployments including PBB (Provider Backbone
Bridging) and PBB-TE (PBB-Traffic Engineering).

Nortel is taking a lead position in defining, developing and
fielding Carrier Ethernet for Service Providers. Service Providers
need to satisfy the needs of their Enterprise clients for
point-to-point connections, private LANs and Triple-Play traffic.
These requirements have historically been satisfied with IP-MPLS,
which require high performance routers throughout the core. Carrier
Ethernet allows these needs to be satisfied with lower-cost,
high-bandwidth switches. PBB and PBB-TE are key protocols that make
this possible.

"Carrier Ethernet has the potential to change the game for service
providers, lowering the cost and complexity of metro networks while
increasing the amount of available resources to meet the growing
bandwidth requirements from video, IPTV, advanced business
applications and other next-generation network services," said Mike
Adams, vice president of Strategy and Architecture for Nortel's Metro
Ethernet Networks. "Our focus is to ensure the existence of a robust
ecosystem that delivers Carrier Ethernet solutions that are
pre-integrated, pre-tested and ready for deployment. Ixia's expertise
in interoperability and performance testing will be a key enabler to
meet these goals."

With its recent IxNetwork product release, Ixia introduces
PBB/PBB-TE, Ethernet OAM/CFM and Bidirectional Forwarding Detection
(BFD) testing support. Now Ixia offers the broadest range of Carrier
Ethernet testing running on its single Optixia XM test platform.
Ixia's PBB/PBB-TE capability is part of its new comprehensive Carrier
Ethernet Test Solution and it is the first to verify both PBB/PBB-TE
and MPLS-based Carrier Ethernet.

"Ixia recognizes that Carrier Ethernet has the potential to bring
the reality of Ethernet services into the mainstream across Service
Providers," said Victor Alston, senior vice president of Product
Development. "Ixia is committed to being the leader in providing
performance, functional and conformance testing across all Carrier
Ethernet Standards and supporting Nortel's goal of enabling Carrier
Class Ethernet deployments with improved cost savings and performance
gains."

The promise of Carrier Ethernet is to provide high-speed,
low-cost, easily managed core networks operating at Layer 2 that
provide all of the services that have been performed by IP networks.
Current Metro Ethernet networks allow customer-separated services, but
with a catch - only 4,096 distinct customers can be supported. PBB
extends this to allow virtually unlimited numbers of individuated
customers on a network. PBB-TE (IEEE 802.1Qay), proposed by Nortel,
answers the needs for Triple-Play traffic separation and
protocol-agnostic tunneling.

Nortel's Carrier Ethernet Ecosystem provides Service Providers the
ability to create and extend Carrier Ethernet at a fraction of
previous costs. A switch-based core network is significantly easier to
configure and maintain solution, which leads to reduced operating
expenditures.

About Ixia

Ixia is a leading provider of performance test systems for
IP-based infrastructure and services. Ixia's test systems are used by
Network and Telephony Equipment Manufacturers, Semiconductor
Manufacturers, Service Providers, Governments, and Enterprises to
validate the functionality and reliability of complex IP networks,
devices, and applications. Ixia's Triple-Play test systems address the
growing need to test voice, video, and data services and network
capability under real-world conditions.

For more information, contact Ixia at 26601 W. Agoura Road,
Calabasas, CA 91302; 818-871-1800, Fax: 818-871-1805; Email:
info@ixiacom.com or visit our Web Site at http://www.ixiacom.com.

Ixia, IxNetwork and the Ixia four petal logo are registered
trademarks or trademarks of Ixia. Other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.

This material is for informational purposes only and subject to
change without notice. It describes Ixia's present plans to develop
and make available to its customers certain products, features and
functionality. Ixia is only obligated to provide those deliverables
specifically included in a written agreement between Ixia and the
customer.