Wilmington, MA - July 26, 1999 - Hammer Technologies, the leading supplier of test systems to the IP telephony industry, announces the first H.323 call load generator, HammerÔ.323 Call Generator. Now, for the first time, developers and testers of IP network devices that must support many simultaneous H.323 voice calls will have the ability to evaluate the performance of their system while it processes up to fifty (50) concurrent calls. 

"The Hammer.323 Call Generator represents an innovation in IP telephony testing by generating and receiving actual H.323 v2 compliant calls using the underlying protocols for call signaling including, H.225, H.245 and Q.931. In addition, the Hammer.323 Call Generator is the first and only test tool to generate H.323 calls directly onto the IP network", says Tom Lynch, Hammer.323 R&D Project Leader.

Each Hammer.323 call contains real pre-encoded G.711, G.723 or G.729a speech samples. Call duration can be varied based on the number of prompts specified for a test. Different test scripts can be created and stored for future use, and call destination information can be imported from a database saving test set-up time. Real-time status of all calls can be viewed while a test is in progress, and all call events are saved in text format for easy identification of where a call failed. The Hammer.323 Call Generator can be used successfully in standalone gateway/IP PBX tests where calls are routed to a switch or handset, or in scenarios where a gatekeeper is used to for either direct call routing or for instructing Hammer.323 Call Generator where to route the calls. If an on-site test harness includes the Hammer VoIP Test System, traffic generated by the Hammer.323 Call Generator can be viewed on the IP network using the VoIP Network Monitor. "Now a developer has an H.323 test tool that can be used right from his or her desktop, allowing quick upfront bug identification and resolution.", says Barbara Duquet, Product Manager for H.323 and IP Telephony. 

The Hammer.323 Call Generator can be installed on any PC equipped with Windows NTÔ 4.0 SP4, a standard with a minimum of 96Mb RAM and a P2 300MHz processor. Three options can be purchased - 5 maximum simultaneous calls, 20 maximum simultaneous calls or 50 maximum simultaneous calls - and are priced at $5,000 (U.S.) and below. In addition, the Hammer.323 Call Generator will be offered as a free demo that can be downloaded from the Hammer website (www.ham.com) beginning July 26, 1999. The Hammer.323 Call Generator will also be available for direct purchase July 30, 1999. 

About Hammer Technologies 
Based in Wilmington, Mass., Hammer Technologies, a Teradyne Company was founded in 1991. Hammer Technologies provides the Hammer family of products - The Standard for Computer Telephony Testing. 

Hammers are in use today by developers of computer telephony, advanced switching, and enhanced services systems, most of the regional Bell Operating companies and long-distance carriers, and at call centers of numerous Fortune 100 companies. Hammer is the only system that provides a complete solution for load, feature, regression, and in-service testing of integrated telecommunications systems and services. 

The Hammer's test capabilities include voice, data, T1, E1, ISDN, WWW, TCP/IP, SS7, LAN/WAN, Speech Recognition and other related technologies. Additional Information on Hammer: Please visit our website at http://host.web-print-design.com/Hammer_rehab

Hammer, the Hammer IT, Hammer.323, the Hammer logo are trademarks of Hammer Technologies. All names, products, and services mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.