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ip-label.newtest and 01net enhance benchmarking of French triple-play offers
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by Alain Petit, Head of Benchmarks for the Press
 On 22 October, the methodology of comparison of French triple-play offers took a major step forward thanks to 01net and ip-label.newtest. This significant progress is the result of a workshop that brought together all ISPs, the outcome of which was the development of all necessary measurement and reporting tools, ip-label.newtest’s implementation of measurement infrastructures, etc.
The new methodology represents 39,879 unitary tests per week for every type of subscription monitored, which amounts to some 182,250 measurements stored and analyzed. Counting all test campaigns, all the offers evaluated, and the execution of tests from Paris and Marseilles, 553,987 tests were carried out every week (over 2,500,000 measurements stored and analyzed) to establish the weekly rankings.
Download the full, detailed metholology (in French)
The rankings are accessible on the 01net website
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ip-label.newtest reunite their French speaking customers for their first Customer Convention
On the 6th October 2009, ip-label.newtest welcomed their French speaking customers to the prestigious ‘Maison de Arts & Métiers’ in the heart of Paris.  More than 150 customers participated in a range of conferences which included a choice of 12 workshops. Each session was completed by a customer testimonial from customers such as BPCE, Air France, EADS, ZDF, Total, etc.
This event was also rich in exchanges thanks to various brainstorming sessions. We take this opportunity to thank all of our customers for participating in this event and for helping to make it a resounding success.
Contact our team for more information about this event
ip-label.newtest sponsor itSMF France.
ip-label.newtest has supported itSMF across Europe and the USA since 2005. Over recent years we have sponsored the annual conferences of itSMF in the USA, Germany, Italy, Spain and in France since 2008.
At this year’s 7th annual conference in France one of our customers, Mr Joël Riga, Director of the Engineering & Network Services Department at Orange Labs shared his experience during one of the main conferences. His presentation discussed an ambitious project within Orange Labs to design and install a service level management platform for networks within an ITIL approach.
Our team was pleased to welcome our customers to our stand during the conference enabling us to present our datametrie and newtest solutions and their contribution to ITIL processes, such as:
- Service Level Management
- Availability Management
- Incident management
- Problem Management
- Service Center
Learn more about how our solutions contribute to ITIL
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A new press partnership: Best of Media &
ip-label.newtest.
 Throughout the month of September, we carried out 27 million measurements thanks to visitors of Tom’s Guide. Our aim? To establish which configurations perform the best: ISP, operating system, browser and region. The results compiled in this Tom’s Guide/ip-label.newtest barometer are the outcome of 3.8 million unique monthly visits to Tom’s Guide (source: Nielsen June 2009). They indicate which equipment is the fastest for navigating on the web.
We thus determined the profile of the fastest web connection in September. The user is a subscriber to Numericable, browses with Safari 4 and uses Mac OS X 10.6. Concerning his/her mobile usage, the user has a mobile running Android. Lastly, the person is a Breton; he/she lives in Brittany.
Learn More
(Article in French)
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Today’s internet architecture will not be able to fulfill tomorrow’s requirements, most especially the concept of services that are accessible “anytime, anywhere, on any device”. The question of making networks as we know them more autonomous arises. Needs are manifold and the stakes enormous, including:
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the need for an internet which accommodates seamless service provision (moving from fixed internet to mobile internet)
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the need for services that are more resilient, more disruption-resistant and which cost less to operate
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the need to expand the network’s capacities in order to provide for value added services that are increasingly resource-hungry (web 2.0, HDTV, catch-up TV, etc.).
To respond to these needs/issues, a number of approaches have been envisioned. One of them introduces the concept of “autonomics”, a concept stemming from the biological sciences, to provide a “self*” network (*self-configuration, self-optimization, self-protection, self-healing). A work group, ETSI (ETSI AFI), has been created to study this subject, and research projects are underway.
Whatever the approach considered, it bears reminding that the return of user experience (QoE) is incorporated into the architecture every time. A user-centric mutation of the internet thus appears to be underway.
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The latest Asian web analyses published by the Atelier BNP Paribas
By Christophe Depeux General Manager Asia Pacific
and Alain Petit, Head of Benchmarks
The Atelier BNP Paribas, in collaboration with the performance measurement specialist ip-label.newtest, supplies its readers with an analysis of the web in Asia every month. Among the latest studies published, the Atelier BNP Paribas and ip-label.newtest took a look at the performance of women’s fashion magazine websites in China and those of luxury carmakers established in China.
Read these two studies (and many more!) in English on our website:
How fashion magazines fare on the Chinese internet (or “Vogue’s performance vague in China”)
How upmarket carmakers perform on the Chinese internet (or “Audi, a lap behind in display speed”)
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In this Edition:
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Health authorities and ip-label.newtest: fighting the same battle
At present what are the main actions the company has undertaken to ensure business continuity in every circumstance?
The question is of utmost importance now that the risk of an influenza pandemic has become a hot topic which must be managed properly.
Which users should have priority and how can continuity of work be guaranteed and thus customer service ensured?
The implementation of the continuity plan leads us to view daily operation from another standpoint. If we cannot count on the usual resources (infrastructures, people, etc.), what can we do as a priority and to guarantee what?
To prepare for the eventuality of a flu pandemic, French national health authority (HAS) has called on ip-label.newtest to test the performance of the telecommuting environment it has set up for working from home in the event of a pandemic. (read more)
The idea appealed to us, and so all ip-label.newtest staff telecommuted on 6 November.
A few glitches in the telephone system required some technical adjustments, but our customers can rest assured that we are now ready and able!
Eric Varszegi
CEO |
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Are you ready for the Flu Pandemic?
Discover the importance of load testing thanks to our new testimonial featuring the HAS
The French national health authority (HAS) called on ip-label.newtest to test the performance of the telework environment that it set up for use in the event of an influenza pandemic
The HAS has set forth a plan for service continuity (Plan de Continuité d’Activité - PCA) pertaining to the H1N1 flu. As a public organism, the HAS is responsible for ensuring continuity of service. The PCA implemented in response to the risk of a flu pandemic should also be replicable in any future crisis situation.
One of the major components of the PCA is to enable the HAS’s 500 staff members to work from home, while maintaining good operating quality of their work environment for them.
Description of needs and responses
HAS staff members use a Lotus e-mail system in the office. The original architecture provided for 50 external user connections.
A webmail platform was developed around the installation of a reverse proxy to allow all 500 employees to access their mail externally, all at the same time and in good working conditions.
The HAS wanted to ensure the resilience of its webmail platform when 500 co-workers use their webmail simultaneously.
The HAS therefore sought an external service supplier to achieve the following goals:
- identify the point of performance deterioration and the breaking point of the HAS webmail platform
- identify any possible congestion points
- provide operational recommendations for improvement
Selecting a service provider
The HAS’s IT management drew up specifications to select a service provider. ip-label.newtest was chosen for the quality of its offer as well as for its references.
Furthermore the HAS, already an ip-label.newtest customer, is very satisfied with the service delivered and the expertise of ip-label.newtest engineers. In addition, ip-label.newtest has shown great reactivity in a context where deadlines are strictly enforced.
By Laurent Gou, Marketing Director
Download this business case
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Datametrie has a new look. The latest version 9.2.0 will be rolled out within a few days, and this is the occasion to succinctly showcase changes and additions as well as the advantages they bring to the analysis of your performance.
In terms of overall vision, this version’s general interface has undergone a “makeover” which enhances user ergonomics. The color scheme has been revamped in order to remain neutral during operation and analysis, while appealing to less technical user populations. The menu in the left pane and the calendar have been retouched. The “OK” button is more readily apparent. Additional information supplied to the user allows him/her to better interact with the interface.
Objective vision
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Configuration of dashboard mailings |
Concerning reports and data export, users now have the possibility of adjusting the periodicity of their mailings. This version furthermore offers the option of exporting current tickets under processing by customer support. The possibility of ranking entries directly within the interface has also been integrated.
The configuration of RSS alerts has also been overhauled in order to make it more intuitive to handle. It now features a dedicated form which facilitates configuration for novices.
As for data feedback, it is now possible to view whether availability and application performance targets have been attained for business hours. This advantageously completes the 24/24h view that already existed in this section.
Follow-up of customer support tickets |
RSS alert configuration
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A number of additions centering on the supervision console now enrich this section. The console’s openness to third-party systems -- via links that allow you to reach a Sharepoint procedure, a component-oriented hypervisor or any other web device -- round out supervision for helpdesk operators. The link to Newtest Management Console’s supervision module is the first to benefit from this type of interactivity. The ordering of failed transactions has been revised to allow the latest major alerts to be moved to the top of the console. Details on anomalies and the number of sites recording errors are indicated on the far right.
Supervision console
All these improvements match the wishes of users of Datametrie services. Whether you issue requests for changes at summary meetings or whether the information is propagated from Diag Center customer support, this data feeds into our R&D department and is included in their roadmap when the request is pertinent and representative of the viewpoint of a significant number of users.
Beyond the technical and technological capabilities of Datametrie and Datalimit, ip-label.newtest has a team of specialists for integrating your dedicated probe network into the ip-label.newtest network, as well as for co-locating to make sure your measurement points are optimally positioned. ip-label.newtest can thus manage all or part of your monitoring projects, providing a fully operated service. In the same way, ip-label.newtest consultants can, in the form of a fixed-rate mission, respond to all the IP quality issues that your business is confronted with. More information on the complete range of missions will be communicated soon.
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Newtest 2.1.1
Overview
Newtest Enterprise Portal version 2.1.1 will be available soon. It will offer the following new features:
- NMC and Reporting compatibility with Active Directory, with Single Sign-On
- additional functions (methods) in NMC’s SOAP web services for retrieving numeric data and status information on Newtest robots and controllers
- accommodation of user rights restrictions on Newtest Reporting
- improvements in the management of favorites in Newtest Reporting
- optimization of the performance of data consolidation and exclusion in the data warehouse
- enrichment of the Newtest Operation Portal with the new Nagios plug-in
Focus on Active Directory
NEP 2.1.1 provides compatibility with Active Directory type LDAP directories by integrating a validation functionality for the user login to Newtest Management Console and Newtest Reporting. The system allows Single Sign-On (SSO) by analyzing the validity of the user’s login upon access to the NMC connection page. The implementation of user groups in the AD makes it possible to manage the user’s connection profile (user type).
Focus on the Nagios plug-in
An addition to the Newtest Enterprise Portal offering, Nagios connectors facilitate integration of NMC supervision elements into Nagios.
The integration package consists of 2 data poolers using NOP’s SOAP web services technology to retrieve data pertaining to the status of robots connected to NMC as well as the status and measurements of the monitored scenarios. These poolers integrate with the Nagios server.
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