Quality vs. Monitoring
Monitoring solutions are commonly used to assess a network, but they cannot measure quality. Monitoring is like observing traffic on a road to assess utilization — quality is knowing whether a car will make it to its destination in time.
Quality issues dramatically affect the usability and timing of data packets. For example, if a packet arrives out of order because another packet was lost, it cannot be processed until the missing packet is recovered. Recovery time can be extensive, which is detrimental to the user experience.
MCS quality testing identifies and reports all the problems that threaten the user experience, in addition to performance metrics.
Quality Assessment Point (QAP) Appliances
The MCS QAP appliances can be deployed anywhere in an enterprise network to establish a testing point for quality and performance measurement.
QAP Benefits
| Benefit | Description |
|---|---|
| Data Quality | Identifies connection problems that cause data integrity issues and recovery delays. |
| Security | Non-PC based testing eliminates traditional OS threats such as viruses and hacking. |
| Accuracy | No operating system overhead means highly accurate measurements. |
| Non-invasive | Eliminates the requirement and risk of using customer premises equipment for measurements. |
| Automated Testing | Addresses intermittent and persistent connection problems that impact customer experience. |
| Reduced Support Costs | Quick problem identification through automated quality testing reduces the support burden. |
| Low Cost | Small, portable platform with low power and minimal heat — ideal for field engineers and permanent deployments. |
| Scale | Central management and automated testing supports high-scale deployments across large networks. |