Abstract

One-Page summary of the full test. Published in advance of the full report. 

Lucent Technologies, Inc. commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate its MultiVoice VoIP Solution that includes MAX TNT WAN Access Switches and a Lucent MultiVoice Access Manager. Lucent also commissioned The Tolly Group to test Cisco Systems, Inc. AS5300/Voice Gateway devices with a Cisco 3640 Gatekeeper. Competitive tests were conducted to determine the average percent of call completion every six hours for a total of up to 72 hours across both the Lucent and the Cisco gateways. Engineers also conducted tests measuring the average PSQM as defined by the ITU for each device when using G.711, G.729 or G.729a vocoders.

Summary: Tolly Group Evaluation of Lucent MAX TNT MultiVoice vs. Cisco AS5300 VoIP Gateways (March 2001)

Lucent Technologies commissioned The Tolly Group to compare its MAX TNT MultiVoice VoIP solution with Cisco’s AS5300/Voice Gateway to assess call completion rates, voice quality, and system flexibility in a carrier-grade VoIP deployment. Over a 72-hour test using the Empirix Hammer VoIP system, Lucent’s solution consistently achieved a 99%+ call completion rate, while Cisco’s call completion rate dropped significantly after 18 hours, falling as low as 36% by the end of the test period. Voice quality was also evaluated using ITU PSQM metrics. Lucent delivered lower (better) PSQM scores with the G.711 codec and acceptable performance using G.729a, while Cisco used the slightly better-performing G.729 vocoder.

In terms of system capabilities, the Lucent MAX TNT platform demonstrated universal port functionality, enabling voice, ISDN, transparent fax, real-time fax, and analog modem services from a single port without reconfiguration. The system also supported Multiple Logical Gateways (MLG), handling four distinct call types simultaneously (e.g., two-stage dialing with ANI or PIN, and single-stage dialing). These tests confirmed that Lucent’s solution offers greater service flexibility and platform efficiency compared to Cisco’s gateway, which required multiple platforms for the same functionality.

The test environment included up to 96 VoIP ports, multiple T1 connections, and simulated real-world VoIP traffic using a structured test bed with both Lucent and Cisco systems. Despite comparable short-term performance, the Lucent MultiVoice solution exhibited superior long-term reliability, voice quality, and port/service flexibility, making it a stronger candidate for service providers needing high availability and multiservice support from a single hardware platform.