Frost & Sullivan recently issued a report on the emerging market for bit error rate testers, or BERTs, which the research firm says is getting a lift from telecom applications.

Answers.com says BERTs use "a testing method for digital communication circuits that uses predetermined stress patterns comprising of a sequence of logical ones and zeros… A BERT Tester typically consists of a test pattern generator and a receiver that can be set to the same pattern. They can be used in pairs, with one at either end of a transmission link, or singularly at one end with a loopback at the remote end." More information on the stress patterns can be found at Answers.com.

Frost & Sullivan says Ethernet and Fibre Channel require bit error rates (BER) of no more than 10^-12. As speeds increase, demand for high-speed BERTs increases as well. The research firm notes that manufacturers have their eyes on the eventual move to 100 Gigabit Ethernet, which will bring along new standards that BERT vendors will have to address in their products.

Frost & Sullivan says new BERTs are able to perform tests that older BERTs can't, such as "newer stress eye tests with updated optical transceivers and closed-eye environment test capabilities, which involve technicians' utilization of pre-emphasis and equalization in successfully transmitting data."

The move to 40Gbps and 100Gbps networks will result in the largest boost for BERTs, the firm says. As Ethernet services get turned up over those networks, the newer BERTs will be needed more often.

Jeff Caruso is site editor at Network World.