Acterna has said that it is the winner of the 2003 Readers' Choice Award, sponsored by Communications Technology, the official trade journal of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE). Specifically, Acterna's DTS-200, an MPEG field instrument that supports local and remote testing on digital cable networks, won in the category of operation support systems (OSS).

"Acterna is honored to be recognized by such a distinguished panel of judges and by such an important industry publication as Communications Technology," said Bill Robertson, vice president of marketing for Acterna's Cable Networks division. "Our DTS-200 has been an attractive solution for our customers, including compressed digital network operators and MPEG-2 equipment manufacturers. It combines industry-leading ease-of-use with a modular architecture that supports a comprehensive range of test applications and a variety of signal interfaces. We are proud to have won the Readers' Choice Award, and we are truly delighted the DTS-200 is recognized as a versatile tester that can be configured to meet changing testing needs as digital cable, satellite and terrestrial networks evolve."

Acterna is the world's largest provider of test and management solutions for optical transport, access and cable networks, and the second largest communications test company overall. Focused entirely on providing equipment, software, systems and services, Acterna helps customers develop, install, manufacture and maintain their optical transport, access, cable, data/IP and wireless networks. The company serves customers in more than 80 countries and is a subsidiary of Acterna Corporation.

According to a company statement, the DTS-200 is the most complete MPEG-2 field test tool available. It offers technicians the unique ability to capture, play and analyze MPEG-2 transport streams in the field, or remotely from the network operations center, to expedite trouble resolution. An intuitive Web-based client enables technicians to analyze incoming streams, play out known streams, simulate a multiplexer or headend, as well as inject errors to test at the headend or hub. Further, its remote features allow digital engineers to support multiple sites centrally for improved network reliability and increased cost savings.

In a statement issued by Communications Technology, publisher Tim Hermes said, "This year's Readers' Choice competition was extremely competitive. The winners in each category exemplify the best new technologies our industry has to offer. Communications Technology proudly congratulates all winners and commends the top-notch products that competed as finalists."

Communications Technology's Readers' Choice is an annual awards program that honors the industry's most innovative new products. Companies exhibiting new products at the 2003 SCTE Cable-Tec Expo were eligible for nomination. A panel of industry engineers served as judges and narrowed the nominees down to a list of finalists. Attendees at SCTE's 20th anniversary Cable-Tec Expo (May 11-14) in Philadelphia voted for the winners.