MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the digital subscriber line (DSL) test and measurement market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Aware, Inc. (Nasdaq:AWRE - News) with the 2010 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Differentiation Excellence. Telcos are facing contradictory pressures of increasing revenue through the addition of next generation services such as IPTV on their existing platforms while curtailing their operational expenses or operating costs. Aware's Dr. DSL® Line Diagnostics Platform (LDP), a software-only solution, precisely caters to these pressures in the market, doing away with any investment into expensive traditional test equipment.

With its 15 years of experience in developing DSL, Aware has integrated various inventive features into its LDP platform. It is fully compatible with leading chipsets, DSL access multiplexers (DSLAMs) and customer premise equipment (CPE). The solution provides a comprehensive network coverage due to its seamless compatibility with asymmetric digital subscriber line 1/2+ (ADSL 1/2+) or very high bitrate DSL (VDSL2) across the entire service provider's network.

LDP provides functionality on three critical levels across the subscriber lifecycle – service fulfillment, service assurance, and performance optimization. Firstly, the fault detection feature of LDP assesses and analyzes the problem-area to maintain line quality and prequalify IPTV service levels. It is able to diagnose and determine the type of data that could be placed on the given line, considering its present condition. Next, LDP provides line diagnostics and applies workflow rules to address customer service assurance-related complaints. The workflow rules of Aware's solution provide recommendations on how to solve prevailing service-related issues. Finally, LDP's service optimization feature performs proactive but non-intrusive tests on the IPTV line to recognize probable or impending problem areas and recommends suitable DSLAM profiles to improve the performance and stability of the IPTV line.

"LDP enables telecommunications service providers to increase IPTV revenue through improved customer acquisition and reduced operational expenses," says Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst, Olga Yashkova. "Customer Service Agents (CSAs) can use LDP to pre-qualify a customer's inbound IPTV inquiry in a quick and efficient way. LDP is more accurate compared to traditional techniques that tend to rely on loop length estimates, thus resulting in fewer 'false negatives.'"

Aware has also been leading the efforts to standardize DSL test and measurement technology. It has been the "leading contributor and editor" of International Telecommunications Union (ITU)'s G.lt standard along with the G.996.2 single-ended line testing (SELT), dual-ended line testing (DELT), and metallic loop testing standards (MELT), which are the new embedded testing standards. SELT is utilized in detection of faults as well as pre-qualification, while DELT is used for its capability to gather information on DSL parameters from CPEs for enhanced diagnosis.

Aware sells its solution directly to DSL service providers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and through systems integrators. It has partnerships with DSLAM manufacturers such as Occam and equipment vendors such as Calix. The company has an impressive customer base consisting over 100 global companies that include service providers, equipment manufacturers and test equipment vendors.

"LDP is used by service providers for effective and accurate marketing to target the customer that has been prequalified for IPTV service, thus resulting in faster revenue generation and positive customer experience," says Yashkova. "More importantly, it provides the service provider with test, diagnostic and service assurance solutions without any incremental new equipment cost, which has made the Dr. DSL brand unique and easily recognizable in the industry."

For these achievements, Aware is the worthy recipient of the 2010 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Differentiation Excellence in the DSL test and measurement market. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with unique features/functionality to provide high quality service to customers with complex needs. The award lauds the degree of the products customization and the fit for evolving market trends, which ultimately results in a strong brand perception of the product as being unique.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Aware

Aware is a leading technology and supplier for the telecommunications and biometrics industries. Aware has pioneered innovations at telecommunications standards-setting organizations for DSL and networking. Telecom equipment vendors and phone companies use Aware's DSL test and diagnostics modules and Dr. DSL® software to provision and troubleshoot DSL circuits globally. Aware is also a veteran of the biometrics industry, providing biometric and imaging software components used in government systems worldwide since 1992. Aware's interoperable, standard-compliant, field-proven imaging products are used in a number of applications, from border management to criminal justice to medical imaging. Aware is a publicly held company (Nasdaq:AWRE - News) based in Bedford, Massachusetts. www.aware.com

About Frost & Sullivan

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Contact:

Jake Wengroff
210.247.3806
jake.wengroff@frost.com