8-K

                                  UNITED STATES
                       SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                ----------------

                                    FORM 8-K
                                 CURRENT REPORT
                         Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)
                     of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

                Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
                                 March 13, 2003

                               Acterna Corporation
             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

            Delaware                     000-07438                04-2258582
(State or other jurisdiction of    (Commission File No.)        (IRS Employee
         incorporation)                                      Identification No.)

                          12410 Milestone Center Drive
                           Germantown, Maryland 20876
          (Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

       Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (240) 404-1550



Item 5. Other Events.

     On March 13, 2003, Acterna Corporation ("Acterna") announced that its Board
of Directors had unanimously elected John R. Peeler, Acterna's President, to the
additional position of Chief Executive Officer, replacing Ned C. Lautenbach, who
will remain as Chairman of Acterna's Board of Directors. A copy of the press
release is attached as an exhibit to this report.

Item 7. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

     Exhibit 99.1: Press Release, dated March 13, 2003, entitled "John Peeler
named Chief Executive Officer of Acterna Corporation."

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                                   SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.


                                       ACTERNA CORPORATION

Date: March 13, 2003

                                       By: /s/ John D. Ratliff
                                           -------------------
                                           Name:  John D. Ratliff
                                           Title: Corporate Vice President and
                                                  Chief Financial Officer

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EX-99.1

                                  EXHIBIT 99.1

        John Peeler Named Chief Executive Officer of Acterna Corporation

Germantown, Maryland - March 13, 2003 - Acterna Corporation (OTCBB: ACTR) today
announced that it has named John R. Peeler as chief executive officer of Acterna
Corporation, replacing Ned C. Lautenbach.

Peeler maintains his position as president of Acterna Corporation and president
and chief executive of Acterna's communications test business, the company's
largest business unit. In his new role, he assumes overall management
responsibilities for Acterna's other subsidiaries: Itronix and da Vinci Systems.
Itronix markets "ruggedized" computing devices for field service applications.
da Vinci Systems designs and markets video color correction systems to the video
postproduction industry.

"John has served Acterna well as president and is ideally suited to take on
these new responsibilities," said Lautenbach, who continues in his role as
chairman of Acterna's Board of Directors. "The commitment, leadership and
integrity he has demonstrated during his 23-year career with the company are the
same qualities Acterna needs as it continues to drive to profitability and
successfully address challenging market conditions."

Over more than two decades with Acterna, Peeler has established himself as a
pioneer in the communications test and management industry. He was president and
CEO of TTC, the company that merged with Wavetek Wandel Goltermann in 2000 to
form Acterna. Before his appointment to that position in 1992, Peeler was
executive vice president and chief operating officer of TTC. Previously, he was
division president for TTC's T-BERD family of test instruments. Peeler began his
communications career in engineering in 1977 as a systems design engineer for
the company that became Hughes Network Systems.

About Acterna Corporation

Based in Germantown, Maryland, Acterna Corporation is the holding company for
Acterna, da Vinci Systems and Itronix. Acterna is the world's second largest
communications test and management company. The company offers instruments,
systems, software and services used by service providers, equipment
manufacturers and enterprise users to test and optimize performance of their
optical transport, access, cable, data/IP and wireless networks and services. da
Vinci Systems designs and markets video color correction systems to the video
postproduction industry. Itronix sells ruggedized computing devices for field
service applications to a range of industries. Additional information on Acterna
is available at http://www.acterna.com.

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Contacts:

Media - Jim Monroe, 240-404-1922

Investors - Mike Rhine, 240-404-1823