Viavi Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAV) today introduced multiple new capabilities for its Optical Network Monitoring Solutions (ONMS) family of remote test and monitoring platforms. The company says the new capabilities enable further network intelligence in fiber environments that form the foundation of high-speed core and metro ring networks, as well as access applications in passive optical network (PON), 5G and data center networks.
As explained by the company:
Optical network data rates are pushing new limits in transmission speeds due to wavelength and fiber density through dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), high fiber count cables and complex point-to-multi-point and multi-fiber push on (MPO) architectures.
It is more important than ever that network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) and network operators add remote network intelligence to ensure high quality of service (QoS), near 100% uptime, and security. To do this they must also scale fiber network deployment, accelerate construction, service revenue turn-up and manage an ever-increasing maintenance workload.
Viavi said it's answering these demands by introducing several new remote test and monitoring solutions that leverage rapid response and automation capabilities for managing dense, complex networks. The company contends that its automated, remote intelligence technology allows for the ability to scale high quality standards and speeds without adding commensurate expense and workload. Platform upgrades announced by Viavi include:
- A new, patented Flash Fiber Monitoring feature for the Viavi ONMSi and SmartOTU software that enables operators to detect and locate a flash attenuation that causes network route flapping and burst network error conditions. According to the company: "An industry first, the feature is 100 to 300 times faster than traditional monitoring, with performance that can detect flash attenuation in an unprecedented one-tenth of a second. Network route flapping is one of the most common but damaging and difficult problems to diagnose. Until now, operators had no way to detect or locate flash attenuation events that are a root cause of millions of communication errors globally every year."
- New iOTDR Micro and Nano cards that enable NEMs to integrate optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) technology into their elements at a low price, with low power and a small footprint. The advanced software library for the cards provides operators with an incredibly diverse range of uses cases via an element-integrated iOTDR solution, potentially saving NEM R&D teams 2–3-person years of development time, contends Viavi. The cards support NEMs and their efforts for operators with an unmatched range of applications that include fiber characterization, fiber monitoring, tapping security intrusion detection, fault demarcation, Raman amplified link test, and tracking fiber degradation for preventative maintenance.
- New fiber network analytics using the company's NITRO BI Fiber Insight Platform for ONMSi, which automates fiber diagnostics to proactively eliminate risks and create a prioritized network performance improvement action plan. The fiber trends and aging use cases allow operators to see simplified reporting across the entire fiber network to revise procedures. All fibers can be graded by the cable, customer, network location down to the root cause fault type – turning mountains of raw data into actionable insight.
“With these additions to the ONMS line, VIAVI innovation continues to lead the industry in helping customers scale construction and maintain performance of critical fiber infrastructure to alleviate years of workload on network staff,” commented Kevin Oliver, Vice President and General Manager, Converged Instruments and Virtual Test, VIAVI. "With the ability to proactively monitor fiber using automated, remote test capabilities – service providers, NEMS and hyperscale operators can reduce expensive downtime and repair dispatch using proactive, assessment of the network health, improving the performance, reliability and customer satisfaction across the fiber lifecycle."
In addition to the ONMSi remote fiber test system, VIAVI notes it offers among the industry’s highest-performance OTDR technology to produce an accurate, high resolution trace to locate faults, intrusions and degradation that supports metro, core, access, and all fiber networks. VIAVI offers two types of optical test heads that work in tandem with ONMSi and NITRO software to enable customers to optimize flexible OTDR capabilities, rack footprint and price point: the OTU-8000 and OTU-5000. The system can be used for PON construction and service provisioning, ongoing monitoring, infrastructure monitoring and network security applications.
For more information on key use cases, download the ONMSi case study or visit www.viavisolutions.com/fiber-monitoring.
