Windstream Wholesale has integrated Viavi’s Remote Fiber Test System (RFTS) into its Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON). This tool is designed to further advance Windstream’s network intelligence functionality for dark fibre and wavelength monitoring. Customers will be able to leverage this tool in the first quarter of next year.
The test system includes FTH-9000 adaptive fibre test heads and ONMSi software. This centralised system combines strategically placed test heads in key network locations to constantly sweep the fibre with an OTDR test signal to identify and locate fibre faults and degradations.
How does the RFTS test system benefit operators?
The incorporation of this solution directly into Windstream’s dark fibre and ICON network was designed to enable the early detection of fibre breaks, elimination of reactive truck rolls, faster time to repair, and increased transparency of and visibility into a customer’s network health and performance. Windstream Wholesale will integrate Viavi outage and GIS data from the ONMSi platform into its operational and portal software applications.
Joe Scattareggia, Windstream Wholesale Chief Revenue Officer says: “With fibre networks serving as the foundational architecture of our modern world, our society is put on hold when fibre cables break. We are pleased with the partnership that we have with Viavi and how it enables us to integrate a proactive functionality of OTDR technology into our network – significantly reducing any network impact on our customers. We’re able to detect and respond to outages early and in real-time, communicate to our customers concurrently, and repair those outages faster than anyone else.”
Luiz Cesar Oliveira, Vice President, Americas at Viavi says: “Viavi is proud to be a long-term partner to Windstream Wholesale, whose deployment and maintenance teams have relied on our test and assurance solutions to deliver high-quality fibre networks to their customers. Service providers are increasing efficiency through enhanced visibility and intelligence as well as simplified troubleshooting processes. Viavi RFTS is delivering capabilities trusted by carriers globally to the Windstream ICON network.”
Windstream’s ICON network is designed to provide open and disaggregated networking infrastructure, enabling wholesale and enterprise technology customers to select custom routes, maintain operational insights with Windstream’s Network Intelligence functions, and place their networks closer to the edge to better serve end-users.
