EXFO has released the FTBx-740C-DWC, a high-resolution tunable optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) designed to expedite troubleshooting of Metro Ethernet connections typically used by business-grade services such as fibre-to-the-premises or cellular backhaul.
This DWDM OTDR complements EXFO’s coarse wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM) OTDR and Ethernet test modules to provide a comprehensive and powerful kit for field technicians when installing or troubleshooting Metro Ethernet links.
With commercial Ethernet services evolving and migrating from CWDM to DWDM, EXFO’s tunable DWDM OTDR expands the ability to test links directly using the customer’s wavelength.
This empowers technicians to perform in-service tests from the head-end right up to the customer’s premise helping the service provider to locate problems and reduce service-level agreement (SLA) penalties and maintenance downtime periods.
In contrast with the traditional light source and OSA approach that requires two technicians and synchronisation, the single-ended OTDR test platform enables one technician to respond. In addition, the DWDM version is based on existing test procedures currently used for CWDM deployments, meaning it’s ready to go and easy to use with a quick learning curve.
EXFO’s FTBx-740C-DWC unit is a tunable OTDR in the C-band, and covers channel spacings of 50 or 100GHz based on the ITU-T standard grid. The tunable laser also features a high dynamic range for improved performance and the long reach needed to cover metro and regional applications.
“Housed in the scalable and powerful FTB-2 Platform, the FTBx-740C-DWC OTDR provides comprehensive validation and fault-finding of the physical layer, along with Ethernet service assessment from 10M to 100G to ensure SLAs from day one,” said Stéphane Chabot, vice-president of EXFO’s Physical-Layer Test Division. “Featuring a 12-inch touchscreen, modularity, Windows 8 and commodity applications, this performance combo offers validation and scalability of Ethernet services for high-quality networks.”