Verizon awards $1.7 million to NTS for high-density fiber distribution frames testing

30 April 2003 Calabasas, CA Lightwave -- National Technical Systems Inc. (NTS), provider of quality and conformance testing and managed services, announced today that its Fullerton, CA-based telecommunications lab has received $1.7 million in new contracts from four major telecommunications equipment vendors under New York City-based Verizon's Passive Fiber Optic Component (PFOC) Independent Test Laboratory (ITL) Program. NTS Chairman and CEO Jack Lin said these contracts have been awarded over the past month following Verizon's approval in March for NTS to perform testing on next-generation, high-density fiber distribution equipment used to support broadband communication. Testing is expected to be completed by the end of August.

Under the contracts, NTS will perform high-speed transmission rate (OC-768) testing for next-generation, high-density fiber distribution frames. Optical fibers are being used to support broadband services using technologies with high-speed digital transmission rates of up to 40 Gbits/sec. Verizon requires its telecommunications equipment vendors to have their products certified by an approved lab, such as NTS. NTS is the first and currently the only test lab approved by Verizon to perform this testing, say company representatives.

The goal of the ITL program is to expedite the product-to-market cycles and create more economical compliance testing processes for Verizon's vendors. PFOCs are widely used in communications networks worldwide and represent critical components in these networks. Compliance to testing standards is an important element to ensure reliability in Verizon's network.