August 4, 2004 Hong Kong -- Test equipment vendor Acterna has announced a new addition to its OFI-2000 family of handheld bi-directional loss and return loss test sets, the Acterna OFI-2041. The OFI-2041 extends the coverage of test solutions for telecom and Coarse WDM (CWDM) networks to Fiber-to-the-X (FTTX).
Competitive pressures in today's carrier market require test solutions that are cost effective, increase productivity, and reduce the number of testers carried in the field, explain Acterna representatives. Developed in response to these issues, the OFI family is a new generation of handheld fiber testers that provide installers and field service groups with significant time saved compared to other loss testers. Combining high functionality with ease of use, the OFI-2000 is the fastest loss, return loss, and link tester in its class, says the company, testing full tri-wavelength, bi-directional links in less than 15 seconds.
The Acterna OFI-2041 enables fiber test applications to extend to the home, curb, or premise. The OFI family provides test solutions that fully characterize the suitability of fiber used to transport telecom wavelengths, transport passive optical network (PON) wavelengths for FTTx networks, and test all channels simultaneously in CWDM systems.
"Properly characterizing optical loss, return loss, and CWDM channel performance without delaying service is vital to our customers," contends Enzo di Luigi, general manager for Acterna's fiber-optic unit. "Doing so helps them reduce customer churn, and the OFI-2000 has demonstrated verification test times that are reduced by 90% compared to traditional stand-alone instrument measurement techniques."
The Acterna OFI family can be configured at time of order for PON networks with 1310/1490/1550nm (OFI-2041) wavelengths or for telecom networks with 1310/1550/1625nm (OFI-2031). With the largest color screen in its class, an intuitive one-button Fiber Optics Xpert (FOX) mode, and simple pass/fail display, the OFI enhances productivity and reduces the burden on training, says Acterna.
Cables with high fiber counts are easily processed using the OFI 's unique color coding and large memory store, and professional proof of performance reports can be quickly generated using Acterna's FiberBudget (made available free of charge on Acterna's Web site) and FiberCableIPC software solutions (offered separately).