ADVA offers access link monitoring for dark fiber networks

Optical transport systems vendor ADVA Optical Networking has taken the wraps off the FSP 3000 Access Link Monitoring (ALM) system. The new offering, which is in trials now, supports monitoring of dark fiber networks in a variety of applications, including mobile fronthaul, mobile backhaul, business services, and wholesale.

The ADVA FSP 3000 ALM operates independently of data networking equipment to monitor fiber access networks regardless of the bit rate and protocol of the overlaying service. The system analyzes reflections of a non-intrusive test signal in continuous real-time to provide ongoing information on the health of the link, including data on where and what action might be needed in case of a problem. The ALM can simultaneously monitor up to 16 fiber access "tails" at distances of 30 km, ADVA says.

ADVA sees the growing use of dark fiber creating a need for the monitoring of such links to enable offerings based on service-level agreements (see "Monitoring fiber access links"). The ability of the ALM to offer such monitoring opens the door to the provision of such revenue-generating service, the company asserts.

The system should be available early next year.

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