Windstream Wholesale has integrated VIAVI’s Remote Fiber Test System (RFTS) into its Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON). This tool further advances network intelligence functionality for Dark Fiber and Wavelength monitoring. Customers can leverage this tool in the first quarter of 2024.
The focus of this deployment is to enable Windstream Wholesale to be proactive about network issues. VIAVI RFTS includes FTH-9000 adaptive fiber test heads and ONMSi software. This centralized system combines strategically placed test heads in key network locations to constantly sweep the fiber with an OTDR test signal to identify and locate fiber faults and degradations.
Incorporating this solution directly into Windstream’s Dark Fiber and ICON network enables early detection of fiber 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 Windstream Wholesale’s operational and portal software applications.
The platform will be able to address three key issues: early detection of fiber breaks, reducing time to repair and giving dark fiber customers expanded visibility in its iconnect portal.
For dark fiber and wavelength customers, fiber routes are continuously and proactively monitored to detect cable damage (intrusions, bends, kinks, etc.). The platform also provides immediate
notification of cuts, outages, and degraded service sent to Windstream Wholesale network operations on behalf of the customer. It also allows Windstream to expand its OTDR capabilities on network routes where in-line OTDR is unavailable.
By automating fiber outage identification, Windstream Wholesale can reduce coordination times needed with manual OTDR testing processes. Also, pinpointed outage data includes GPS location and impacted circuit information immediately identifying where the outage location is—finally, reduced Time to Repair (TTR) due to immediate notifications sent to Windstream Wholesale.
Dark fiber customers can gain real-time outage location information on a map like Wavelength services on the iconnect portal. This feature will be available on Windstream Wholesale’s new high-count long-haul dark fiber builds, including Tulsa to Little Rock to Memphis (T-Rock Express), Raleigh to Myrtle Beach Jacksonville (Beach Route), and Montreal to Albany to New York City (CanAm2).
“With fiber networks serving as the foundational architecture of our modern world, our society is put on hold when fiber 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,” said Joe Scattareggia, Windstream Wholesale Chief Revenue Officer. “We can detect and respond to outages early and in real-time, communicate to our customers concurrently, and repair those outages faster than anyone else.”
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