ACTERNA DEBUTS NEW FEATURES TO OPTICAL FIBER MAPPING SOFTWARE.

Acterna has enhanced it's Optical Fiber Mapping (OFM) software. The OFM software can now help determine the best fiber optic route to connect two points as well as manage inner duct connections and usage. Acterna's OFM software is already able to hone in on the exact location of faults, outages, affected nodes, and customer sites, as well as shed light on the entire fiber optic network. With OFM software, users from different divisions within an organization can also generate customized reports or displays and get the specific information they need. Acterna is the only company offering a comprehensive portfolio addressing all the needs of service providers delivering voice, data and video over FTTx.

The OFM-500's new features are powerful solutions for both telecommunications and cable operators, both of which utilize next-generation fiber optic networks. By identifying the best fiber optic route according to criteria specified by the user such as the lowest attenuation, the shortest length, or the minimum number of connections, the software saves a significant amount of work for both sales as well as provisioning personnel by eliminating countless hours finding spare fibers in each cable and virtually splicing the fibers. Additionally, in the case of a fiber fault, OFM-500 software finds, in matter of minutes, other optical fiber routes that can be used as a backup.

The software also manages ducts and inner ducts, which is significant for operators who want to limit their up-front investment for access networks by installing inner ducts that will be filled with cables at a later date when demand increases. For each section of the access network, Acterna's OFM-500 software indicates information regarding the usage of ducts and inner ducts, the cables inside the ducts and inner ducts, and the customers served by those cables. When it is necessary to modify the network for maintenance tasks, the user will know which customers or services are likely to be affected.

"Acterna's OFM-500 software is already ahead of the competition because it can import and view OTDR traces measured in the field, allowing the user to compare the network description recorded in the database with the actual measurements of the network elements. This ensures that what the telecommunications or cable operator sees in its network map is the same as what is actually in the network," said Enzo di Luigi, general manager for Acterna's Fiber Optics.

Because of the high fiber density in metro networks, the explosion of high-bandwidth, data-intensive traffic requires connections to be frequently modified. This requires operators to have up-to-date documentation that includes original schematics created by a designer in paper or electronic formats, maps, photos, plant assets, and network element data. Although installers may make modifications, the documentation is rarely updated because technicians performing regular operation and maintenance (O&M) procedures do not have access to the original files. With minimal information on the as- built network, much of the existing documentation is rendered useless when the network goes down.

Based on Acterna's heritage of fiber optic technology innovation, the Acterna OFM software can be used as a stand alone software package installed on any desktop PC or deployed as a multi-users architecture accessing to centralized database on a server.

OFM can also be integrated with Acterna's Remote Fiber Test System (RFTS) to form the complete Acterna Optical Network Management System (ONMS). With ONMS, continuous monitoring, trouble-ticketing, alarm reporting, and complete performance management with data analysis, statistics, performance, and quality reports are provided. The system is DWDM ready and its open architecture provides scalability within the ONMS platform as well as easy integration with other applications.

About Acterna's Optical Network Performance and Monitoring System (ONMS)

Residing on a server or desktop, Acterna's OFM software enables customers to address the state of the network from their fingertips. This powerful automated mapping, facilities management, and geographic information system (AM/FM/GIS) application consolidates data entered manually or through other applications. All fiber optic network documentation including fiber route maps, distribution panel graphics, OTDR traces can be easily retrieved, cross-referenced, and shared among multiple users. Network operators have access to all of their networks' geographic and functional components and can track, document, and monitor an unlimited number of circuit wavelengths for each physical fiber path while O&M staff can initiate queries from any physical point in the network, including the field.

The Acterna RFTS offers network operators significant commercial advantage through increased productivity, reduced network down time and easier, faster network provisioning. The RFTS monitors the network continuously, alerting operators and managers to faults as they occur. The ONMS also provides real- time network status and performance with efficient preventative maintenance schedules, faster, low-cost service provisioning with efficient management of the cable installation and commissioning process, and rapid detection and accurate location of fiber and DWDM degradation.

About Acterna

Acterna is a provider of communications test solutions for telecommunications and cable network operators. For more than eight decades, Acterna has offered a portfolio of instruments, systems, software and services that help its customers reduce network costs while improving performance and reliability. Headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, USA --with European and Asia-Pacific operations based in Eningen, Germany and Hong Kong -- Acterna serves nearly every major communications service provider and equipment manufacturer around the world through a skilled sales and support organization in 31 countries.

Acterna can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.acterna.com/.

For more information, call 240/404-1924.