Operators will be able to test the new technology which will dramatically change customer service expectations

Suffolk, UK 10 October 2013 UTEL, Europe’s leading independent research and development company for telecommunications systems, will showcase its G-PON fibre management system for the first time later this month at Broadband World Forum.

Operators will be able to see and interact with the system and test its capability by creating gaps in the network and having the management system identify the fault.

The complete fibre network management system is based on UTEL’s world-leading Fast Light technology. This is the basis for the new Operational Support System (OSS) from UTEL, first launched last year and is a central office OTDR fibre test system that can reliably detect ONT reflections through 128 split PONs without expensive wavelength dependent reflectors. This measurement capability is possible because of UTEL's revolutionary Advanced Reflection Detection (ARD) technology which sets a new global benchmark for OTDR performance.

“What customers attending the Broadband World Forum will see with the G-PON management system is a technology that is more advanced than anything else on the market,” said Frank Kaufhold, Managing Director of UTEL. “Prior to this system engineers would be sent out to fix the fibre after a customer reported a fault but the fault often turned out to be with the subscriber’s equipment. Fast Light makes sure the entire network is running at optimum levels and can find faults before the customer detects them with fewer expert engineers.”

The UTEL Fast Light PON management system consists of three key subsystems including a unique world class 1650nm OTDR that can see through multiple cascaded splitters, an ultra low cost Robotic Optical Test Access Switch that can be flexibly expanded as the network grows and an optional OSS or Application Programming Interface.

“The bandwidth provided by Passive Optical Networks (PON & GPON) will dramatically change customer service expectations,” continued Kaufhold. “PON networks will not just be providing voice and video communication services, but will become a fundamental part of everyday life providing interactive entertainment, social networking and high speed internet access for shopping, banking and home working. Service outages will no longer be just an irritation but will be more akin to an electricity blackout with customers expecting the instant mobilisation of repair teams and the rapid restoration of service. Service Providers who have not risen to this challenge will rapidly find themselves at a commercial disadvantage and faced with escalating unforeseen costs.”

In service; the new complete Fast Light PON management system will eliminate the conventional manual fault finding processes along with the skilled technicians, the truck roles and the costly handheld OTDRs that were previously required to fault PONs.

For further information about Fast Light, visit http://www.utel.co.uk/fastlight.php.