Optical Zonu launches SFP transceiver with integrated OTDR

Optical Zonu Corp. has released a new version of its SFP optical transceiver with integrated optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR), designed specifically for DWDM optical supervisory channel (OSC) applications. The optical module enables users to accurately locate optical fiber faults in DWDM systems using the built-in mini-OTDR operating on the supervisory wavelength, according to the company.

The OSC data link operates as a conventional 100- or 155-Mbps OSC data link until an optical fiber fault is detected. It then uses the OTDR capability to find and report the exact location of the fault at a fraction of the cost of traditional OTDRs.

The company’s previous products in the range supports Ethernet applications (see “Metrodata, Optical Zonu offer a new approach to optical fault finding”).

Optical Zonu says the iSFC SFP transceiver with built-in micro-OTDR can help major carriers and other end-users save millions of dollars in operating expenses, service-level agreement compliance fees, and lost opportunities. Thanks to its automatic fault-detecting and fault-finding capabilities, the new transceiver significantly reduces the need for truck-rolls and/or expensive OTDR expertise, the company adds.

The built-in OTDR works by automatically running reflection tests when a fault is detected, then sending the reflection and location results via SNMP to the host switch. This new version runs these tests solely on an optical supervisory channel (e.g., 1511 nm or 1611 nm and above) outside of the data-transmitting DWDM channel band.

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