EXFO receives U.S. patent for PON power meter technology

MARCH 6, 2007 -- EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. (search for EXFO) has announced the issuance of a patent related to its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) test and measurement solutions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The patent, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Testing Optical Networks" (US patent no. 7,187,861), serves as the basis of EXFO's series of PON power meters designed for field-testing applications. These test solutions are widely used by technicians characterizing FTTH PONs (search for FTTH PON), particularly near the optical network terminal (ONT) at the customer premises where triple-play services need to be activated. The test and measurement equipment provider's patented technology enables pass-through measurements of both downstream and upstream optical power at different wavelengths, including that of "bursty" upstream signals.

EXFO is also seeking protection for this technology in a number of other countries throughout the world via corresponding pending national applications.

"EXFO was one of the first test and measurement companies to embrace FTTH technology and has brought to market an impressive number of innovative FTTH products during the past few years," comments Etienne Gagnon, vice president of optical and protocol product management. "This latest innovation has really helped our customers speed up service deployment and activation for FTTH networks throughout the world. We felt that it was important to protect our investments in FTTH testing technologies, since we believe that we hold a dominant market share in this area."

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