1 October 2002 -- Eurotunnel, which has a concession to operate the Channel Tunnel until 2086, has completed installation of Acterna's Optical Network Management System (ONMS).
The system will provide 24-hour network monitoring of 300 miles of optical cable across the English Channel and provides the network transparency essential to quickly identify and repair faults on submerged cables. Acterna says that the ONMS enables reduced costs throughout the network while ensuring Eurotunnel's customers benefit from an improvement in the level and quality of service.
"If the fibre breaks, or suffers degradation of some kind, the problem is flagged on the central server, and the network operations centre is alerted at once," said Dave Pointon, Eurotunnel technical services director. "Traffic is immediately rerouted through another part of the network, and local maintenance teams are dispatched to correct the problem."
"Eurotunnel field teams receive accurate, timely data on which to act," said Enzo Di Luigi, general manager of the photonics unit in Acterna's Telecom Access and Transport division. "The Channel Tunnel's size and importance to the region's residents and economy means Acterna's ONMS meets a mission-critical need."
The ONMS facilitates proactive preventative maintenance. If signal degradation reaches an alarm level that the customer defines, the problem is identified and investigated before it starts to affect users of the network. The server is based at Eurotunnel's network operations centre in Coquelle, near Calais, with client stations located throughout the UK and France. The test units are deployed at strategic points throughout the backbone and metropolitan networks. Each integrated unit is capable of testing cables within a 100-mile radius and locating faults to within 1 foot and reporting back to the central server.
A Web-client feature allows access to data and test analysis functions via a secure intranet link from a standard PC Web browser. Technicians across the region can access all functions without additional training or software. Security is ensured by a series of codes and passwords. Eurotunnel can assign degrees of access, from "view-only" to full access, from the server.
* Acterna has a new program designed to provide a cost-effective option for securing the communications test and measurement solutions critical to maintaining the reliability and performance of networks.
Acterna Contract Hire Services offers packages of Acterna's instruments, software, systems and services through lease agreements that enable customers to meet their communications test needs within the parameters of reduced capital spending budgets.
By providing an option for leased communications test equipment and services, it gives customers greater financial flexibility by turning fixed costs into variable costs. It also enables customers to take advantage of innovations by upgrading or exchanging equipment as their requirements change.
Delivered through a strategic alliance agreement with Europe's Microlease, Acterna Contract Hire Services is available in the UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria and Benelux through Acterna Advantage, a portfolio of services, software and solutions that help customers secure their test equipment investment, ensure optimal system performance, increase workforce knowledge and skills, and automate processes to maximise operational efficiencies. The program will also be introduced in Italy, Spain and the Nordic region in autumn 2002.
Products, systems and services for lease include:
- Optical: ONT 30/50, ANT 20, TestPad 2000 (all modules), OLX-15, BTS
- Services and Solutions: NetOptimize Service Activator, NetOptimize Capacity Manager, NetOptimize Network Synchronizer
- Cable: Stealth Sweep Transceiver 5500, 5510, NetMentor RPS, NewMentor HEC3-P, HEC3-X, Path Track HCU 1500, 400, Digital Vision Service Activation Mentor (DSAM)
- Data: Cyclone Core, Cyclone Frame, Cyclone ATM, Cyclone IP
- Access: HST (all versions), TestPad 2000 (all modules), DSL-370, ANT-5
- Wireless: 2700, AirAudit, Air Compare.