Eurotunnel has installed Acterna's Optical Network Management System (ONMS) to provide 24-hour network monitoring of 500km of optical cable across the English Channel and to give the transparency essential to fault identification.
"If the fibre degrades or breaks then the problem is flagged on the central server, and the network operations centre is alerted immediately," said Dave Pointon, Eurotunnel's technical services director.
"Traffic is immediately re-routed through another part of the network, and local maintenance teams are dispatched to correct the problem."The ONMS facilitates proactive preventative maintenance. If signal degradation reaches an alarm level pre-defined by the customer, the problem is identified and investigated before it starts to affect network users. The server is based at Eurotunnel's network operations centre in Coquelle, near Calais, France with client stations located throughout the UK and France.
The test units are deployed at strategic points throughout the backbone and metropolitan networks. Each unit tests cables within a 150km radius and can locate faults to within 0.5m and report 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.