EXFO recently acquired the majority of the assets of Absolute Analysis, Inc., a privately held company in Newbury Park, CA. The $8.25-million cash-and-stock deal includes technology, expertise and solutions in the area of radio frequency (RF) testing for fiber-based radio access networks (RANs).
“This acquisition is driven by EXFO’s commitment to provide market-leading solutions to mobile network operators [MNOs] in their quest to deploy next-generation, fiber-based fronthaul networks and RAN architectures,” EXFO said. “In a market where subscriber quality of experience is a profitability game-changer, MNOs have little room for error while pressure is increasing to deploy faster and minimize operating expenses.”
Absolute Analysis’s solutions “are critical for identifying and analyzing RF interference issues in fiber-to-the-antenna [FTTA], distributed antenna systems [DAS], remote radio heads [RRHs] and baseband units [BBUs] that support 4G/LTE and, soon, 5G wireless mobility and Internet of Things [IoT],” EXFO continued. “Absolute Analysis’s technology delivers highly efficient CPRI [Common Public Radio Interface] protocol analysis and emulation as well as RF-over-CPRI spectrum analysis.”
The company said it will combine its optical and Ethernet test technologies with the newly acquired technologies, describing the new capabilities as a “unique combination of RF analysis-over-CPRI with market-leading fiber and Ethernet test technologies,” saying this combination “significantly accelerates service delivery and troubleshooting, which reduces operating expenses for MNOs.”
Some of Absolute Analysis’s technology already has been integrated into a portion of EXFO’s recently launched OpticalRF application for its FTB-1 Pro test platform.
Picutred at the top of this page is EXFO's FTB-1 Pro, a test platform that allows field technicians to carry out dedicated optical, Ethernet, multiservice and RF interference tests.
Germain Lamonde, EXFO’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, “Mobile network operators are transforming their architectures and deploying fiber deeper into radio access networks to add new services and much-needed capacity, while preparing for 5G mobility and IoT. This small, synergistic and strategic acquisition allows EXFO to strengthen its leadership position with a unique, all-in-one optical, Ethernet and RF test solution to help MNOs greatly enhance their productivity and network reliability.”