July 8, 2008 -- EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering (www.exfo.com) has released NQMSfiber 5.0, a Web-based fiber monitoring tool with sophisticated functions for centralized fiber-optic network assurance, designed to enable improved network operation and maintenance.
The latest software release in EXFO's element management system (EMS), which is also part of the company's Service Assurance business and product offering, NQMSfiber 5.0 offers a complete range of features for all network applications in which optical fibers and cables are mission-critical. In particular, maintains the company, businesses connected to a fiber backbone through an access network have exacting demands for network availability and services. Without 24/7 proactive monitoring of fiber infrastructures, the company notes that network service providers (NSPs) cannot preempt cable failures or respond to network degradation in due time.
EXFO claims that NQMSfiber 5.0 is the only EMS software available in which all access and reporting functions are Web-based. Real-time alarm management and status monitoring functions are supported using applets that are fully integrated into Web browsers such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. Standard licensing provides access to as many as 20 users, whether they are connecting from inside or outside the corporate network.
Leveraging EXFO's expertise in optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR), NQMSfiber incorporates an improved Learning feature that automatically sets fault-detection thresholds across a full dynamic range, thus rendering easily achievable system optimization. Other advanced features include alarm management, scheduled reporting, trouble-ticket handling, and status view of a specific region or entire network on a two-dimensional map.
"This latest version of NQMSfiber delivers the intelligence that customers have been demanding from their fiber monitoring solutions and sets a new standard for remote fiber test systems," comments Etienne Gagnon, EXFO's vice president of product management and marketing. "The combined benefits of EXFO's best-of-class OTDRs and automated functionalities within the most advanced fiber monitoring solution allow NSPs to avoid network disruptions or accelerate restoration time without the need for complex and time-consuming configurations."