OTDR software add-ons cut technician training time

New optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) software for the existing FTB-200 compact test platform.Exfo Electro-Optical Engineering has brought out new optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) software for its FTB-200 compact test platform. For the new generation of super technicians (SuperTechs), who must handle network troubleshooting while under intense time constraints, Exfo has enhanced its OTDR software suite to add very powerful testing capabilities that reduce training time by making testing simpler and faster than ever. The new software suite offers two intuitive formats to analyse OTDR traces; namely, a linear trace view, which provides loss and reflection data for each event, and a summary screen view, which includes automatic marcrobend location and detection.

These new features will enable SuperTechs to obtain fast and accurate diagnostics on fibre links without having to look at traditional OTDR traces, thus greatly reducing errors in the field as well as troubleshooting time.

Moreover, Exfo has added multivendor compatibility to its latest OTDR software release, which will allow users to manage their large bank of OTDR traces that could have been acquired with competing vendor equipment.

Now, thanks to Exfo's full compatibility with other main OTDR brands, customers can seamlessly switch from competitor equipment to Exfo's AXS-100 Access OTDR, FTB-200 Compact Platform or FTB-400 Universal Test System and thus have full access to Exfo's entire OTDR product line.

Always mindful of protecting the customer's initial investment, the new software release on Exfo's FTB-200 Compact Platform is backward-compatible with OTDR traces from previous versions of the AXS-100 and FTB-400.

'Exfo is recognised by Frost and Sullivan as the world market leader for OTDRs'.

'As such, Exfo has once again demonstrated its technical leadership by providing customers with added flexibility and simplicity in the way they characterise and troubleshoot their optical networks', says Etienne Gagnon, Exfo's Vice-President of Optical and Protocol Product Management.

'These latest innovations should increase efficiency and reduce testing time for OTDR technicians, who are, more than ever, facing intense time pressure in their day-to-day operations'.