ADVA Launches Optojack

NORCROSS, Ga. and MUNICH and MARTINSRIED, Germany -- ADVA Optical Networking today introduced Optojack®, a new technology that enables the establishment of intelligent optical demarcation points to monitor advanced optical services. Optojack provides optical demarcation and service monitoring at the handoff point between carrier networks, as well as at the demarcation point between the carrier and customer network. Optojack is designed to enable remote Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM) of key optical network elements in the access and backhaul portions of the network.

Analogous to ADVA Optical Network’s successful Etherjack® technology, Optojack provides the ability to monitor and test wavelength-based services, a missing service provider requirement today. Frequently, providers deliver optical services to customer locations without any visibility into the health or status of the delivered traffic. In addition, during turn-up or test, there is no way to perform the loopbacks and remote testing from which most other non-optical services benefit. Without a clear demarcation point that delineates one carrier’s network from the next, or the carrier network from the customer’s, it is challenging for the provider to cost-effectively monitor, manage and troubleshoot an optical service.

With Optojack in place, a service provider can monitor the optical signal all the way to the access equipment (e.g., a DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) at the curb or in a building) or customer device (e.g., Local Area Network (LAN) router). It can also be more certain of the quality of service provided across multiple carrier regions. Using Optojack functionality, carriers gain important knowledge about when optical service degradations or outages take place and, in some cases, can identify service problems before the customer is aware they exist. Importantly, problems can be fixed before they cause a complete outage, contributing to the delivery of higher service availability levels.

“Due to the competitive nature of our industry, intelligence about the network and the service can be a service provider’s secret weapon,” commented Dr. Christoph Glingener, chief technology officer (CTO) of ADVA Optical Networking. “Optojack is an invaluable tool to help carriers offer differentiated services to a demanding customer base. No matter the underlying protocol, Optojack enables loopbacks and other key performance monitoring techniques that provide insight into network services. This can lead to higher profit levels at a time when carrier budgets are squeezed from every direction.”

ADVA Optical Networking