With the Optical Networking and Communication Conference coming up next week, test vendors are emphasizing their focus on the next generation of optical networking technologies, ranging from 100G to 400G.
EXFO and Ixia both announced they will be demonstrating 400G test solutions at OFC 2017. EXFO said it will be previewing a new 400G offering for the lab, the field and manufacturing. EXFO added the new test solution is “capable of addressing all new technologies in the 400G ecosystem, including 400GE, Flex-E, OTUc4 and Flex-O and CFP8.”
Neither company, however, it leaving out 100G. EXFO this week launched its FTBx-5245 series of optical spectrum analyzers aimed at research labs and manufacturing, with an eight-slot configuration that can support up to eight 100G modules simultaneously. Ixia said Barefoot Networks is using its 100G test offerings to validate its high-performance programmable switches.
Ixia’s demo is part of an effort with Ethernet Alliance, which is showcasing both 400G as well as an interoperability demo designed to support speeds between 1 gigabit per second and 100 Gbps. The live 400G demo will interconnect to four different member booths with equipment and solutions from 16 companies. Other test companies participating in Ethernet Alliance’s demos include Spirent Communications, Teledyne LeCroy and Viavi Solutions.
Anritsu is also focusing on the ability to support a wide range of speeds up to 100G. The company this week launched a 100G multirate module for its Network Master Pro MT1000A all-in-one tester; the solution is said to support interface rates from 10 megabits per second to 100 Gbps, including 25G Ethernet, according to Anritsu.
In other testing news this week:
–Keysight Technologies is supporting Category M1 internet of things device testing with its Keysight Anite SAS Interoperability test solution. It has a carrier-validated test plan, according to Keysight, and has been used with Qualcomm Technologies’ MDM9206 LTE IoT modem.
“Keysight’s ability to support Cat M1 and [narrowband]-IoT technology using Qualcomm Technologies’ LTE IoT modems has resulted in IoT industry leading design and test solutions,” said Giampaolo Tardiolo, senior director for chipset mobile test at Keysight Technologies, in a statement. “These solutions help customers bring reliable IoT enabled devices to market more quickly.”
–Anritsu launched new software for enabling remote spectrum monitoring. The SpectraVision software tools for its MS2710xA family of devices are meant to detect and analyze terrestrial trunked radio and satellite signals.
–Ixia introduced a radio access network test solution called IxLoad LTE XAir2. The offering is targeted at operators, enterprises, and equipment and chipset OEMs in combining “scale and performance testing, with realistic subscriber emulation and quality of experience validation, for applications and services” and can also be used for testing LTE in unlicensed spectrum, Ixia said.
Ixia is touting the solution as a step toward enabling operators to test “5G” systems due to the scale and complexity of the scenarios it can handle, including carrier aggregation, 4×4 multiple-input/multiple-output antenna technology and 256 quadrature amplitude modulation radio schemes.
–GAOTek added to its line of fiber testers with a handheld OTDR with wide dynamic range.
-Mobile app testing provider Mobile Labs said it will be at IBM InterConnect next week launching a cloud-based solution for managing mobile devices for enterprise application testing, with options for both an on-premise offering as well as one hosted in a data center and maintained by Mobile Labs.
