Aurora Networks, a provider of optical transport systems for broadband networks, has expanded its family of “Light-Plex” narrowcast demuxplexers and combiners, the company announced today.

 

Featuring built-in optical power level management capabilities, Aurora Networks’ new OP4528 is designed to simplify the installation, set up and maintenance of Fiber Deep, DWDM architectures, according to the company. The company reportedly designed the OP4528 for installation in its VHub, which serves up to 20,000 homes in a standard node housing.

 

Company officials say that cable operators that are adding new video or data carriers can use the OP4528 to realign power levels remotely via an SNMP interface to an element management system. In addition, the new release also enables cable operators to add optical wavelengths without interrupting existing narrowcast services to their subscribers.

 

John Dahlquist, vice president of marketing for Aurora, said that the Light-Plex OP4528 is a major breakthrough in field-hardened, remotely controllable broadcast and narrowcast combiners. This allows cable operators to provide more bandwidth for revenue-generating services such as digital video, Dahlquist said.

 

Dahlquist said that his company’s new remote power management feature saves operators money by minimizing the truck rolls necessary to manually align power levels, cutting the time required and reducing the manpower to accomplish that task when increasing narrowcast bandwidth to subscribers using DWDM solutions.

 

Company officials say that OP4528 features four optical input ports for broadcast and narrowcast services. Nine output ports are available and each combined port delivers unique content to its related service area, according to the company. Each OP4528 can demultiplex up to eight DWDM wavelengths and is being offered in five ITU wavelength groups, company officials say, and up to three OP4528s can be installed in a single VHub to generate up to 24 unique service areas.

 

Aurora’s Fiber Deep solution is expected to help Vidéotron to evolve its network to cost-effectively support the growing bandwidth demands of their customers both now and into the future.