VIAVI to deploy its automated test solution across Openreach fibre broadband network

VIAVI Solutions and Openreach have announced that they are collaborating to automate testing the quality and speed of the Openreach “Full Fibre” broadband network using Fusion, a virtual performance monitoring system. Fusion will effectively deliver an on-demand network “speedometer”, showing near real-time views of the speeds that end users can achieve. This will be the first time that proactive network testing of end user speeds has been deployed in fibre access networks across the UK independent of the customer’s internet connection.

VIAVI Fusion incorporates both hardware and software, which will be used to rapidly isolate and troubleshoot faults on the network. Diagnostics will be automated for any issues as they’re raised by Openreach’s Communications Provider (CPs) customers.

In addition, customer service will be enhanced as contact center procedures will be automated, equipping operators with near real-time test results for rapid pass/fail interpretation. This allows further troubleshooting to be focused on the root cause, whether inside the Openreach network, or back with the CPs.

Trevor Linney, Network Technology Director at Openreach said, “As the country’s largest digital infrastructure provider, we recognise that service and broadband reliability has become more integral to everyday life especially when millions of people switched to working and schooling from home. Last year, we saw our broadband usage more than double with 50,000 Petabytes (PB) of data being consumed across the country.”

Daniel Black, Director, UK & Nordics at VIAVI said, “Openreach plays such a foundational role in the UK’s digital economy that the improvements they make have a widespread, positive impact across the whole of the UK. The automation of testing across its network represents one such improvement. It will enable Openreach to be faster and more efficient with fault isolation, to the benefit of CPs, businesses and consumers. And they’ll be able to reduce the number of truck rolls and site visits they perform, as they’ll have access to better intelligence remotely. We’re proud to play our part in this network evolution and we appreciate our positive, ongoing relationship with Openreach.”

VIAVI has a longstanding relationship with Openreach and in March 2021, Openreach confirmed that it was using the VIAVI Optical Network Monitoring System (ONMSi) for remote testing of its network.