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EXFO releases new OLTS that measures insertion loss, optical return loss and fiber length

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA, June 6, 2016—EXFO Inc. (NASDAQ: EXFO) (TSX: EXF) announced today the launch of the MaxTester 945 Telco OLTS, which further consolidates the company’s test solution portfolio for FTTx construction, telecommunications and outside plant networks. Designed to help Telco field technicians achieve faster, first-time-right system acceptance, this direct replacement for EXFO’s market-leading FOT-930 brings unmatched user experience and efficiency together with optimal cost of ownership in the latest tablet-inspired form factor.

The MaxTester 945 Telco OLTS (MAX-945) delivers outstanding speed and optical performances and has an advanced suite of user-assistance features. With its step-by-step reference wizard and intelligent fault diagnosis, the MAX-945 provides expert guidance throughout the test process to ensure immediate efficiency by first-time users while removing risk of errors or negative loss—a common source of issues when testing low loss fibers. Thanks to these added features, along with the re-testing capabilities which reduce the number of steps from eight to only three, a test job that traditionally required around 8 hours can now be done in only 2.5 hours.

“Continuing our mission to reduce our customers’ operation expenses, EXFO has remodeled its already market-leading solution to provide users with an even better, faster and more precise test set,” said Stephane Chabot, Vice-President of EXFO's Physical Layer Test Division. “Once again, EXFO revolutionized the OLTS testing industry by reducing the average cable characterization time by more than 60% for standard large-count fiber optic cables.”

Thanks to EXFO’s patent-pending one-cord reference method for automated bidirectional testing and its highly accurate optics, the MAX-945 can test short links, such as drop fibers in FTTH networks, with extreme precision and very low loss. It also features on-board professional PDF reporting and best-in-class singlemode distance range of 200 km. The MAX-945 OLTS also performs on-board diagnosis to deliver real-time information about the test cord health and pass/fail results according to preset or custom criteria throughout the referencing and testing processes.

Boasting a tablet-inspired design with a 7-inch high-resolution touchscreen and an intuitive Windows-like interface, the MAX-945 offers integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and supports EXFO Connect cloud-based test asset management. Moreover, its on-board reporting capabilities allow technicians to document their work live from the field with no need for post-processing back at the office. This means technicians can close jobs, get paid and move to the next one faster. With 12 hours of battery autonomy and an internal memory capacity for 150,000 test results, the MAX-945 also ensures a full day of work in the field.

The MAX-945 follows and applies best industry practices: both the main and remote units have full-fledged feature sets and are compatible with the market-leading FIP-400B automated inspection probe series to quickly inspect connector endfaces at both ends. Now both technicians can see, understand and act on the results while removing dirty or damaged connectors from the equation.

The MaxTester 945 Telco OLTS is available today in various kits and configurations. To learn more about this new test set, please visit EXFO.com/MAX-OLTS.