Network Utilization and Fiber Capacity Management

Is there enough fiber network capacity to adequately meet demand? This question is often answered by fiber network companies when it is too late because of poor fiber capacity management. This results in expensive consequences which are exacerbated when client SLAs demand high levels of service.

To effectively manage fiber network utilization, the initial capacity level (total fiber strands), the utilization level (lit fiber strands, reserved fiber strands, and dark fiber strands), and any service level requirements are monitored. Monitoring of the network utilization means that network engineers can make accurate and timely decisions when they are tasked with fulfilling demand.

ConnectMaster is a user-friendly network asset and management system that supports the capacity management process. It delivers a variety of network utilization reports and schematics, including Fiber capacity reports.

Fiber capacity reports illustrates how much fiber capacity is available in the network. The individual fibers are classified as either in use, reserved or available. These reports help network engineers to understand where there are high and low concentrations of available fiber when displayed against a geo-referenced map. This answers questions about how much fiber capacity is left to lease or to sell in areas where demand may be increasing or decreasing.

The Alert Module of ConnectMaster monitors (amongst other things) fiber capacity and warns network engineers when fiber capacity is reaching a specified usage limit. Fiber network companies can foresee the demand and take measures to satisfy the demand in a cost-effective and timely fashion.

Get in touch with us if you want to see a ConnectMaster fiber capacity report in action!