Test Plan for Optical Grooming Switches - Light Reading

Test Specification 

Issue 2.1 (25 June 2002) 

Test Plan for Optical Grooming 

Switches

Contents 

Test Plan for Optical Grooming Switches 

Document history 4 

Introduction 5 

Test Equipment 5 

Test Entry Criteria 7 

Test Network Configuration 8 

Configuration B 13 

Test Methodology 14 

Test cases, Configuration A: Mesh Restoration and various protection schemes. 17 

BLOCK 1. Trail creation and support for required interface and granularities 17 

BLOCK 2. Mesh restoration and various protection mechanisms. 21 

BLOCK 3. Trail reservation and Inverse Multiplexing. 27 

BLOCK 4. Management Bytes Path monitoring 30 

BLOCK 5. Ethernet Service provisioning using 10/100 BaseT or GigE. 32 

BLOCK 6. Multiple payloads trunk filling, grooming and Virtual Concatenation 33 

BLOCK 7. SONET to SDH conversion and High Order SONET STS-1 to Lower Order SDH AU3 35 

BLOCK 8. Tandem Connection Monitoring 36 

BLOCK 9. Transparency of vendors system to SONET / SDH overhead bytes. TCA53 to TCA57 39 

BLOCK 10. Alarm reporting – including “flapping” alarms 41 

BLOCK 11.DCN failure node isolation 42 

BLOCK 12. Management and removal of cards 44 

BLOCK 13. Node Failure and 1:N transponder protection on WDM system 46 

Test cases, Configuration B: bi-directional Line Switched Rings (BLSR's) 47 

BLOCK 14. OC-48 BLSR tests 47 

BLOCK 15. STM-64 MS-SPRING tests 51 

BLOCK 16. Optical Interface Testing 53 

BLOCK 17 . Software upgrades 54 

Appendix A. Evaluation agreement to be signed 56 

2

Published by BTexact Technologies – 

a division of British Telecommunications plc 

Adastral Park, Martlesham 

Ipswich IP5 3RE, UK 

Offices and laboratories worldwide 

Email 

btexact@bt.com 

Freephone 

0800 169 1689 (UK only) 

Phone 

+44 (0)1473 607080 

Fax 

+44 (0)1473 607700 

© British Telecommunications plc, 2002. 

Registered office: 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ. 

Registered in England, number 1800000. 

All rights reserved. 

Permission is given for this publication to be reproduced provided it is 

reproduced in its entirety and that a similar condition, including these 

conditions, is included in the reproduction. Reproduction of parts of this 

publication is permitted provided the source is clearly acknowledged. For 

further details, please contact the publisher. 

BTexact Technologies maintains that all reasonable care and skill has been 

used in the compilation of this publication. However, BTexact 

Technologies shall not be under any liability for loss or damage (including 

consequential loss) whatsoever or howsoever arising as a result of the 

use of this publication by the reader, his servants, agents or any third 

party. 

All third-party trademarks are hereby acknowledged. 


3

Document history 


Issue 

number 

Date Changes 

1.0 27 May 

2002 

Initial issue 

1.1 28 May Trivial changes. 

2002 More reference made to specific Agilent test equipment 

“Draft for comment” added to front sheet 

Issue 2.0 21 June 

2002 

Incorporated comments from vendors 

Issue 2.1 25 June 

2002 

Minor change to ethernet tests 

4

Introduction 


BTexact Technologies are to perform 1 , on behalf of Light Reading, a series of evaluations of 

commercially available optical sub-wavelength grooming switches. The first step was for 

BTexact Technologies to write a white paper - “Carrier requirements of optical grooming 

switches” - to be published by Light Reading. 2 This test plan is the next stage in the process. 

It defines a series of tests, which will be used by BTexact Technologies to test the optical 

grooming switches of participating vendors against the carrier requirements document 1 . 

This report has been prepared by BTexact Technologies. The requirements contained herein 

do not necessarily reflect the specific requirements of any other part of the BT Group. 

BTexact Technologies is British Telecommunications’ advanced research and technology 

business created to allow services hitherto reserved for the BT Group to be made available to 

external customers. 

All tests will be performed in BTexact Technologies’ laboratories at Adastral Park 3 , near 

Ipswich, UK. 

As the technical design authority for many of the networks and services operated by BT, we 

have a wealth of knowledge in product testing and evaluation, built up over a number of 

years. Our experience has allowed us to develop test and evaluation methodologies that have 

been proven by subsequent feedback from deployed networks. As you would expect, we also 

have an in-depth understanding of the specific needs of carriers that, when combined with the 

state-of-the-art test equipment we have available, allows us to offer our customers both 

accurate, well-planned testing and speed of implementation. 

This test plan attempts to test equipment against as many as possible of the ideal requirements 

which were identified in “Carrier requirements of optical grooming switches”. 4 However 

there are some important requirements important requirements which it is not practical to 

explicitly test within a relatively small test network and within the short testing window 

available. These requirements will therefore be assessed by BTexact Technologies via a 

paper audit, enhanced by referring to the equipment in the laboratory as required. Specific 

examples of these requirements are:- 

-switch scalability (i.e. footprint proportional to capacity with hitless upgrades) 

-power requirements 

-fibre management 

Test Equipment 

SONET/SDH test equipment for the tests will be provided by Agilent Technologies as 

follows:- 

1x Omniber OTN - J7230A - 10G + G.709 SONET/SDH Tester 5 

1x J2127A - 10G SONET/SDH Tester 6 

1 http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=12996 


3 http://www.btexact.com/aboutus/ouroffices?doc=41500 


5 http://www.agilent.com/cm/rdmfg/omniber/otn/ 

6 http://xpi.comms.agilent.com/I-M/transtestset.asp 

5

2x 37718A - 2.5G Tester 7 

Omniber OTN 


The OmniBER OTN (J7230A) provides BER testing at all SONET/SDH optical rates from 52 

Mb/s to 10 Gb/s plus BER testing at the G.709 OTU1 and OTU2 rates of 2.66 Gb/s and 10.71 

Gb/s. In addition to the standard testing required for SONET/SDH the Omniber OTN is 

Agilent's new platform for SDH Test and as a result Agilent will be introducing new features 

into this instrument shortly: 

New concatenated mappings of STS-6c, 9c and 24c for SONET signals and the SDH 

equivalents, AU-4-2c, 3c and 8c will be added to the standard functionality of the OmniBER 

OTN later this year, ideal for testing next generation SONET/SDH devices. 

At the same time, the ability to generate test signals with mixed mappings will also be added 

to the standard functionality of the OmniBER OTN. This feature provides almost limitless 

flexibility to set up test signal structures containing any valid mix of STS-1, 3c, 6c, 9c, 24c 

and 48c to really simulate live traffic structures. The SDH equivalent is also included in the 

standard functionality and provides any valid mix of VC3, VC4-2c/3c/4c/8c/16c. 

See http://www.agilent.com/cm/rdmfg/omniber/otn/ for more details 

Omniber 37718A 

The OmniBER 718/719/725 series of communications performance analysers provides the 

benchmark in SONET, SDH, PDH and ATM BER and jitter testing to 2.5Gb/s. This tradition 

of quality, reliability, accuracy and speed is continually being updated to provide new 

functionality and setting new standards in test efficiency. 

Whether you're testing individual fibre optic transceivers, integrated line cards, systems or 

entire networks, the OmniBER 718/719/725 series ensures you have the right functionality 

when you need it most. 

See http://www.agilent.com/cm/rdmfg/omniber/718-719-725/index.shtml for more details 

J2127A 

Field Transmission Test Set 

Testing at the speed of light -- Multi-rate transmission testing to 10 Gb/s 

Agilent's portable J2126A and J2127A transmission test sets have been designed to test the 

latest aggregation platforms, reduce installation and maintenance test time, and decrease the 

overall cost of test. 

As the first multi-rate transmission test sets to incorporate all-channel testing technology, 

users can now simultaneously monitor up to 192 network paths within a SONET/SDH 

transport signal in just two key presses. This latest test technology eliminates traditional, 

labor-intensive sequential testing without compromising measurement accuracy. 

7 http://www.agilent.com/cm/rdmfg/omniber/index.shtml 

6


The transmission test sets also automatically monitor the line signal and all STS/AU channels 

(up to 192) for errors, alarms and pointer activity. Channels carrying revenue-generating 

services are identified, as are path routing errors within the network. 

The J2127A supports all line rates up to 10 Gb/s (OC-192/STM-64), and the smaller J2126A 

supports all line rates up to 2.5 Gb/s (OC-48/STM-16). Both products support 1310 nm and 

1550 nm wavelengths at 2.5 and 10 Gb/s optical rates and provide a range of features as 

standard such as dual-standard SONET/SDH testing, DSn/PDH electrical rates, electrical 

pulse mask, service disruption measurement, performance analysis measurements and active 

Thru' mode. 

See: http://xpi.comms.agilent.com/I-M/transtestset.asp for more details. 

Test Entry Criteria 

Testing of an individual vendor’s optical grooming switches will commence when all of the 

following criteria have been met. 

1. Vendor and BT have both signed evaluation agreement (Attached as Appendix A) 

2. Vendor provides to BTexact Technologies full build information regarding the test network including versions 

of all hardware and software. 

3. Vendor provides full equipment documentation to BTexact Technologies 4 weeks prior to start of testing. 

4. Vendor has successfully installed and commissioned the required test network in BTexact Technologies’ 

laboratories at Adastral Park including the network management system. The required test network is 

defined in a later section of this document. 

5. Vendor states in writing to BTexact Technologies that installation and commissioning of the test network is 

successfully completed. Any issues arising found by BT exact Technologies during testing will therefore be a 

consequence of equipment functionality and not poor installation and commissioning. 

6. Vendor provides BTexact Technologies with a list of test cases, which the vendor knows will fail because 

functionality is not currently supported. 

7. Vendor provides to BTexact a named, single point of contact to deal with all technical and project 

management issues, who will be present at Adastral Park throughout the 10 day BTexact testing period, to 

provide technical support when requested by BTexact. This person will also provide daily summaries to 

BTexact of status of installation and commissioning. 

7

Figure 1: Flow diagram of testing lifetime. 

Test Network Configuration 

BTexact available/supplied 

Infrastructure to supplier 

Supplier offer stating equipment and 

requirements. 

No 

Agreement 


The basic configuration consists of 4 nodes named New York, London, Los Angeles, Paris. 

Within an operators network it has been traditional to use a single protection scheme over a 

platform, or network tier. It may be advantageous to an operator to use switches to provide 

interconnection between networks running different protection schemes. The ability to 

support multiple protection schemes on the same switch node may have advantages. 

Yes 

Equipment documentation provided by 

supplier in advance of equipment 

Supplier equipment installation and 

commissioning. 

Supplier test and handover to BTexact 

BTexact fixed 10-day testing 

period. 

Does not include BTexact or 

Supplier de-commissioning 

and equipment removal 

8


It is required to test a two basic resilience options:- mesh restoration and BLSR/MS-SPRING 

rings. To ease understanding of test results, it is proposed to configure the test network into 

two basic configurations:- 

Configuration A. This will be used to test mesh restoration and linear MSP. 

Configuration B. This will be used to test BLSR/MS-SPRINGs 

The process used will be as follows:- 

Step 1. Vendor installs and commissions configuration A. 

Step 2. BTexact perform test cased on configuration A. 

Step 3. Vendor installs and commissions configuration B. 

Step 4. BTexact perform test cases on configuration B. 

Step 5. Review results. 

Note the same hardware will be used for configurations A and B. 

Within this document the following terms apply:- 

Trunks : - line side connections between switches. 

Tribs:- client side connections between a switch and a client. 

Trails: - circuits set up across the network. 

The supplier will install and commission trunks and tribs at commissioning, including the 

required resilience options. During testing BTexact will then set up trails over the provided 

tribs and trunks. 

A mixture of attenuators and fibre reels will be used to interconnect the switches. BTexact 

can provide either SC or FC/PC connector patch leads to interconnect the switch and connect 

BTexact’s test equipment and fibre spans. If any other type of interface is used on the 

supplier’s switches, conversion patch leads to convert to FC/PC (with a minimum length of 

2m) should be provided. If attenuators are required when looping back a short-reach interface, 

the supplier should provide these. 

All installation and commissioning at Adastral Park will be performed by the vendor with 

minimal involvement from BTexact. The vendor will be provided with a lab. Two vendors 

involved with the Light Reading evaluation will not be expected to share a lab. Typically 

BTexact will evaluate vendor A’s product while in parallel vendor B installs and commissions 

in a separate lab. On successful completion of installation the vendor will provide BTexact 

with a clear, written statement that installation and commissioning is completed successfully 

and that testing can proceed. While BTexact will have minimal involvement in installation 

and commissioning by the vendor, we will record the duration the I&C process and also our 

perception of the ease, rigour and professionalism with which the vendor performs. 

The supplier will provide a network management system as would be used to manage a large, 

operational network – a craft terminal or element manager alone will not suffice. Easy to use 

point-and-click provisioning is a key requirement for carriers and so BTexact will expect to 

make extensive use of it throughout the evaluation period. If during a particular test case, 

provisioning a particular circuit proves so difficult that it cannot easily be performed by 

BTexact within a reasonable time period then this will be used as evidence that point-andclick 

provisioning is not user friendly. 

The vendor will provide any network management servers and terminals required. 

9


A standard DCN configuration will be provided by BTexact to ensure that all vendors are 

being compared fairly. IP addresses will be allocated for equipment at each node to simulate a 

main and backup DCN network. IP addresses will be allocated for the management system. 

In-band management should also be provided so that if both primary and secondary out-ofband 

DCN connections fail then management is still possible via in-band communications. 

Synchronisation references will be provided by BTexact – either 1.5Mbit/s or 2Mbit/s as 

preferred by the vendor. 

Server 

Workstation 

Management Network 

Figure 6: DCN network architecture. 

Switch Switch 

Configuration A 

The configuration of trunks is as shown the figure below. 

Optical switch 

Node Network 

Switch 

10

4 OC-48s 

over a WDM 


PAR #2 LON 

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 

WDM 

#1 #2 #3 #4 

#6 

Figure 2: Configuration A. 

#7 

#6 

#5 

2 OC-48s 1+1 MSP 

OC-48 

LA #1 NY 

#7 

Configuration A 

OC-192s BLSR 

OC-192 

#1 

#3 

#3 

#2 

#4 

#4 

OC-192 

Note the supplier need not provide the WDM system shown in the diagram. Each of the 4 

OC-48s shown being carried over the WDM will in fact be transported over a separate fibre 

pair. However the 4 OC-48s should otherwise be treated as if they are being carried on a 

WDM system or over separate fibre pairs in the same cable. 

If one of the wavelengths between Paris and LA fails the system should first try and switch 

the traffic over to a spare wavelength on the WDM system. If no spare wavelengths are 

available (e.g. if the entire WDM system/cable is broken) then the traffic should be re-routed 

via a different route. 

For this configuration, the “cost” or “weighting” of each hop should be set to be equal. 

The tables below give the interfaces required in each node for Configuration A. If a trunk 

interface variant is not supported this fact should be highlighted to BTexact and it should be 

replaced with another interface in order to maintain connectivity. However this will mean 

that some test cases cannot be performed and this fact will be recorded. Note interfaces 

required for Configuration B are a subset of those required for Configuration A. 

Paris 

Interface name Description Interface variant 

PAR#1 SONET OC-48 WDM 

PAR#2 OC-48 LH 

PAR#3 OC-48 SH 


11




Client Interface 

Name 


PAR#9 STM-16 SH 




PAR#17 GigE 

LON#18 100MBaseT 

Los Angeles 


LA#1 SONET OC-48 WDM 

LA#2 OC-48 LH 

LA#3 OC-48 SH 

LA#4 OC-48 SH 

LA#5 OC-192 SH 

LA#6 OC-192 SH 

LA#7 OC-192 VSR 


Name 

LA#8 OC-48 SH 

LA#9 OC-48 SH 

LA#10 STM-64 VSR 

LA#11 OC-192 WDM 

New York 


NY#’1 OC-192 VSR 

NY#2 OC-192 SH 

NY#3 OC-48 SH 

NY#4 OC-192 OTN enabled if 

possible 

(i.e G709 wrapper) 


Name 

NY#6 OC-48 SH 

NY#7 STM-16 SH 

NY#12 OC-3 SH 

NY#14 100M BaseT 

NY#15 GigE 

London 


LON#1 OC-48 SH 



LON#4 OC-192 OTN enabled if 

possible (i.e.G709 

wrapper) 


12


Name 

LON#5 STM-16 SH 


LON#11 STM-64 VSR 

Table 1: list of interfaces required for trunk interconnects. 

N.B. SH=Short haul, LH=Long haul, WDM=wavelength division multiplexed 

specified tuned laser, OTN=Optical Transport Network (developing 

standards such as ITU-T G.709), VSR=Very Short Reach 10-Gbit/s serial 

transponder interfaces. 

Configuration B 


This configuration is used to test BLSR/MS-SPRING networks. Note in order to reduce the 

number of interfaces the supplier has to provide, only 2 fibre BLSR/MS-SPRINGS are tested. 

If the supplier does not support 2-fibre BLSR/SPRINGS but DOES support 4 fibre 

BLSR/SPRINGS then they may offer an equivalent network based on 4-fibre 

BLSR/SPRINGS – with an associated increase in the number of interfaces required. 

However, the lack of support for 2-fibre BLSR/SPRINGS will be recorded. 

#1 

PAR LON 

#1 #2 

#3 

#5 

#5 

#4 

OC-48 

2f BLSR 

STM-64 

2f MS-SPRING 

LA NY 

Figure 3: Configuration B. 

Configuration B 

Unprotected OC-48 

#1 

#3 

#2 

#3 

#2 

#4 

#4 

13


Within Table 1 (Configuration A) if any of the SONET/SDH interfaces types are not 

available, they should be replaced with the nearest equivalent interface in order to maintain 

connectivity between nodes. 

Test Methodology 

A 10 day test window has been deliberately set to assess the most important functions of each 

switch. It is not proposed to fully test all possible permutations of interface and protection. 

The proposed test plan will sufficiently test a sample of the permutations in order to: 

• Gain confidence that the equipment performs as expected. 

• Assess the user-friendliness of the equipment and network management system. 

• Assess the operational procedures required. 

• Understand the flexibility of the switches. 

The test plan is broken into blocks of sub tests, each sub test having an expected result. The 

tests within the blocks will be performed in order but the blocks themselves are designed so 

they can be performed in a different order or even in parallel if required. 

Process if major failure during testing. 

The flow chart in figure 7 shows the process to be followed if a major problem is found 

during testing. 

14

Major problem during BTexact testing 

BTexact Contacts Supplier 

Supplier requests halt 

to testing 

Supplier fixes 

problem in 

bl i 

Yes 

Yes 

Continue with test plan 

Figure 7: Flow Diagram of BTexact procedure on major failure. 

No 

No 


Continue 

testing with 

bl 

Yes 

State impact 

No 

Stop test plan 

consider 

rescheduling 

15


Interfaces and interconnects. 

It is assumed that SONET/SDH interfaces will be used to interconnect the switches. The same 

interface may have different reach optics available in order to provide either: 

• Direct switch interconnection. 

• Switch interconnection via a line system. 

• Connection to data ingress. 

Within an operators network VSR 10-Gbit/s serial transponder interfaces may be used for 

direct interface between co-located switches or interconnect to line equipment with VSR 

interfaces. Intrusive testing of any VSR link will not be made during these tests although 

functional testing over switch interconnects using VSR 10-Gbit/s serial transponder interfaces 

would be included. 

16


Test cases, Configuration A: Mesh Restoration and various protection 

schemes. 

BLOCK 1. Trail creation and support for required interface and granularities 

Test Block description: 

Testing of all client interfaces, their supported traffic granularities and trail creation. 

Procedure: 

Blocks of test to proceed in sequence from TCA01 to TCA09. 

Test equipment needed: 

2 OC-48/STM-16 SONET/SDH test sets. 

2 OC-192/STM-64 SONET/SDH test sets. 

Switch management system. 

TCA001: Configure unprotected STS-1 trail over OC-48 interface. 

Purpose: 

To confirm switch supports OC-48 interface. 

To confirm switch supports STS-1 granularity. 

To confirm the ability of the management system to correctly create and configure the trail 

required by the user. 

To confirm ease-of-use of point-and-click provisioning. 

To confirm point and click provisioning gives sensible routing. 

Test method: 

1. Start off with Configuration A, with no trails configured. 

2. Use SONET/SDH tester to generate bulk-filled STS-1 within an OC-48 and connect to 

tribs: PAR#8 and LA#8 

3. Use network management system to configure STS-1 trail between PAR#8 and LA#8 

4. Confirm, using switch management system, the creation of the required trail. 

5. Confirm, using SONET/SDH testers, error free operation of the created trail. 

Expected result: 

• SONET/SDH testers report error free transmission. 

• Switch management reports no alarms or warning. 

• Trail is routed by the obvious one hop route between LA and Paris 

• The management system should clearly display the following; 

Current route and status. 

Available resources. 

Other comments: 

None 

TC002: Attempt to delete trail with current traffic. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the ability to delete trails within the network. 

To confirm the switch management system adequately warns the user before allowing 

deletion of the trail. 

17



1. Follow on from successful completion of TCA001. 

2. Use switch management system to attempt to delete trail. 

3. Confirm adequate warning appears on screen before deletion of trail is permitted. 


• A warning will appear on the switch management system, to state this operation will 

be traffic affecting. 

• On completion SONET tester show traffic is lost. 

• On completion switch management system clearly shows trail is removed and 

capacity is now available. 





None 

TCA003: Configure unprotected STS-3c trail over OC-48 interface. 

Purpose: 

To confirm support for STS-3c concatenation. 



2. Use SONET/SDH tester to generate bulk-filled STS-3c within an OC-48 and connect to 

tribs: PAR#8 and LA#8. 

3. Use network management system to configure STS-3c trail between PAR#8 and LA#8. 






• Trail is routed by the obvious one hop route between LA and Paris. 





None. 


Purpose: 

To confirm support for STS-12c concatenation 



2. Use SONET/SDH tester to generate bulk-filled STS-12c within an OC-48 and connect to 





18









None 


Purpose: 

To confirm support for STS-48c concatenation. 




2. Use 2 OC-48 testers to generate bulk-filled STS-48c within an OC-48 and connect to 





6. On completion of the test leave trail configured with testers showing error free operation. 









NB. Use OC-48 tester for this test not OC-192. The OC-192 tester will be needed for next 

test. 

TCA006: Configure VC4 trail over STM-64 trib. 

Purpose: 

To confirm SDH STM-64 tribs are supported. 

To confirm VC4 granularity supported. 

To confirm same node can support SONET and SDH interfaces at same time. 


1. Following successful completion of TCA005 – PAR#8-LA#8 trail should still be up and 

running. 

2. Use 2 SDH testers to generate bulk-filled VC4 within STM-64 and connect to tribs 

PAR#13 and LA#11 

3. Use switch management system to set up VC4 trail between PAR#13 and LA#11 . 


• SDH testers show LA#11-PAR#13 VC4 circuit running error free. 

• SDH testers show LA#8-PAR#8 STS-48c circuit running error free. 

• Switch management system alarm free and circuit routes are via the obvious LA-PAR 

one hop. 

19






If supports STM-64 as shown in this test, and OC-48 as shown in previous tests then support 

for STM-16 and OC-192 can be assumed. 

TCA007: Confirm support for VC4-64c. 

Purpose: 

To confirm support for VC4-64c. 


1. Start off with empty Configuration A – no trails configured. 

2. Set up VC4-64c circuit between LA#11 and PAR#13. 


• VC4-64c circuit set up between LA and Paris and runs error free. 





None. 

TCA008: Confirm support for 10Gbit/s VSR interface. 

Purpose: 

To confirm support for 10Gbit/s VSR interface. 


1. Set up VC4-64c trail via 10Gbit/s VSR tribs LON#11 and LA#10. 


• 10Gbit/s circuit runs error free and is routed LON#3-LA#5 





None. 

TCA009: OC-12 and OC-3 interfaces. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the switch offers OC-12 and OC-3 interfaces. 



2. Set up STS-1 trail between OC-12 interface PAR#16 and OC-3 interface NY#12. 


• SONET tester shows error free creation of STS-1 trail 

• Circuit routing is via PAR#5-NY#’3 




20


None 

END OF BLOCK 1 

BLOCK 2. Mesh restoration and various protection mechanisms. 


Testing of mesh restoration and various protection options 

Procedure: 

Blocks of tests to proceed in sequence from TCA010 to TCA025 


TCA10: Confirm mesh restoration of unprotected trail in event of fibre cut 

Purpose: 

To confirm mesh restoration restores a simple unprotected circuit in event of fibre cut 


1. Start off with Configuration A with no trails configured 

2. Set up unprotected STS-1 trail from PAR#8 to NY#6 

3. Confirm trail is routed via shortest hop which is PAR#5-NY#3 

4. Confirm system alarm free and that SONET tester is error free 

5. Set up and monitor a second unprotected VC4-4c trail from PAR#9-LON#5 

6. Break fibre PAR#5-NY#3 

7. Measure duration of loss of traffic 

8. Confirm new routing 


• Record loss duration of loss of traffic on STS-1 PAR#’8-NY#6 

• Trail should now be routed via a “2 hop” route (PAR-LON-NY or PAR-LA-NY 

– not important which) 

• Within 10 seconds switch management system should show an alarm indicating 

the correct position of fibre break 

• Second PAR#9-LON#5 circuit should be unaffected 





None 

TCA011: Confirm how mesh restoration behaves when the fibre is fixed 

Purpose: 

Following on from previous test confirm what happens when fibre is fixed 


1. Following on from successful completion of TCA010 

2. Fix fibre PAR#5-NY#3 


• SONET testers show no further loss of traffic 

21

• Switch management system alarm cleared because fibre is fixed 

• Trail is still routed via 2 hop route 





None 


TCA012a: Confirm that the user can request automatic reoptimisation of circuit routings. 

Purpose: 

Following a restoration event circuits may be following non-optimal routes with long-term 

detrimental impact on availability. At a time of the operator’s choosing it would therefore be 

required to ask the system to automatically reoptimise circuit routings 



2. Ask the switch management system to reoptimise circuit routings 

3. Record duration of loss of traffic 


• STS-1 circuit should be rerouted back to original single hop route 

• Measure duration of traffic loss on STS-1 circuit 

• VC4-4c circuit should be unaffected 





None 

TCA012b: Confirm operation of 1+1 MSP 

Purpose: 

To confirm operation of (non-revertive) 1+1 MSP 


1. Start off with Config A with no trails configured 

2. Set up unprotected STS-1 trail from PAR#8-LON#5 and connect to SONET testers 

3. Set up unprotected STS-3c trail from PAR#10-LA#8 and connect to SONET testers 

4. Look on management system and ensure STS-1 is being carried over PAR#6-LON#2 

working route (if not do a manual switch to make sure it is) 

5. Pull out card PAR#6 

6. Measure loss of traffic on SONET testers 

7. Record alarms on management system 


• STS-1 should see less than 50 ms loss of traffic 

• Switch management system should clearly show STS-1 is now being carried over 

PAR#7-LON#1 trunk 

• STS-3c should see no loss of traffic 

• Within 10 seconds alarm appears on network management system to show card 

failure of PAR#6 


22


None 


Main route and Status. 

Protection Route and Status. 


TCA013: Confirm 1+1 MSP does not revert 

Purpose: 

To confirm 1+1 MSP is not revertive 



2. Replace card PAR#6 

3. Note results on SDH testers and switch management system 



Card out alarm should be cleared 

SDH testers should show no further loss of traffic 

Switch management system should still show STS-1 circuit routed via PAR#7- 

LON#1 trunk 


None 

TCA014: Confirm manual switch of 1+1 MSP 

Purpose: 

To confirm 1+1 MSP can be manually switched correctly 



2. Manually switch STS-1 circuit from PAR#7-LON#1 trunk to PAR#6-LON#2 trunk 


STS-1 circuit should see sub-50 ms loss of traffic 

Switch management system should show alarm indicating manual switch 

Switch management system should show STS-1 circuit now routed PAR#6- 

LON#2 


None 

TCA015: Confirm loss of protection route on 1+1 MSP is handled correctly 

Purpose: 

To confirm loss of protection route on 1+1 MSP is handled correctly 



2. Break fibre PAR#7-LON#1 


No loss of traffic on SDH testers 

Switch management system shows circuit routings unchanged 

23

Switch management system shows loss of protection warning 


None 


TCA016: Confirm mesh restoration is used when working and protection 1+1 MSP 

trunks are failed 

Purpose: 

Confirm mesh restoration is used when working and protection 1+1 MSP trunks are failed 



2. Pull out card PAR#6 


Mesh restoration takes place and routes STS-1 via 2 hop route Par#8-PAR#5- 

NY#3-NY#4-LON#4-LON#5 

Record duration of loss of traffic on STS-1 circuit 

STS-3c circuit should see no loss of traffic 


None 

TCA017: Confirm support for BLSR and mesh restoration on same switch – part A 

Purpose: 

To confirm same switch can support BLSR and mesh restoration at same time 


1. Start off with “clean” configuration A – no alarms and no circuits configured 

2. Set up unprotected STS-1 circuit from LA#8 to NY#6 

3. Set up unprotected STS-3c circuit from NY#7 to LON#5 

4. Confirm STS-1 circuit is routed via BLSR 

5. Identify which LA-NY fibre is the working fibre for STS-1 and break the working fibre 


BLSR should switch 

STS-1 circuit should see sub-50ms traffic loss 

STS-3c circuit should see no loss of traffic 


None 

TCA018: Confirm support for BLSR and mesh restoration on same switch – part B 

Purpose: 

To confirm same switch can support BLSR and mesh restoration at same time 


1. Following on from completion of TCA017 

2. Break fibre LON#4-NY#4 


STS-1 circuit should be unaffected – no loss of traffic 

Switch management system should show LON#4-NY#4 fibre cut 

24


STS-3c circuit should be mesh restored via 2 hops route – confirm on 

management system 

Record duration of loss of traffic on STS-3c circuit 


None 

TCA019: Break both working and protection fibres in BLSR 

Purpose: 

To confirm that when both working and protection arms on BLSR are failed then mesh 

restoration takes place 


1. Following on from successful completion of TCA017 and TCA018 one fibre in the BLSR 

has already been broken. Now break the other one 


Mesh restoration should take place on STS-1 circuit 

Record duration of loss of traffic on STS-1 circuit 

Switch management system should now show STS-1 circuit routed via NY#3- 

PAR#5-LA 

STS-3c circuit should be unaffected 


None 

TCA20: Creation of protected trail. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the ability to create an SNCP protected circuit across the network. 



2. Using the switch management system, create an SNCP protected STS-1 trail from PAR#8 

to NY#6 

3. Confirm the trail is working error free 

4. Set up an unprotected STS-3c trail from PAR#9-NY#7 


• SDH testers report error free transmission. 


• Switch management system clearly shows routing of the protected circuit – working 

via PAR#5-NY#3 and protection via 2 hop route (not important which) 

• Check the following are clearly and accurately displayed within the network view of 

the Management system: 


Protection route. 


Any other comments: 

Is a screen refresh required to obtain a current view of the network? 

Is there an auto refresh or cycle time to refresh all ports on nodes? 

TCA021: Operate SNC protection (non revertive) in event of fibre cut 

25


Purpose: 

To confirm the correct operation of the protection mechanism of the SNCP protected trail. 



2. Break fibre PAR#5-NY#’3 


• STS-1 circuit switched over protection trail within 50ms. 

• Switch management system shows location of fibre break and that switch has 

occurred. 

• STS-3c circuit unaffected 

. 


None 

TCA022: Fix broken fibre on 1+1 SNCP 

Purpose: 

Confirm 1+1 SNCP protection is non-revertive 



2. Fix fibre PAR#5-NY#3 


• Alarms removed on main route. 

• Traffic still carried over protection route. 

• No loss of traffic on either STS-1 or STS-3c circuit 

• Available resources should show the main route is not available for extra traffic, 

which would prevent restoration of currently protected traffic. 


None 

TCA23: Force restoration of 1+1 SNCP 

Purpose: 

Confirm the ability of the switch management system to force a restoration back to the 

original working trunk 



2. Using switch system management, force restoration back on to main route and measure 

time to restoration. 


• A warning will appear on the management system, to state that this operation will be 

traffic affecting. 

• STS-1 circuit returned to its original route – via trunk PAR#5-NY#3 

• STS-1 circuit sees 50 ms traffic hit 

• STS-3c circuit unaffected 

• Management system clearly and accurately displays: 

Current route. 

Status and alarms for main route. 

26

Protection route. 



None 

TCA024: Fail protection arm of 1+1 SNCP 

Purpose: 

Confirm correct operation of 1+1 SNCP circuit in event of loss of protection 




2. Use switch management system to identify protection route for the 1+1 protected SNCP 

circuit – and break a fibre on that protection route 


• No loss of traffic on either STS-1 or STS-3c circuit 

• Alarm raised to indicate and locate loss of protection 

• Mesh restoration takes place to set up a “new” protection route – so we again end up 

with 1+1 protected circuit 


None 

TCA25: Test operation of SNCP circuit in dual fault scenario 

Purpose: 

Confirm that when both working and protection arms of 1+1 SNC circuit are broken then 

mesh restoration takes place 



2. Break fibre PAR#5-NY#3 (working path for STS-1 circuit) 


• Protection switching should now take place onto the “new” protection arm 

• STS-1 circuit sees sub-50ms traffic loss 

• New routing is obvious from switch management system 


None 

BLOCK 3. Trail reservation and Inverse Multiplexing. 



Creation of a OC-192 trail over four x OC-48 trunks. Reserving network resources 

for later use. 

Procedure: 


27


TCA026: Reserve STS-192c trail across network without applying any data traffic to 

client interfaces. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the ability of the switch management system to reserve resources across the 

network without applying data traffic to the reserved trail. 

To confirm support for inverse multiplexing of OC-192 over 4 OC-48s 



2. Use switch management system to request an unprotected STS-192c trail from LA#11 to 

PAR#13 – but do not connect up to SDH testers 


• Confirm trail successfully reserved. 

• For the given network configuration the capacity should be reserved via the 4 OC-48s 

between Paris and LA 







If inverse multiplexing is not supported then this will be noted. The following 

reservation tests will then be performed using an OC-48 circuit and suitable 

adjustments to the tests to be defined by BTexact. 

TCA27: Attempt to remove resources required by the previously reserved trail. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the switch management system shall warn to the user the resources about to be 

removed are reserved for an assigned/reserved trail. 

To confirm the switch management system shall not remove reserved network resources 

without high priority over-ride from operator 


1. Following on from successful completion of TCA26. 

2. Using the switch management system, attempt to remove the resources allocated to the 

reserved trail. 

3. Confirm alarms associated with the removal of network resources. 


• A warning will appear on the management system. 






None 

TCA028: Attempt to create a trail using any of the resources required by the previously 

reserved trail – part A. 

Purpose: 

28


To confirm that if resources are already reserved the system will not allow them to be used for 

a new circuit – even if this means new circuit cannot be created. 



2. Break fibres PAR#5-NY#3, PAR#6-LON#2, PAR#7-LON#1 

3. Using switch management system, attempt to create an STS-48c trail from PAR#8-LA#8 

4. Confirm the previously reserved resources are not re-utilised. 


• A warning will appear on the management system indicating inability to use 

requested resources 


None 

TCA029: Attempt to create a trail using any of the resources required by the previously 

reserved trail – part B. 

Purpose: 

To confirm that when capacity has been reserved, new circuits are rerouted around it 



2. Repair fibres PAR#5-NY#3, PAR#6-LON#2, PAR#7-LON#1 

3. Using switch management system, attempt to create an STS-48c trail from PAR#8-LA#8 


Since all 4 OC48s on one hop route between Paris and LA are reserved, the 

circuit should be set up via 2 hop route PAR-NY-LA 


None 

TCA030: Apply data over previously reserved trail. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the switch management system has reserved the resources required for the 

previously reserved trail. 



2. In TCA026 an STS-192c trail was reserved, now connect the SONET testers to generate 

the traffic. 




Switch management system should clearly showSTS-192c circuit set up over the 4 OC48s 

between Paris and LA 


None 

TCA031: Deleted for Issue 2 

29

BLOCK 4. Management Bytes Path monitoring 




Investigation of Path monitoring capabilities of the switch management system 

Procedure: 



Four SONET/SDH test sets. 

OTN Tester 

Optical coupler. 

Optical power meter. 

Variable attenuator. 


Craft terminal. 

Test equipment placement and set-up: 

A SONET/SDH protocol tester to monitor traffic at Port A. 

• Clock from received optical 

• Data Optical OC192 STS-192c bulk 

A SONET/SDH protocol tester to monitor traffic at Port B. 

• Clock from received optical. 

• Optical OC192 STS-192c bulk 

A SONET/SDH protocol tester in through-mode within main trunk in direction between Port 

A and Port B. 

• Clock from received data. 

• Through mode. 

• Out of service, transparent. 

A SONET/SDH protocol tester in through-mode within protection trunk in direction between 

Port A and Port B. 




TCA032: SONET/SDH (B2, J0) monitoring. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the non-obtrusive monitoring of B2 and J0 


1. Start with Config A – no trails configured 

2. Insert SONET tester in “through” on trunk mode between PAR#7 and LON#1 

3. Use another pair of SONET testers to set up an STS-1 circuit between PAR#8 and LON#6. Set J1 to read 

“STS-1 circuit number 1” 

4. On switch management system, for PAR#7 and LON#7, set J0 to read “Paris#7-LON#1 OC-48 trunk” 

5. Use the in-line Agilent SONET tester to read J0 and J1 and confirm they give expected 

values 

6. Using the in-line Agilent SONET/SDH Testers, insert known B2 error rate on the 

working trail. 

30


7. Confirm switch management system reads correct value of B2 

8. Use switch management system to set a B3 threshold at which “STS-1 circuit number 1 

should switch”. 

9. Use Agilent SDH/SONET tester in through mode to set the value of B3 to just better than 

the B3 switching threshold set in 8. Confirm STS-1 circuit does not switch. 

10. Use Agilent SDH/SONET tester in through mode to set the value of B3 to just worse than 

the B3 switching threshold set in 8. Confirm STS-1 circuit does switch. 


Throughout trail, the ability to perform non-intrusive monitoring of B2 and J0 bytes 

at all trail interfaces. 


None 

TCA33: Optical Power Monitoring. 

Purpose: 

To confirm the switch management system displays alarms on low optical power to 

interfaces. 


1. Start with config A – no trails configured 

2. Insert variable attenuator in LON#4-NY#4 trunk 

3. Confirm all alarms are cleared and the error free operation of the trail 

4. Increase optical attention on the attenuator 

5. Confirm the switch management system displays alarms indicating optical power is 

reduced – BEFORE traffic is effected. 


Warning alarms displayed to the user, indicating low optical power on a network 

trunk. 


None 

TCA034: Confirm support for option of G709 digital wrappers on trunks 

Purpose: 

To confirm the switch offers option of support for G709 digital wrappers on trunks 


1. Start with config A with no trails configured. 

2. Insert OTN Tester in trunk LON#4-NY#4 

3. Set up transparent OC-48 trail from NY#6-LON#6 

4. Use in-line OTN tester to modify path trace bytes in digital wrapper and confirm switch 

management system sees correctly 

5. Use in-line OTN tester to add some errors and confirm error pre and post FEC error rates 

are correctly reported by switch management system 


• Management system clearly and accurately displays: 

Notification of Pre-FEC error rate. 

Status and alarms for OTN route. 



31

None 


BLOCK 5. Ethernet Service provisioning using 10/100 BaseT or GigE. 


Investigate provisioning of Ethernet services 

Procedure: 

Block of test to be proceeded in sequence from TCA035 to TCA037 


Ethernet tester 

Computer running BTexact Test software interfacing to testers. 


Ethernet Tester connect to ‘A’ client side interface 

• Data rate according to interface and SLA for service 

Ethernet Tester connect to ‘B’ client side interface 

• Data rate according to interface and SLA for service 


TCA035: Confirm support for gigabit ethernet interface and granularity 

Purpose: 

To confirm gigabit ethernet interface is supported 

To confirm switch can cope with gigabit ethernet granularity 




3. Use ethernet tester and switch management system to set up gigabit ethernet trail between 

tribs PAR#17 and NY#15 


5. Confirm, using ethernet tester, error free operation of the created trail. 

6. Repair fibre PAR#5-NY#3 


• ethernet tester report no packet loss. 


• Circuit is routed via 2 hop route PAR-LON-NY or PAR-LA-NY 


Purpose of breaking fibre PAR#5-NY#3 for this test was to ensure switch can route gigabit 

ethernet granularity 

TCA36: Exercise gigabit ethernet interface 

Purpose: 

To confirm the ability of switch management system to provision and provide Ethernet 

Services 



2. Increase output from ethernet Tester. 

32


3. Using management interface of ethernet tester, confirm packet losses above agreed SLA 

or available bandwidth. 


ethernet tester reports packet loss for higher throughput agreed under SLA agreement or 

available bandwidth on interface. 

Switch management system gives sensible outputs 


Confirm any alarms displayed on the switch management system 

Repeat tests as required to test other rate Ethernet interfaces. 

TCA037: Confirm support for 10/100Base T ethernet interfaces and that switch can 

transport 100Mbit/s ethernet services 

Purpose: 

To confirm 10/100 BaseT ethernet interface is supported 

To confirm switch can cope with 100Mb/s ethernet granularity 




3. Use ethernet tester and switch management system to set up 100Mb/s ethernet trail between tribs PAR#18 

and NY#14 


5. Confirm, using ethernet tester, error free operation of the created trail. 

6. Repair fibre PAR#5-NY#3 


• ethernet tester report no packet loss. 


• Circuit is routed via 2 hop route PAR-LON-NY or PAR-LA-NY 


Purpose of breaking fibre PAR#5-NY#3 for this test was to ensure switch can route ethernet 

granularity 


BLOCK 6. Multiple payloads trunk filling, grooming and Virtual Concatenation 


Investigation mixed granularity payloads and virtual concatenation. 



TCA038: Carry multiple SONET payloads through single interface 

Purpose: 

To confirm can mix different payloads within one trib and trunk 

33


1. Start with Config A and no trails configured 

2. Break fibres PAR#2-LA#2, PAR#3-LA#3, PAR#4-LA#4 

3. Connect Agilent SONET/SDH testers to PAR#8 and LA#8 

4. Simultaneously set up following unprotected trails from PAR#8-LA#8 

♦ 3 off STS-12c 

♦ 3 off STS-3c 

♦ 2 off STS-1 



All trails should be error free 

Switch management system should show all trails being routed via PAR#1-LA#1 

trunk 

Switch management system should show one spare STS-1 on PAR#1-LA#1 trunk 


None 

TCA039a: Confirm virtual concatenation of STS-1s 

Purpose: 

To confirm support for virtual concatenation of STS-1 


1. Following successful completion of TCA038 there is now just one spare STS-1 on PAR#1-LA#1 trunk 

2. Repair fibre PAR#2-LA#2 

3. Reserve following capacity between PAR#10 and LA#9 (but do not connect testers) 

4. 3 off STS-12c 

5. 3 off STS-3c 

6. 1 off STS-1 

7. Attempt to set up STS-3c circuit from PAR#13-LA#11 – reserve it and put on the traffic 


There is 1 spare STS-1 on trunk PAR#1-LA#1 and 2 spare STS-1 between 

PAR#10-LA#9. The system should therefore be able to set up the STS-3c using 

virtual concatenation 

PAR#13-LA#11 circuit should be error free 

Switch management system should make it clear what is going on 


None 

TCA039b: Test grooming of STS-1s 

Purpose: 

To confirm grooming of STS-1s 


1. Start off with Configuration A with no trails configured. 

2. Set up following trails from PAR#8-LA#8 :- 1 xSTS-1, 1x STS-3c, 1x STS-12c. 

Leave the rest of the STS-1s unequipped 

34


3. Set up an additional STS-1 trail from PAR#9-LA#8 

4. Confirm that all trails are error free and that switch management system shows 

circuits routed between Paris and LA. 


The switch should groom such that the final STS-1 takes the place of unequipped 

STS-1s. 


None 


BLOCK 7. SONET to SDH conversion and High Order SONET STS-1 to Lower Order SDH AU3 


Investigation of SONET to SDH conversion. 

Procedure: 

Blocks of tests to proceed in sequence from TCA40 to TCA041. 


Two SONET/SDH test sets. 


Computer running Exact Test software interfacing to testers. 


A SONET/SDH protocol tester to monitor traffic at Port A (PAR#8). 

A SONET/SDH protocol tester to monitor traffic at Port B (LA#8) 

TCA040: SONET OC-12 circuit conversion to SDH STM-4 

Purpose: 

To confirm the correct conversion of a SONET circuit to an SDH circuit 



2. Using switch management system, configure client interface PAR#8 as SDH 

3. Using switch management system, configure client interface LA#8 as SONET 

4. Connect SDH tester to configured SDH client interface 

5. Connect SONET tester to configured SONET client interface 

6. Using switch management system, create STS-12c/VC4-4c trail from PAR#8-LA#8 

7. Confirm creation of trail. 


• SONET and SDH testers report error free transmission. 


None 

TCA041: STS-1 SPE SONET circuit will be set up to be converted to a VC3 SDH 

circuit. 

Purpose: 

35


To confirm the ability to enable a 34/45Mbit payload (E3/DS3) within a SONET (STS-1 

SPE) circuit, with management information, to be delivered over an SDH VC3. 

An STS-1 SPE SONET circuit will be set up to be converted to a VC3 SDH circuit. This 

conversion requires the equipment to bring the Higher Order SONET STS-1 into the switch 

as a Lower Order VC3 in order to encapsulate this within a TU3 and transported in the Higher 

Order AU4 in the SDH circuit. 



2. Set-up tester to provide on port PAR#8 STS-1 SPE, DS3, PRBS15 within OC-48. 

3. Set-up tester to provide on port LA#8 AU4, VC3, 45M, PRBS15 within STM-16. 

4. Set-up trail across ports PAR#8 to LA#8 to carry STS-1 SPE and convert to VC3. 

5. Insert ALL 0’s in J1 trace Identifier (transmit and receive). This is to prevent J1 mismatch errors as J1 is 15 

consecutive bytes + 1 byte CRC in SDH but 64 consecutive freeform bytes in SONET. 



• Once J1 is set to all 0’s on both sides of the link no trace mismatch should be raised. 


None 

BLOCK 8. Tandem Connection Monitoring 



Investigating the Tandem Connection Monitoring capabilities. 

Procedure: 

This test checks basic Tandem Connection Monitoring functionality. 

If the vendors equipment does not support TCM functionality then these tests can be skipped. 

Lack of support for TCM will be noted. However if TCM is not supported the equipment 

must transport the B3, N1 and N2 bytes transparently. 

This test will only be conducted for a single test circuit in one direction. Test is conducted at 

VC-4 granularity only, they will not be repeated at different traffic granularities (N1 bytes 

used for VC-3’s and VC-4’s N1 bytes used for VC-2, VC-11 and VC-12). 

These tests do not include monitoring the status of the N bytes within the TCM section, 

although this is possible with an additional tester working in “through” mode. 

Procedure: 

Blocks of tests to be proceed in sequence from TCA042 to TCA049 





36

SONET/S 

DH tester 

NE 

TCM- 

No 1 A 

SONET/S 

DH tester 

No 3 

TCA042: Create VC-4 trail across STM-16 

Purpose: 

Create a VC-4 trail across STM-16 between PAR#8 and LA#8. 


1. Place SONET/SDH tester in poison shown in above diagram. 



• Data Optical STM-16, VC-4, bulk, PRBS15. 



• Data Optical STM16, VC-4, bulk, PRBS15. 


A SONET/SDH protocol tester in through-mode within main trunk in direction between Port 

A and Port B. 


• Data Optical STM16, VC-4, 

• Through mode. Out of service, transparent. 

2. Create a VC-4 trail across STM-16 between PAR#8 and LA#8 



TCA043: N-byte transparency test. 

Purpose: 

Confirm transparency of N1 bytes. 

SONET/S 

DH tester 


1. Set A and B to “Transparent” 

2. Insert test pattern into N1 byte of the SONET/SDH path overhead bytes at interface A 

(tester No. 1). The same test patterns should appear at interface B, check on tester No. 4. 


• Confirm test pattern transmitted transparently to interface B. 

TCA044: TC-APId path trace. 

Purpose: 

Transmission of expected TC-APId path trace. 


1. Set A to “Transparent” and B to terminate the TCM bytes. 

No 2 NE 

SONET/S 

TCM- DH tester 

B 

No 4 

37


2. At A insert legal Tandem Connection Access Point Identifier (TC-APId) as expected by 

B 


• No alarms/errors expected. 

TCA045: Test unexpected Tandem Connection Access Point Identifier. 

Purpose: 

Confirm action when unexpected TC-APId path trace is received at B. 



2. At A insert different TC-APId to that expected at B. 

3. Check for TC-APId between A & B using testers in through mode. 


• May raise alarm on management system. 

• Should receive path AIS (AIS-P / AU-AIS) downstream on tester at B. 

• B should terminate the N1 byte with “00h”and raise a remote defect indicator 

upstream (TC-RDI) (observed at A). 

TCA046: Errors with TCM section. 

Purpose: 

Confirm TCM operation – Errors with TCM section. 



2. Insert B3 errors at tester No. 1. 


• Measure same number of B3s at B. 

• Measure RDI & OEI (outgoing error indication) at A from B. 

• Management system should indicate errors occurring within the TCM section. 

TCA047: Errors external to TCM section. 

Purpose: 

Confirm TCM operation – Errors external to TCM section. 



2. Insert IEC at tester No. 1(incoming error count) in A. 


• Expect to measure same number of B3 errors at B and to record OEI back at A. 

• Management system should indicate errors occurring outside the TCM section. 

TCA048: TC-AIS external to TCM section. 

Purpose: 

Confirm TCM operation – AIS external to TCM section. 



2. Insert incoming AIS in the IEC into A using tester No. 1. 

38



• Expect to measure AU-AIS at B and to record ODI back at A. 

• Management system should indicate AIS occurring outside the TCM section. 

TCA049: Link test. 

Purpose: 

To check TCM source for errors 


• Set A and B to terminate the TCM bytes. 

• Terminate TCM at A and B 

• Insert B3 errors in A, using tester No.1. 


• Expect to measure same number at B using tester No. 4. 

• The inserted TC-APId, number ofB3 errors and IEC of the TCM source can be 

verified with tester No. 2. 

• The B3 errors measured at tester No. 4 must agree with B3 errors transmitted by 

tester No. 1 and with the B3 and IEC errors measured at tester No. 2. 

• The N byte is terminated at B. 

• Management system should indicate errors occurring outside the TCM section. 


None 


BLOCK 9. Transparency of vendors system to SONET / SDH overhead bytes. TCA53 to TCA57 


Investigate Transparency of vendors system to SONET / SDH overhead bytes. 

Procedure: 

Block of test to be proceeded in sequence from TCA50 to TCA54. 




Computer running Exact Test software interfacing to testers. 




• Optical OC-48 



• Optical OC-48 

A SONET/SDH protocol tester to through-mode within main trunk in direction between Port 

A and Port B 




39


A SONET/SDH protocol tester to through-mode within main trunk in direction between Port 

A and Port B 




TCA050: Create protected, revertive trail. 

Purpose: 

Confirm trail creation 



2. Using switch management system, create protected, revertive trail of OC-48 granularity 

3. Confirm trail is created and running error free 



• Switch management reports correct trail creation. 


None 

TCA051: Line Span/Multiplex section overhead bytes. 

Purpose 

Confirm the transparency of the network equipment to Line Span/Multiplex section. 



2. Using the in-line SONET/SDH Testers, insert an Error rate. 

3. Using the SONET/SDH Testers insert a LOS and monitor the K1,K2 from the next node. 


• If the switch network is transparent at the Line Span/Multiplex Section level then: 

B2 should remain unaltered as B2's are re-calculated at the end of a multiplex 

section. 

K1, K2 should not be altered by intermediate switch nodes. 


If the system is completely transparent the Line Span/Multiplex section overhead 

bytes should not be altered. 

TCA052: Section Span/Regenerator Section overhead bytes. 

Purpose 

Confirming transparency of the network equipment to the Section Span/Regenerator section 



2. Using the switch management system, check if J0 can be reassigned. 

3. Using the in-line SONET/SDH Testers, insert an Error rate. 


• If the switch network is transparent at the Section Span/Regenerator Section level 

then: 

B1 should remain unaltered. 

40

J0 should remain unaltered. 



If truly transparent system Section Span/Regenerator Section overhead bytes not 

should be altered. 

TCA053: Automated checks on each byte in the Regenerator and Multiplex section 

using test script. 

Purpose: 

Automated test script to investigate the transparency of the network equipment. 



2. Run automated test using tool developed by BTexact to check each byte in the Section 

Span/Regenerator Section and Line Span/Multiplex Section, except A1, A2, J0, B1, B2, 

K1, K2 & H1/H2/H3 pointers 1 , recording the time at which the test was started. The tool 

will provide a report to indicate which bytes are sent and received correctly. 


For a transparent system the SONET/SDH section overhead will remain unaltered. 

For a semi-transparent only a small part of the section overhead shall be processed, as clearly 

stated by suppliers equipment documentation. 


1 Cannot use remote control script to test these bytes. A1, A2, J0, K1 & K2 can be tested manually, 

separately if required. B1, B2 & AU pointers are automatically generated and so cannot be inserted 

arbitrarily, although B1 & B2 error handling are included as separate tests. 


BLOCK 10. Alarm reporting – including “flapping” alarms 


Investigating the ability of the switch management system to accurately and quickly 

display network events. 

Procedure: 

Blocks of tests to proceed in sequence from TCA054 to TC0XX. 




Optomechanical with automated control. 


• Using set-up form previous test block (Transparency of vendors system). 

TCA054: measure approximate time interval between breaking path, and GUI reporting 

fault and fault cleared. 

Purpose 

To measure the response time for displaying of alarms 


1. Insert optomechanical switch in main working trunk. 

41


2. Operate unprotected trail across working trunk. 

3. Confirm trail is operating across working trunk. 

4. Operate optomechanical switch to break working path, measure time period to 

alarm on management system. 

5. Operate optomechanical switch to reconnect path, measure time period to alarm 

cleared on management system. 


• Alarm on working path appears on management system within 10 seconds. 

• Alarm on working path cleared on management system within 10 seconds. 


None 

TCA055: Introduce automated switching to simulate flapping alarm. 

Purpose 

To simulate an intermittent, persistent fault and its effect on network management system 


1. Following on from completion of TCA054 

2. Use automated switching of optomechanical switch within working path breaking 

optical path for approximately 0.5 second once 30 seconds. Monitor management 

system and note alarm status of working path. 


• Alarm on working path appears on management system within 10 seconds. 

• Network management system us “smart” enough to indicate this as a flapping 

alarm and not just repetitively raise then clear alarm 


The management system should give an operator an indication that there is a 

persistent recurring error on the working trunk so traffic is not put on to this trunk. 

The method of indication is not defined but a method of ensuring the user is alerted to 

a recursive error should be clear. 

BLOCK 11.DCN failure node isolation 



Investigating the reaction to the DCN failure to a single Node. 

Procedure: 




TCA056: Reaction to loss of primary out of band DCN links on single node. 

Purpose 

Confirm reaction to loss of primary DCN connection to PARIS node 

42



1. View PARIS node on network management system and confirm management system is 

managing node and working correctly. 

2. Set up and monitor a circuit from Paris - LA 

3. Interrupt the IP communication primary link to Paris by removing DCN RJ45 connector. 

4. View management system and confirm node remains a managed item and that traffic is 

not effected 


Alarm should appear within 10 seconds showing loss of primary DCN connection. 

The node should remain to be a manage node on management system with no loss of 

functionality. 

No effect on traffic on Paris-LA circuit 


None 

TCA057: Reaction to loss of all out of band DCN links on single node. 

Purpose 

Confirm reaction to loss of all out-of-band DCN connections to the node. 


1. Following on from TCA056 

2. View Paris node on network management system and confirm management system is 

managing node and working correctly. 

3. Interrupt the IP communication backup link to Paris by removing DCN RJ45 connector. 

4. View management system and confirm status of node. 

5. Attempt to add trail, using resources within unmanaged trail. 


Critical Alarm of loss of both DCN connection within 10 seconds. 

Management of the node should still be possible via in-band 

Paris-LA circuit should still be error free 


None 

TCA058: Reaction to reconnection of DCN on single node. 

Purpose 

Confirm reaction to re-establishment to DCN connections to the node. 


1. Restore the IP communication secondary link by replacing DCN RJ45 connector. 

2. View management system and confirm node returns as a managed item. 

3. Check that node resources are available for use. 

4. Restore the IP communication primary link by replacing DCN RJ45 connector. 


Critical Alarm of loss of DCN connection removed within 10 seconds. 

The node is shown as a fully managed node on management system within 1 minute. 

No effect on traffic over node. 

43


None 


TCA059: Reaction to loss of all out of band DCN links on single node with no in-band 

management 

Purpose 

To confirm how node copes with loss of all DCN 


Repeat TCA057 only this time with no in-band management 


Critical Alarm of loss of both DCN connection within 10 seconds. 

The node is shown as unmanaged node on management 

There should be no effect on circuits passing through node 

Management system prevents operations with would lead to erroneous condition due 

to unavailable managed resources. 


None 

BLOCK 12. Management and removal of cards 



Investigate affect and notification of card removal and replacement. 

Procedure: 




Craft terminal. 

TCA059: Equipment auditing of cards, and software for OC-48 interface 

Purpose: 

Confirm notification of card identification. 


1. For OC-48 card PAR#8 check on the switch management system can be interrogated to 

give the following information:- 

Card location. 

Whether a card is present. 

Serial number. 

Card reference. 

Card operational status. 

Software version currently running. 

Fallback software version. 


The Management system clearly and accurately displayed the audit information. 

44


None 


TCA060: Removal of central, critical switch matrix card. 

Purpose: 

Confirm that critical centralised switch matrix cards are 1+1 protected and can be replaced 

without loss of traffic 


1. Begin with configuration A and no circuits configured 

2. Break fibres PAR#7-LON#1. PAR#6-LON#2 and PAR#5-NY#3 

3. Set up unprotected STS-1 trail from PAR#8 to NY#6 

4. Confirm SONET tester is error free and that trail is routed Paris-LA-NY 

5. Perform supplier specified operation to remove a central switch card in LA node 

6. Check management system and STS-1 traffic 

7. Replace card and check management system. 

8. Perform supplier specified operation to reactivate card. 


No loss of traffic on STS-1 

Within 10 seconds management system shows alarm indicating card out 


In theory the architecture may be such that there are no central, critical switch card. 

If so, the supplier should state this and BTexact will seek paper evidence. If BTexact 

are satisfied then the test will be considered passed. 

TCA061: Test replacement of central, critical switch matrix card 

Purpose: 

To confirm operation when central, critical switch card is replaced 


1. Following successful completion of TCA060 

2. Replace switch card 


The traffic on STS-1 trail should not be affected 

Within 10 seconds the replaced card should be visible on management system – 

card status, location and available resources 


None 

TCA062: Test removal of network element control card 

Purpose: 

Generally there are cards within a network element which are used for management and 

control of the switch. Check that if removed there is no loss of traffic and an alarm is raised. 


1. Following successful completion of TCA061 

2. Remove control card from LA node 

45



Traffic on STS-1 trail should not be affected 

Alarm should be raised on switch management system within 10 seconds 

indicating card out 


BTexact to select the most suitable card depending on equipment implementation 


BLOCK 13. Node Failure and 1:N transponder protection on WDM system 


Procedure: 

Blocks of tests to proceed in sequence from TCA063 to TC065. 

TCA063: Node failure and trail restoration 

Purpose: 

If an entire node is destroyed in a ring network, as many as possible of the circuits passing 

through the node should be switched/restored 


1. Start off with “clean” configuration A – no alarms and no trails configured 


3. Set up unprotectedSTS-1 trail from PAR#8-NY#6 and monitor traffic over it using 

4. Pull out all fuses (one at a time) on London node (assuming 2.5G circuit is routed via 

London – if via LA then use LA instead) – thus killing the node 

5. Confirm traffic is restored 

Expected results: 

• Single fuse removal should not be traffic affecting. 

• 2.5G Paris-NY circuit should be re-routed. Record the new route and the duration of 

any loss of traffic. 

• Alarms should be raised to indicate loss of node 


None 

TCA064: Test reboot of failed node 

Purpose: 

To see what happens when London node is on again 


1. Follows on from successful completion of TCA063 

2. Replace the fuses in London node and wait until the node is up again 

3. Monitor and note node rack alarms 

4. Monitor and management system and note time period from power on to node appears as 

present on management system. 


46


• The 2.5G Paris-NY circuit should see no loss of traffic as the London node comes 

on again 

• Network should end up in a stable, alarm free condition 


None 

TCA065: Confirm support for 1:N protection against WDM transponder failure 

Purpose: 

When several channels are carried over a WDM system is highly desirable to find a way of 

providing 1:N sparing against transponder failure. An optical grooming switch could do this. 

In this test the trunks between Paris and LA nodes are configured as if all are carried over a 

WDM system. One trunk is left spare. In the event of a failure of one of the traffic carrying 

trunks, it is desirable for the traffic to be switched to the spare wavelength – rather than 

undergoing full mesh restoration 


1. Start off with configuration A with no trails configured 

2. Break fibre PAR#4-LA#4 

3. Configure two STS-48c trails from PAR#8-LA#8 and PAR#10-LA#9 and monitor traffic 

4. Confirm the trails are carried over one hop trunks from PAR to LA (It is assumed traffic 

is carried on trunks PAR#1=LA#1 and PAR#2-LA#2. If not traffic is carried on PAR#3- 

LA#3 trunk then that is ok but rest of this test will need modifying accordingly 

5. Break fibre PAR#1-LA#1 

6. Measure effect on traffic and switch management system 


♦ One of the trails should see no traffic loss and the other should see

Equipment required: 

2 OC-48 test sets 



1. Using configuration B, in which vendor has configured a 2 fibre OC-48 BLSR between 

following interfaces (PAR#5-LON#1-LON#2-LA#2-LA#1-PAR#1) 

2. Set up an unprotected OC-3 trail across the BLSR from PAR#8 to LON#6 


• System is user-friendly enough that BTexact can set trail up in less than 10 minutes 

• Traffic is carried error free 

• Switch management system clearly shows route of circuit 


If supplier does not support 2-fibre BLSR they may instead offer 4-fibre BLSR for this test . 

Lack of support for 2-fibre BLSR will be recorded. 

TCB002: Test protection switching in 2-fibre OC-48 BLSR 

Purpose: 

To test protection switching of 2-fibre OC-48 BLSR 


4 SDH/SONET test sets 


1. Follows on from successful completion of TCB001 

2. Set up second trail on the ring - an OC-12c between PAR#10 and LA#8. 

3. Break fibre PAR#5-LON#1 


1. Traffic loss on the Paris-London OC3 should be less than 50 ms 

2. Switch management system should within 10 seconds raise an alarm indicating location 

of fibre break 

3. Switch management system clearly shows circuit switched via shared protection capacity 

the other way around ring. A protection switch should take place within the ring. In this 

test case mesh restoration should not occur 

4. Traffic on OC-12c between PA#S2 and LA#8 should not be affected. 


None 

TCB003: Confirm protection switching is revertive 

Purpose: 

To confirm protection switching is revertive for a BLSR 



2. Repair fibre PAR#5-LON#1 


48


• There should be a sub-50ms loss of traffic on the Paris-London OC3 

• Switch management system should clearly show circuit has reverted to original route 

around ring. 

• Alarm should be cleared. 

• Traffic on OC-12c between PA#S2 and LA#8 should not be affected. 

TCB004: Test manual protection switch on BLSR in event of planned engineering works 

Test purpose: To confirm that in the event of planned engineering works on the BLSR the 

user can manually switch traffic the other way around the ring. 

Equipment needed: 

4 SDH test sets 



2. Confirm all testers are error free and management system is alarm free. 

3. Manually switch the PAR#5-LON#1 trunk the other way around the ring 

Expected results 

• There should be a sub-50ms loss of traffic on the Paris-London OC3 

• Traffic on OC-12c between PA#S2 and LA#8 should not be affected. 

• Switch management system should clearly show circuit routings. 

• Alarm should appear on management system indicating manual switch has occurred. 

TCB005: Test that lockout prevents forced protection switch 

Test purpose: 

To test that in the event of planned engineering works, the operator can prevent others 

performing manual protection switches onto the route being engineered. 





2. Perform lockout on PAR#5-LON#1 trunk 

3. Attempt to force the protection switch performed manually in TCB004 back to PAR#5- 

LON#1 trunk 


• Management system forbids the forced switch 

• No loss of traffic on any of SONET testers 

• Alarm raised to indicate unsuccessful attempt to force traffic onto locked out trunk 

TCB006: Test that lockout prevents automatic protection switch of BLSR – attempts 

switching/restoration outside ring instead 


In the event of planned engineering works an operator may wish to prevent use of the cable 

being worked on by using lockout. During this period of lockout there may be a second cable 

break elsewhere in the ring. If so then the traffic should not be switched onto the locked cable 

– instead the system should switch/route the traffic via a route outside the ring. 

49


4 SONET test sets 




2. Confirm that lockout is still in place and that circuits are correctly routed and all test sets 

are error free 

3. Break PAR#1-LA#1 fibre 

Expected result 

• Within 10 seconds alarm should be raised indicating location of fibre break 

• Both the OC3 and OC12c circuits will see a brief loss of traffic – the duration of 

which will be recorded in each case 

• Switch management system should clearly show that neither trail has been 

routed/switched onto PAR#5-LON#1 fibre. The actual routing will be recorded for 

each trail. 


Depending on supplier implementation either protection switching or mesh restoration may 

occur here – and it may be different for the OC3 and OC12c circuits. An obvious measure of 

success is that the shorter the loss of traffic the better. 

TCB007: Confirm that when lockout is removed the management system allows easy 

reoptimisation of network. 


Following successful completion of TCB006, the network is in a complex, dual-fault situation 

with quite tortuous circuit routings. Once all faults are repaired, it is important that the 

operator can easily use the management system to reoptimise circuit routings. 


4 SONET test sets 



2. First confirm that the results of TCB006 are fully and accurately documented 

3. Repair the PAR#5-LON#1 fibre and record any traffic loss and reports/alarms on 

management system 

4. Remove the lockout on PAR#5-LON#2 fibre and record any traffic loss and 

reports/alarms on management system 

5. Use the management system to automatically reoptimise the network configuration and 

circuit routing 

6. Note durations of any loss of traffic and confirm circuit routings are back to initial state 


• There should be as little impact on traffic as possible 

• The automatic reoptimisation process should be easy and intuitive – should take 

BTexact no more than 10 minutes 

• At the completion of the test the network should be in a stable state – error free, alarm 

free and with the circuits returned to their original optimal routings 

END OF BLOCK OF 14 

50

BLOCK 15. STM-64 MS-SPRING tests 

TCB008: Support for SDH STM-64 MS-SPRING (2-fibre) 

Purpose: 

Confirm support for 2 fibre STM-64 MS-SPRING (2-fibre) 




1. Start with a clean network – no circuits configured and no alarms 

2. Set up a VC4 circuit from LON#6 to NY#6 



• System is user-friendly enough that BTexact can set trail up in less than 10 minutes 

• Traffic is carried error free 

• Switch management system clearly shows route of circuit 


If supplier does not support 2-fibre MS-SPRING they may instead offer 4-fibre MS-SPRING 

for this test . Lack of support for 2-fibre MS-SPRING will be recorded. 

It is assumed that if the system supports OC-48 BLSR and STM-64 MS-SPRING then it will 

also support OC-192 BLSR 

TCB009: Confirm SPRING protection in event of card failure 


To confirm basic operation of an MS-SPRING and to confirm ring protection in event of card 

failure 




1. Following successful completion of TCB008 

2. Set up second circuit on the ring – a VC4-16c from LA#8 to NY#7 

3. Pull out card LON#4 


• VC4 circuit from LON#6 to NY#6 should see less than 50 ms loss of traffic 

• VC4-16c circuit from LA#8 to NY#7 should experience no loss of traffic 

• Within 10 seconds an alarm should be raised indicating card out 

• Switch management system should clearly show the circuit routings 


None 

TCB010: Confirm MS-SPRING reverts when card is replaced 


To confirm correct operation of MS-SPRING when card is replaced. 


4 SDH testers 

51



2. Replace card LON#4 



• Alarm should be cleared within 10 seconds of replacing card 

• VC4 circuit should see less than 50 ms loss of traffic 

• VC4-16c circuit should see no loss of traffic 

• On completion of tests, the switch management system should clearly show the VC4 

and VC4-16c circuits following their original optimal routing. 

TCB011: Confirm one grooming box can support SDH MS-SPRING and SONET BLSR 

simultaneously 


At an international gateway it could easily be required to terminate SONET BLSRs and SDH 

MS-SPRINGs on the same switch 

Test method 


2. Remove the VC4-16c circuit 

3. Configure an OC-48c circuit between LA#8 and PAR#8 

Expected result 

• LA-Paris OC-48c circuit shown as error free on testers 

• LON-NY VC4 circuit shown as error free on testers 

• No alarms on management system 

TCB012: Test provisioning a trail across a SONET BLSR and SDH MS-SPRING 


To confirm a circuit can be configured across both a SONET BLSR and SDH MS-SPRING 


1. Follows successful completion of TCB011 

2. Remove the LA-Paris OC-48c circuit set up in previous test 

3. Break PAR#3-NY#3 fibre 

4. Set up 2.5Gb/s circuit from PAR#8 to NY#7 – SONET interface for PAR#8 and SDH 

interface for NY#7 


• All testers error free 

• No alarms on management system 

• Routing of 2.5Gbit/s circuit should clearly be shown (no more than 2 hops) 

TCB013: Test restoration on failure of node 


If an entire node is destroyed in a ring network, as many as possible of the circuits passing 

through the node should be switched/restored 



2. Confirm the VC4 and 2.5Gbit/s circuits are error free on test sets and that management 

system shows no alarms 

52


3. Pull out all fuses on London node (assuming 2.5G circuit is routed via London – if via 

LA then use LA instead) – thus killing the node 


• 2.5G Paris-NY circuit should be switched/rerouted. Record the new route and the 

duration of any loss of traffic. 

• Alarms should be raised to indicate loss of node 

TCB014: Test what happens London node is on again 


To see what happens when London node is on again 



2. Replace the fuses in London node and wait until the node is up again 


• The 2.5G Paris-NY circuit should see no loss of traffic as the London node comes on 

again 

• Network should end up in a stable, alarm free condition 


Scope for discussion on this test. We could maybe reoptimise the network on completion of 

the test but for the given simple configuration the protection route is same number of hops as 

normal route. 

BLOCK 16. Optical Interface Testing 



Sample of compliance of optical interfaces to stated specifications. 

Procedure: 

Blocks of tests to proceed in sequence from TCB015 to TCB017 


SONET/SDH test sets. 


Optical power meter. 

Agilent (DCA) Digital Communications Analyser with suitable plug-in units 

providing O/E and clock recovery. 

Optical coupler. 

Optical amplifier with tuneable optical filter. 

Alternative clock source for data. 

Optical attenuator. 

TCB015: Confirm optical OC-192 eye standard mask at transmitter. 

Purpose: 

Confirm compliance with specified optical mask of OC-192 interface 


1. Insert coupler at the transmitter optical interface. 

53


2. Confirm traffic over trunk in question. 

3. Measure optical power at optical couple monitor point. 

4. If required use optional optical amplifier with tuneable optical filter or optical attenuator 

to obtain the correct input power level for the DCA. 

5. Set-up the DCA in to eye measurement mode with the correct clock source, mask and 

filter for the data signal. 


• Whist using relevant filter eye the optical data eye should not fail the mask. 


If OIC-192 interface is not provided then use OC-48 interface instead 

TCB016: Optical data pulse shape at transmitter of OC-192 interface. 

Purpose: 

Investigate optical pulse shape and overshoot characteristics 


1. Set-up the DCA in to oscilloscope mode with the correct clock source for the data signal 

and no filter. 

2. Measure any overshoot above 15%. 

3. Measure Extinction ratio. 

4. Measure signal to noise. 


• Parameters should be within supplier stated specifications. 


If OIC-192 interface is not provided then use OC-48 interface instead 

TCB017: Confirm power and wavelength of ITU 100GHz grid wavelength-specified 

OC-48 

Purpose: 

Confirm compliance with specification ITU-T G.692 


1. Use WDM specified OC-48 PAR#’1 

2. Connect Agilent Multi-wavemeter directly to optical tap monitor point. 

3. Measure optical power and wavelength and apply correction factor for optical coupler. 


• Optical power and wavelength should meet stated interface specification 

consistent with G.692 or alternative standard 


None 

BLOCK 17 . Software upgrades 


Procedure: Blocks of tests to proceed in sequence from TCB018 to TCB019. 

Note the supplier will perform TCB018 and TCB019, observed by BTexact. 

54


TCB018: In-service Software upgrades. 

Purpose: 

To confirm that upon an in service software upgrade to the node, no traffic affect conditions 

will occur. 


1. Configure and monitor an STS-1 trail from Paris to LA 

2. Perform supplier process for In-service Software upgrades for individual interface card 

PAR#1 

3. Attempt to access resource during operation and note alarms and warnings. 

4. Perform supplier process for In-service Software upgrades for Control software on node. 



• No loss of traffic or error. 

• No major alarms. 

• Management system prevents the use of resources which may cause erroneous 

conditions during software upgrade. 

• Management system clearly and accurately shows the status of: 

Cards being upgrade. 

Status of trails through network. 

A warning to show if resources are unavailable. 


None 

TCB019: In-service Software reversion. 

Purpose: 

To confirm that the switch management system is able to revert back to a previous software 

version without generating traffic affecting conditions. 


1. Perform supplier process for In-service Software reversion for individual interface card. 


3. Perform supplier process for In-service Software reversion for Control software on node. 



• No loss of traffic or error. 

• No major alarms. 

• Management system prevents the uses of resources that may cause erroneous 

conditions during software revision. 

• Management system clearly and accurately shows the status of: 

Cards being upgrade. 

Status of trails through network. 

A warning to show if resources are unavailable. 


None 


55

Appendix A. Evaluation agreement to be signed 


EVALUATION TESTING AGREEMENT AA/0000 made this XX day of YYYYY 200X 

BETWEEN 

British Telecommunications plc represented by BTexact Technologies (“BT”) which is an 

operating division of BT, a public limited company whose registered office is at 81 Newgate 

Street, London EC1A 7AJ and registered number is 1800000 

AND 

ZZZZZZ whose registered office is at ………………….. (“Vendor") 

Whereas 

BT have been commissioned by Light Reading to undertake a series of bench-marking 

evaluation tests of a number of optical grooming switches from a range of vendors. The 

results of these evaluation tests will be published by Light Reading. The Vendor agrees to 

provide BT with the Vendor Equipment as part of the evaluation testing services. BT and the 

Vendor have agreed that such services will be provided on the terms and conditions of this 

Agreement. 

A. The Agreement 

A1. This Agreement is subject to Clauses A to C and 1 to 15, and the attached Schedule. 

A2 No variations of these Conditions shall have effect unless agreed in writing by a duly 

authorised employee of BT and Vendor. 

A3 The Testing will take place between dd month yyyy and dd month yyyy. 

B. Contacts: 

BT Technical Contact: 

name 

address (one liner) 

tel: 

e-mail 

Vendor Technical Contact: 

name 


tel: 

e-mail: 

56

BT Commercial Contact: 

name 


tel: 

e-mail 

Vendor Commercial Contact: 

name 


tel: 

e-mail: 


57

Evaluation Criteria: 

(Provide details) 

(Please note that the Evaluation criteria will be agreed between BT and Light Reading) 

Deliverables Details: 

(Provide details) 


Use of Testing Results: 

All Testing Results will be provided by BT to Light Reading for publication. A 

copy of the results will be provided to the Vendor to be used internal purposes only. 

The testing of any item by BT does not imply BT’s approval or endorsement in any 

way of such item or of any product of which it forms a part. 

The Vendor shall not link BT’s name with the item or the product whether orally or 

in writing. 

Personal Non-Disclosure Agreements (where Vendor observing): 

The following named persons will be allowed access to the testing facility, subject 

to their acceptance and signature of the Personal NDA (Schedule 1). 

1) 

2) 

3) 

4) 

5) 

Vendor Equipment: 

The following Vendor Equipment is provided: Value: 

1) £ 

2) £ 

3) £ 

4) £ 

1.1.1.1.1 C. Authorities: 

Signed on behalf of, and with the authority of Signed on behalf of and with the authority of 

Vendor Name British Telecommunications plc 

________________________ ________________________ 

Name Name 

________________________ Commercial Manager 

Position Held 

58


________________________ _________________________ 

Signature Signature 

59


1. Definitions 

In this Agreement (including the Schedules): 

‘Agreement’ means the Agreement between the Vendor and BT incorporating these Terms 

and Conditions. 

‘BT’ means British Telecommunications plc. 

‘the BT means the thing which BT shall allow the Vendor to use under the Agreement 

Equipment’ to which these conditions apply. 

‘the Vendor means the thing which the Vendor shall allow BT to use under the Agreement 

Equipment’ to which these conditions apply. 

‘the Services’ mean the services BT will perform for the Vendor under the Agreement to 

which these conditions apply, as described in the attached agreement. 

‘Licence’ means any licence granted or having effect as if granted under the 

Telecommunications Act 1984, the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 or the 

Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, or any replacement or re-enactment of the 

same or any of them, or any similar licence, and includes any such licence as 

from time to time amended. 

‘Vendor’ means the person or organisation with whom BT has entered into this 

Agreement, including anyone who BT reasonably believes to be acting on 

behalf of the Vendor and its Employees. 

2. Term 

The engagement of BT shall commence on the date agreed in this Agreement and shall 

continue until completion of the specified use of the Vendor Equipment or testing services or 

until the Agreement is terminated, whichever is the sooner. 

3. Confidentiality 

In addition to the provisions in Clause 12. 

3.1 BT and the Vendor shall keep in confidence any information obtained under this Agreement and shall not 

divulge the same to any third party other than their officers or employees on a need to know basis without 

the consent of the other party. This provision shall not apply to: 

3.1.1 any information which is or comes into the public domain otherwise than in breach of this Agreement; 

3.1.2 information in the possession of the receiving party thereof before such divulgence has taken place; 

3.1.3 information obtained from a third party who is free to divulge the same; 

3.1.4 information acquired by the receiving party as a result of a process of independent development 

3.2 Neither party shall make any announcement concerning this Agreement or use the other’s name for 

promotional or marketing purposes without the other Party’s prior written agreement. 

4. Termination 

60


4.1 Without prejudice to other rights, either party may forthwith terminate this Agreement and claim for any 

resulting losses and expenses in addition to the provisions in Clause 16 if the other: 

4.1.1 is in breach of any obligation under this Agreement and fails to remedy the breach within a reasonable time 

of written notice requiring him to do so; 

4.1.2 or suffers distress or execution, or commits an act of bankruptcy or goes into liquidation, or enters into an 

agreement or composition with creditors, or if a receiver is appointed over any parts of his business or 

assets or a petition for an administration order is presented. 

4.2 BT may terminate this Agreement by written notice to the Vendor if there shall be any change in the control 

of ownership of the Vendor provided that BT shall not act unreasonably in exercising this right of 

termination. 

4.3 This Agreement may be terminated by either party by at least one month’s written notice to expire at any 

time. No termination prejudices any accrued liability of the Vendor. 

5. Limitation of Liability 

5.1 BT accepts liability for faults in the BT Equipment and its own negligence to the extent stated in Clause 

16.2 but not otherwise. Except where expressly contained in these conditions, BT has no obligation, duty 

or liability in contract, tort (including negligence or breach of statutory duty) or otherwise. 

5.2 BT does not exclude or restrict: 

5.2.1 liability for death or personal injury resulting from its own negligence, or 

5.2.2 liability arising by virtue of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 

5.3 In any event, BTs liability in contract, tort (including negligence or breach of statutory duty)or otherwise 

arising by reason or in connection with this Agreement or howsoever otherwise shall be limited to the 

value of the Customer Equipment. 

5.4 In any event and in no circumstances shall BT be liable in contract, tort (including negligence or breach 

of statutory duty) or otherwise for loss (whether direct or indirect) of profits, business, or anticipated 

savings, or for any indirect or consequential loss or damage whatsoever. 

5.5 Each provision of Clause 5 is to be construed as a separate limitation applying and surviving even if for 

any reason one or other of the said provisions is inapplicable or held unreasonable in any circumstances 

and shall remain in force notwithstanding termination of this Agreement. 

6. Force Majeure 

BT shall not be liable in respect of any breach of this Agreement due to any cause beyond its reasonable control 

including: Act of God; inclement weather; flood; lightning or fire; industrial action or lockouts; the act or omission 

of Government; highways authorities or other competent authority; war; military operations or riot; the act or 

omission of third parties for whom BT is not responsible. 

7. Assignment 

The Vendor may not assign any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement without BT’s prior written 

consent. 

61

8. Changes to this Agreement 


The Agreement may only be varied by written agreement between each party’s Commercial 

Contact who shall each respond in writing within ten days of receipt of a proposal for a 

variation from the other. 

9. Notices 

All notices, requests, demands and other communications provided for hereunder shall be in 

writing (including telegraphic communication) and shall be delivered, mailed or faxed to the 

applicable party at the address indicated below. 

Notices shall be sent to BT at: 

The Head of Commercial Contracts & Solutions 

BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS public limited company 

PP 13, 3 rd Floor 

Orion Building 

Adastral Park 

Martlesham 

Suffolk 

IP5 3RE 

Fax: +44 1473 609884 

Notices shall be sent to the Vendor at: 

[Name] 

[Address] 

[Fax :] 

Or, as to each party, at such other address as shall be designated by such party in a written 

notice to the other Party complying as to delivery with the terms of this clause 9. All such 

notices, request, demands and other communication shall be effective, if mailed, when 

delivered, and, if faxed, when the fax is received. 

10. Construction 

This Agreement shall be governed by English Law and shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the English Courts. 

11. BT Personnel 

11.1 BT shall use its reasonable endeavours to minimise changes of personnel who are assigned to perform the 

Services. However, BT reserves the right to determine which BT personnel are suitable to perform the 

Services and to replace, whether permanently or temporarily, such personnel during the period of the 

Services and, if necessary, to subcontract any part of performance of the Services. 

11.2 BT personnel engaged in the performance of the services shall at all times remain under the direction and 

control of BT. 

11.3 The Vendor agrees that during the course of this Agreement and for the period of twelve months after its 

termination or completion it shall not employ or engage as an independent consultant or offer such 

employment or engagement to any of BT’s personnel who are involved in supplying the Services, without 

BT’s prior written agreement. If the Vendor breaches the provisions of this Condition then liquidated 

damages equivalent to the charge for 100 days work by that person at the current daily fee rate charged by 

BT shall immediately become payable to BT. 

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12. BT Testing Services 


12.1 It is the Vendor’s responsibility to arrange and pay for the transport arrangements including insurance to 

and from the test site specified by BT for the items being tested. BT shall not be liable for any loss or 

damage in respect of such items, howsoever caused, while in transit. 

12.2 BT reserves the right not to test any item supplied by the Vendor if in BT’s judgement the item is or could 

become a safety hazard or if the item is unsuitable for testing because of damage or inherent defect or 

because the item does not conform to the specification agreed by BT and the Vendor as set out in this 

Agreement. In such event, BT shall not be liable to reimburse any costs incurred by Vendor. 

12.3 BT excludes all warranties, conditions undertakings whatsoever in respect of any item tested by BT 

including any implied condition of fitness for a particular purpose. 

12.4 The testing of any item by BT does not imply BT’s approval or endorsement in any way of such item or of any 

product of which it forms a part. The Vendor shall not link BTs name with the item or the product whether 

orally or in writing. 

12.5 If BT carries out any test or assessment of telecommunications apparatus for any person for the time being 

appointed under Section 25(1) of the Telecommunications Act 1984, the terms of Condition 41 of the 

Licence granted by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to BT under section 7 of said Act shall form 

part of this Agreement. If there is any conflict between Condition 41 and any other Conditions in this 

Agreement, Condition 41 shall prevail. 

13. BT Testing Reports 

Where BT performs tests on behalf of the Vendor: 

13.1 Copyright and any other Intellectual Property rights in any test reports produced by BT pursuant to this 

Agreement shall be and remain vested in the absolute property of Light Reading. 

13.2 BT shall have a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use any reports, information, drawings, software 

or other material for its own internal purposes in connection with the Services but for no other purpose. 

13.3 The Vendor shall have a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use any reports for its own internal 

purposes but for no other purpose. 

13.4 Subject to 13.3 nothing in this Agreement shall be deemed to or require BT to transfer, assign or licence 

any intellectual property rights to the Vendor. 

13.5 BT undertakes that it will perform the services with reasonable care and skill but shall not be responsible 

for the accuracy of advice based on the information supplied by the Vendor or third parties. The 

responsibility for decisions taken on the basis of advice given by BT shall remain with the Vendor. 

14. Provision of Vendor Information 

The Vendor will, on request by BT, provide BT free of charge and as promptly as reasonably practicable all 

information, drawings, articles and other support which BT may reasonably require for the effective completion of 

the Services. Unless otherwise agreed, on completion or termination of this Agreement BT shall be entitled to 

dispose of any items received from the Vendor in connection with this Agreement at the Vendor’s risk, subject to 

the provisions of Clause 4. 

15. Provision of the Vendor Equipment by the Vendor 

63


15.1 The Vendor agrees to make the Vendor Equipment available to BT for the purpose of delivering 

the service in accordance with the terms set out herein. 

15.2 BT shall not copy or reverse engineer the Vendor Equipment. 

15.3 BT acknowledges that the Vendor Equipment is and remains the property of the 

Vendor and, unless otherwise agreed in writing, shall return the Vendor Equipment 

forthwith to the Vendor on termination of this agreement. 

15.4 BT will take reasonable care and exercise appropriate professional skill in the 

conduct of the service, the parties recognise that failure or deterioration of the Vendor 

Equipment may occur as a consequence of such acts. The Vendor agrees that BT shall 

not be liable to the Vendor in respect of such failure or deterioration of the Vendor 

Equipment arising from the reasonable acts of BT pursuant to this agreement. 

15.5 It is the Vendor’s responsibility to satisfy himself of the suitability of the Vendor 

Equipment for his needs. 

15.6 BT shall in no way be liable for the loss or damage to anything brought to and used by the Vendor on the 

Vendor Equipment. 

16. Intellectual Property 

16.1 The Vendor shall keep the software and any operating manuals or other documents in confidence. Any 

disclosure thereof by the Vendor to its employees shall be made in confidence and only to the extent 

strictly necessary for the proper use of the BT Equipment. The Vendor shall be responsible for ensuring 

such disclosure does not lead to breach of this clause. 

16.2 The Vendor recognises that the technical specifications and particularly that the software on the BT 

Equipment is commercial valuable. As such, under no circumstances will the Vendor be allowed to make 

any copy or record of the testing BT Equipment. 

16.2.1 All Employees of the Vendor will agree to keep personally secret any information which they learn about the 

BT Equipment, including but not limited to: information, knowledge or data of whatever nature which is not 

in the public domain, in whatever form including oral disclosure, drawings, photographs, formulae, 

algorithms, lists, computer programs, computer data bases, or embodied in equipment. 

16.3 Should the Vendor or its Employees breach the terms of this Agreement, the Vendor will be liable to BT in 

liquidated damages to the current commercial value of the BT Equipment and Software codes in addition 

to any remedy or equitable relief which may be sought by BT from the Courts of England and Wales. 

64

Schedule 1: Personal Non- Disclosure Agreements 


Please photocopy the following page and return a copy signed by each of the 

above named persons with your acceptance of this Agreement. 

1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Personal Non- Disclosure Agreement 

1 I, [name] of [address], hereby acknowledge that British Telecommunications plc of 81, 

Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ (the Company) has agreed to provide to me confidential 

or proprietary information relating to the Test Bed facilities at BT Adastral Park for the 

purpose of allowing me to complete/observe the testing activity, as specified in the attached 

testing agreement. 

2 I agree that, in respect of such information I will: 

(i) Treat it as confidential 

(ii) Not disclose it to any third party without the prior written consent of the Company; 

and 

(iii) Use it solely for the purpose set out in paragraph (1) 

3 The requirements set out in paragraph (2) shall not apply to any part of the information 

supplied by the Company which: 

(i) is or becomes common knowledge without breach of this undertaking 

(ii) was in my lawful possession prior to receipt from the Company or for me at any time 

independently of any disclosure by the Company. 

Signed: ______________ 

Title: ______________ 

Date: ______________ 

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Test Plan for Optical Grooming Switches - Light Reading

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