EXFO Shares Hit New High

Shares of EXFO Inc (NASDAQ: EXFO) touched a new 52-week high of $12.86 on Friday. The company said it extends its optical transport network testing capabilities to qualify 100G/40G Ethernet client services.

The Quebec, Canada-based EXFO announced the addition of 100G/40G Ethernet mapping over optical transport network (EoOTN) testing capabilities on its FTB/IQS-85100G Packet Blazer 100G/40G Ethernet Test Modules. The company said the newly launched capabilities give leading 100G/40G Ethernet system manufacturers and network service providers the means to overcome their test challenges and significantly accelerate time-to-market.

These capabilities include mapping 100G Ethernet services into OTU4 (111.81 Gbit/s) and transcoded 40G Ethernet services into OTU3 (43.018 Gbit/s) using generic mapping procedure (GMP) as per International Telecommunication Union's Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) recommendation G.709 Interfaces for the Optical Transport Network (OTN).

The ITU-T recommendation describes a means of communicating data over an optical network. It is a standardized method for transparent transport of services over optical wavelengths in DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) systems. It also known as Optical Transport Hierarchy (OTH) standard.

EXFO said the added functionalities are available through a software option for existing 85100G Packet Blazer modules -- housed in EXFO's FTB-500 Platform and IQS-600 Integrated Qualification System -- requiring no additional hardware and maximizing customers' return on investment

100G/40G Ethernet trials and early deployments can prove complex and cumbersome to perform when conducted without the proper test equipment, and EXFO is excited to bring its technological innovations to accelerate and simplify these operations, said Etienne Gagnon, EXFO's Vice-President, Wireline Division and Corporate Marketing.

EXFO's newly introduced Ethernet-over-OTN testing capability ensures that all newly deployed 100G and 40G networks are proven capable of handling any of the demanding services that may be placed on them in the future. Qualifying 100G/40G Ethernet IP traffic transmission at 100 percent throughput over OTN, measuring round-trip delay (RTD) across the optical path and latency at the service level as well as ensuring transparent recovery of the client signal at the receiver end are some of EXFO's 85100G leading testing capabilities.

EXFO said it would demonstrate the upgraded 85100G Packet Blazer modules at the 2011 OFC/NFOEC, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., from March 8 to 10, booth 1418.

The company provides test and service assurance solutions for wireless and wireline network operators and equipment manufacturers in the telecommunications industry worldwide. The company was formerly known as EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. and changed its name to EXFO Inc. in February 2010.

EXFO stock gapped open sharply higher March 4 at $11.81, compared to Thursday's close of $11.75. The stock touched a new 52-week high of $12.86 during the trading.

The stock closed Friday's regular trading up 8.68 percent at $12.77 with a volume of 607,100 shares on the NASDAQ stock market. In the after-hours, the stock rose 0.23 percent to $12.80. The stock traded between $4.65 and $12.86 during the past 52 weeks.