How the South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative shone a light on its network with fiber monitoring

How the South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative shone a light on its network with fiber monitoring

While working from home recently, my internet connection dropped out. Seconds later, I got a text saying the issue would be resolved momentarily. Not long after, my kids' early signs of pre-internet activity, such as looking out the window and pulling books off shelves, subsided, and they reactivated their various devices.

I know, my kids really need to get out more. But I think this story illustrates well that when outages occur today, we don't expect them to last. The internet is an essential utility. Businesses, people working from home and yes, even gamers engaged in interplanetary warfare expect a reliable connection. As a result, service providers are increasingly turning to fiber monitoring solutions to bolster network resilience.

A perfect demonstration

The South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative (SCRTC) recently invested in Adtran's ALM in-service fiber monitoring technology to ensure minimal network downtime. Before they deployed the solution, it might have taken the rural Kentucky service provider hours to locate the source of a fiber problem. It's a process that can involve physical inspections, manual testing, sectionalizing - the list goes on.

"Before ALM, if, for example, a construction crew damaged some of our fiber, we might have hemorrhaged a fair amount of time and resources locating the source," said Daniel Stinson, network administrator at South Central Rural Telephone Cooperative. "Now, should our fiber get damaged in any way, we not only get a ping with a precise location, but we also have access to comprehensive data on how the issue is impacting our services."

It only took a moment for SCRTC to become a true believer in ALM's capabilities, because as soon as they activated the technology, they got an alert. To begin with, the service provider assumed there had been some kind of installation error. But no, ALM had indeed uncovered a serious problem on a protected route - something they wouldn't have noticed until the fiber was needed as a backup. SCRTC's team was stunned. "It doesn't need its coffee first," Stinson remarked afterward, "You plug ALM in, and it just starts doing its thing - if you've got a problem, it'll let you know right away."

SCRTC's headquarters is located close to Glasgow Mammoth Cave, the most extensive underground cave system in the US. And Bowling Green, a city just a few miles away, is the birthplace of the world-famous Chevrolet Corvette. It's a unique area of America and one from which SCRTC draws inspiration. "Since 1953, Americans have associated Corvettes with quality, performance and reliability. We invested in ALM because we want our customers to think about the services we provide in the same way."

Businesses, remote workers, cloud gamers, medical professionals, your son, your neighbor, your doctor, the owner of the coffee shop down the road - basically anyone who uses the internet - they all now expect that data tap to be open and always flowing. As a service provider, your ability to provide that consistent, dependable service often hinges on your capacity to locate and deal with fiber issues quickly.

SCRTC is just the latest in a long line of service providers to invest in our sustainable, power-efficient and highly capable in-service fiber monitoring solution. With the deployment of ALM, they've boosted network resilience, made network operations more efficient and ensured subscribers get the best possible experience.