ValidatorPRO and ValidatorPRO-NT (Discontinued)

Building on the capabilities of the VIAVI Validator and Validator-NT, the VIAVI ValidatorPRO series of Ethernet Network Management Tools offer a complete solution to test copper and fiber Ethernet cables. The ValidatorPRO Ethernet speed certifier with optical power meter and accompanying Plan-Um cable management software delivers the power to test both copper and fiber cabling, determine if cables can support Gigabit Ethernet, and perform troubleshooting for cable installations. The ValidatorPRO also performs all tests offered by the Validator and Validator-NT, including speed certifying the data-carrying capabilities of electrical Ethernet network cables up to 1 Gb/s by testing for noise in the network, detecting faults in the cabling wiring, and ensuring that cables can support the speed capabilities of active equipment.

To certify Ethernet speed performance of cable runs, the ValidatorPRO series of handheld testers conducts bit error rate (BER) tests by sending data packets down specified cable runs at defined data rates to check for errors at the maximum throughput of the link. The ValidatorPRO also reports on signal quality that can impact high-speed data transmission by measuring signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Skew measurements provide the signal time delay between pairs that can impact Ethernet data transmission. The ValidatorPRO also provides continuity testing that detects opens, shorts, miswires, split pairs, reversals, and high-resistance faults while accurately measuring distance to faults and total cable length.

The ValidatorPRO provides an optical power meter that measures optical power at 850/1300/1310/1550 nm on multimode or single-mode fiber to address an increasing number of Ethernet networks that now include optical links.

The optional Network Test (NT) suite includes a comprehensive set of features for testing a network’s active network capabilities: measure Power over Ethernet (PoE) to ensure the correct power is available on the correct pins, use port discovery to ensure the correct speed and duplex capability are available; connect at gigabit Ethernet and run ping tests to verify connectivity to IP hosts; discover network devices using Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) or Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), discovery and display essential information regarding functionality and configuration of 802.11 b/g/n networks.

Key Features

• Measures optical power on single mode and multimode fiber
• Conducts BER testing to speed certify Ethernet data transmission speed up to 1000BASE-T (1 Gb/s)
• Measures SNR and skew to uncover impairments to electrical Ethernet data transmission
• Tests for opens, shorts, split pairs, miswires, and reversals and measures distance to opens and shorts—supports all copper network, telco, and coax cables
• Identifies cable termination on active Ethernet ports with hub flash
• Measure PoE voltage and current (NT only)
• Performs port discovery to detect advertised Ethernet speed and displays capabilities of network devices (NT only)
• Pings network devices to verify connectivity to active equipment (NT only)
• Discover and display essential information regarding functionality of 802.11 b/g/n wireless devices (NT only)
• Includes Plan-Um® software to create network layout; document cable tests; show network topology; and record moves, adds, and changes

Applications

• Certify speed capability of electrical Ethernet cable runs to support 10/100/1000 Mb/s Ethernet applications
• Ensure configuration and connectivity with active network devices
• Measure optical power and insertion loss
• Discover and display essential information regarding functionality of 802.11 b/g/n wireless devices
• Document network topology including moves, adds, and changes