II-VI Incorporated announced the introduction of an optical monitoring system (OMS) for optical transport and access networks. The growing trends of equipment disaggregation at the network core and fiber densification at the network edge are driving the demand for unified optical monitoring solutions that enable high quality of service end-to-end. II-VI’s OMS enables service providers to obtain real-time critical information about the health or disruption of optical transport and access networks, including the integrity of fiber cables, the quality of optical connectors, and the signal strength of optical channels. The OMS can be integrated seamlessly into the network by simply plugging it into the existing optical test ports, enabling service providers to overlay a universal network-level monitoring solution without any service interruption. A single OMS can cycle through up to 48 monitoring ports, an embedded optical switch designed and manufactured for high reliability by II-VI. The OMS can be connected to cloud-based network management systems through a Gigabit Ethernet port, enabling service providers to leverage the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to maximize the efficiency of network preventive maintenance and dynamic reconfiguration. II-VI will showcase its broad portfolio of optical communications products virtually at OFC 2021, June 6-11, 2021.