End-to-End SONET/SDH Testing Made Easy

08th, Apr 2026

Gain Complete Visibility into SONET and SDH Networks - From DS0 Channels to OC-192/STM-64 Pipes

Legacy SONET/SDH infrastructure continues to support critical transport services across telecom, utilities, railways, defense and enterprise backbone networks. However, troubleshooting and validating these networks often requires deep channel-level visibility and full-pipe testing capabilities.

GL’s SonetExpert™ Channelized and Unchannelized Analyzer provides a powerful and portable solution to monitor, analyze, emulate and validate SONET/SDH traffic structures from individual DS0, T1, or E1 channels to high-speed OC-192/STM-64 links.

SONET/SDH Networks

Why SonetExpert™?

Unlike conventional optical testers that only monitor aggregate pipes, SonetExpert™ enables direct access to channelized payloads and full-rate SONET pipes simultaneously, supporting both legacy circuit validation and modern packet transport troubleshooting.


Key Capabilities

Channelized SONET/SDH Analysis (up to OC-12/STM-4)

Monitor and analyze embedded tributaries directly within SONET/SDH streams:

  • Access up to 336 T1s or 252 E1s per port
  • Analyze DS0-level traffic within optical links
  • Capture voice, signaling, fax, and protocol payloads
  • Monitor alarms including LOS, LOF, AIS, BPV, CRC errors
  • Supports ISDN, SS7, Frame Relay, ATM, PPP protocol analysis
  • Supports up to 7,000 ISDN/ISUP calls over STM-4

Ideal for telecom operators maintaining circuit-switched backbone infrastructure.

Unchannelized SONET/SDH Analysis (up to OC-192/STM-64)

SONET/SDH Networks

  • Supports OC-3/STM-1, OC-12/STM-4, OC-48/STM-16, and OC-192/STM-64 rates
  • Full-rate transmit/receive processing
  • Bit Error Rate testing over RAW SONET/SDH, ATM and PoS at full wirespeed
  • ATM, PoS, and RAW SONET/SDH protocol analysis
  • Capture and playback traffic at wirespeed
  • Comprehensive Alarms/Error monitoring
  • Alarms/Error insertion

Perfect for backbone validation and packet-over-SONET deployments.

Instantly Identify Unknown SONET/SDH Structures with SCAN Application

Technicians often struggle when network structure is undocumented.

SonetExpert™ solves this with the SCAN application, which:

  • Automatically detects incoming traffic structure
  • Displays sub-pipes graphically
  • Identifies equipped vs unequipped channels
  • Shows hierarchy down to STS-1/T1/E1 levels
  • Works across OC-3/STM-1 through OC-192/STM-64 links

This dramatically reduces troubleshooting time in live optical networks.


Built for Field Engineers and Lab Validation Teams

SonetExpert™ supports:

  • Transport network troubleshooting
  • Circuit migration verification
  • Optical backbone validation
  • Protocol analysis across SONET payloads
  • Voice channel monitoring inside STM pipes
  • Multi-vendor interoperability testing

Portable Hardware with Lab-Grade Capability

SonetExpert™ provides:

  • Dual optical channelized or unchannelized ports
  • USB-based portable architecture
  • External clock support
  • Single-mode or multi-mode SFP compatibility
  • Probe and rack-mount deployment options

Designed for both field deployment and centralized lab environments.


Ideal For

  • Telecom operators maintaining SONET backbone
  • Utilities and railway signaling networks
  • Defense communication infrastructure
  • Network equipment vendors
  • System integrators supporting legacy transport layers
  • Field troubleshooting teams supporting OC-n links

From Channel-Level Visibility to Full Pipe Validation — One Platform Does It All

Whether you need to analyze:

  • Individual DS0 channels
  • Multiplexed T1 or E1 tributaries
  • ATM payload streams
  • PPP over SONET
  • or high-speed OC-192/STM-64 backbone pipes

SonetExpert™ delivers a complete SONET/SDH troubleshooting workflow in a single portable solution.


Why GL Communications?

  • 35+ years of leadership in telecom network test solutions
  • Trusted by governments, operators, enterprises and OEMs worldwide
  • Proven expertise in high-speed packet capture, protocol and SONET/SDH analysis
  • Comprehensive ecosystem of monitoring, recording and analytics tools

Request a Demo or Evaluation

See how GL’s Channelized and Unchannelized SONET/SDH testing solutions simplify analysis from DS0 channels to OC-192/STM-64 optical links across transport and backbone networks.

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