The EXFO MAX-840 is a modular 400G Ethernet tester engineered for lab and field deployment across fiber optic networks. It supports a journey-to-400G architecture, enabling operators to begin testing at 100G and upgrade to 400G capabilities on demand, or deploy 400G immediately. Built on an Open Transceiver System (OTS) platform, the MAX-840 accommodates evolving transceiver technologies without requiring equipment replacement.
## Technical Specifications
The platform supports Ethernet data rates from 1G through 400G, including 10G, 25G, 40G, 50G, 100G, 200G, and 400G, with full compliance to IEEE 802.3ba, IEEE 802.3bs, and IEEE 802.3ck standards. Fibre Channel testing extends from 1X to 32X rates. OTN BERT capabilities include ODU0, OTU1 through OTU4, and 4xOTU4 with overclock rates, multistage mapping, and advanced GCC functionality.
## Key Features
Ethernet testing encompasses framed and unframed BERT with per-lane PRBS and EMIX support, throughput and frame loss measurement, and high-resolution latency analysis with current, average, maximum, minimum, count, and total statistics. RFC2544 testing with Smart Loopback, ITU-T Y1564 (EtherSAM) methodology, and RFC6349 TCP testing including Iperf v3 server mode (up to 100G) are standard. Service disruption testing and latency measurement provide detailed network behavior validation. Troubleshooting tools include ping, traceroute, and I2C/MDIO read/write capabilities, plus LLDP neighbor validation. Through Mode enables transparent Ethernet traffic monitoring between endpoints without external tapping or redirection.
The OTS design accepts SFP, SFP+, SFP28, QSFP+, QSFP28, QSFP56, QSFP-DD, QSFP112, and OSFP form factors. Support includes pluggable MSA-compliant transceivers, Active Optical Cables (AOC), and Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables. The iOptics application provides intelligent pluggable optics validation.
## Typical Applications
The MAX-840 serves turn-up, troubleshooting, and maintenance operations in core, metro-edge, and data center networks. It supports 4G/5G backhaul testing and service activation in enterprise and carrier lab environments.
