Despite the FCs name matching the near-end AIS/LOP alarm counter, on the far-end table this object actually counts Remote Failure Indications (RFIs) received from the far end during the current 15-minute window, per its description. Each RFI means the remote terminal has told this box, through the path overhead, that it has detected an alarm condition -- so a nonzero count here is the far end actively signaling trouble back to this local device rather than this device detecting the trouble itself. A jump to 2 RFIs in this interval means the remote SONET terminal declared an alarm condition twice in the last few minutes and is reporting that fact back over the link, even if no near-end alarm has fired yet.