Carrier X’s “Unbundled Copper Local Loop” (UCLL) gear:
Carrier Y’s UCLL gear:
The Airedale “Main Distribution Frame” (MDF):
The Mayoral Drive “Cable Well” (where all the cabling for the entire exchange enters the site – in the basement) – copper below and fibre above. The clear tubes are pumping pressurised super-dry air down the pipes containing copper:
Mayoral Drive Cable Well again; this is where the incoming cables start to get split up, before they are channelled through the floor into the MDF:
Mayoral Drive; the upper level of the Cable Well, you can see further splitting going on there and juuust visible are some fibre splitters in black casing – I think they called them “FOTS" (20101129 - EDIT: they did - Fibre Optic Transmission System).
The MDR MDF; fibre on the right, copper on the left:
MDR; a fibre patch tray that a tech had been (accidentally?) left open. Interestingly I was asked mot to use a flash here (not that my camera had one), as that would wreck havoc with the fibre optics. Each plastic bag there contains a splice:
Very interesting post, and nice shots.
ReplyDeleteI wish my local exchange was opened like these ;).
Ruchard5
That takes me back. I remember 'block lacing' an inter rack tie between 2 of the Airedale MDF rows back in 1976? as a member of the exchange installation group! Andy Turner
ReplyDeleteCertainly was an interesting tour. I work for an organisation that is currently unbundling dozens of exchanges throughout New Zealand, which is a fascinating process to be involved in. Our software development team works mainly on line-of-business products; this tour really helped me understand what's actually going on behind the B2B portals and OSS/BSS.
ReplyDeleteBTW - thanks for your comments/interest!
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