The evolution of fiber management within central offices

The evolution of fiber cable management within the central office has ranged from storing and terminating fibers on a bulkhead panel to the introduction of fiber distribution panels. The most recent advancement is a centralized fiber distribution frame concept, complete with proper fiber routing systems. It is suggested that future network evolution based on synchronous optical network (SONET) architecture will see fiber interfaces in central office equipment become more prevalent; the need for a product to provide all digital signal cross-connect (DSX) functions (cross-connection, test access, rolling and patching) will manifest itself. One method of providing optical cross-connect functions is with an optical digital-signal cross connect (ODSX)