Next generation access systems: progress in operations and planning capabilities

The impact of next-generation access systems on the planning and operations support activities of telephone companies is discussed. Key features of these systems include full access time-slot interchangers, provisionable channel units, remote test access points, ability to collect performance monitoring data, and bandwidth management capabilities such as grooming, shedding, and add and drop. These features will enable telephone companies to perform remote provisioning, remote testing, remote inventory and achieve higher utilization of equipment and facilities. Once operations systems start supporting these features, telephone companies will incur lower operating costs. In addition to supporting existing services, next-generation access systems will also serve as a platform to support new services and architectures, such as integrated services digital network (ISDN) fiber-in-the-loop (FTTL), high-speed extensions, and self-healing rings