Administration of New Feeder Technology

New technologies, such as digital loop carrier (DLC) and remote switch units (RSU\´s) are being deployed in the subscriber network. To minimize total cost, not only must the characteristics of the device and the application be well matched, but a third factor must be considered as well-the administrative plan. This paper illustrates the ways in which the administrative plan impacts both TelCo capital and operations costs, and may even affect the subscriber. Administration of RSU\´s deployed for general feeder relief is considered first under existing pair gain and wire center plans. A custom designed adminstrative plan, extended office, is then shown to offer significant benefits over either of the standard alternatives. Adminstration of "giant" carrier sites is also considered. Though a modification to the pair gain plan is proposed, all the key concerns could not be addressed. Indeed, a completely satisfactory plan may not be possible until the DLC can be "integrated" with a host digital switch.