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.