Although it’s fair to say the distribution and access elements within the outside plant (OSP) portion of the fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) network demand the majority of attention during deployment, it’s still important not to overlook implications to the central office (CO). Any FTTP network requires the same flexibility as the transport network—and it all begins in the CO. | Next Gen NETWORKS Adding New Video Services Warrants New Central Office Considerations Adding Video Services Warrants New Central Office Considerations Although it s fair to say the distribution and access elements within the outside plant OSP portion of the fiber-to-the-premise FTTP network demand the majority of attention during deployment it s still important not to overlook implications to the central office CO . Any FTTP network requires the same flexibility as the transport network and it all begins in the CO. ADC recently published an important white paper to address these issues entitled Central Office Implications for Deploying FTTP. The paper can be found on ADC s website at Library Literature . Although these implications for the CO are no less important today the addition of video services to FTTP network presents some additional challenges to the CO not previously addressed. First a review Before discussing the unique challenges of video it s important to briefly review the overall implications that FTTP has on the CO architecture and the importance of making informed decisions in the early stages. The goal of network planners is always to minimize capital expenses and long-term operational expenses while achieving the highest possible level of flexibility in the network. Architectural decisions involve connection strategies between optical line terminal OLT equipment and OSP fibers flexibility in terms of test access points and WDM positioning. As discussed in the previous paper a key requirement for providing flexibility evolves from ensuring full crossconnect capability. With all OLTs as well as OSP fibers connected at the fiber distribution frame FDF easy access and significant long-term network flexibility is achieved enabling easy adds moves and changes to the FDF. Since the one constant in telecommunications has always been change any assumption that the network will remain static can result in significant long-term .
