Abstract

Multi-Service Core Aggregation Systems (MCAS’s) represent a new category of optical transport in the carrier’s network engineering toolkit. In multi-year traffic studies of large metro central offices, MCAS’s have been demonstrated to reduce total CapEx and OpEx by up to 70%. This is achieved by consolidating multiple systems - SONET Add/Drop Multiplexers (ADMs), Multi-Service Provisioning Platforms (MSPPs), digital cross-connects, optical and electrical patch panels, etc. - into one node, which greatly simplifies the central office and the metro network as a whole. Figure 1 and Figure 2 provide “before” and “after” snapshots of a central office that has implemented an MCAS. The network architecture of the MCAS in Figure 2 is typically referred to as SONET Ring Aggregation. Effectively, connectivity of circuits from the Access to the IOF is done through the switch matrix of the MCAS, eliminating back-to-back optical transponders, DSX-3 panels, and the associated coax and fiber cabling; and also eliminating the superfluous de-multiplexing and re-multiplexing of passthrough traffic.

© 2005 Optical Society of America