Bell System lightguide cable interconnection equipment, central office to customer premises

Lightguide cable interconnection equipment furnishes the interface between outside plant and central office, remote terminal, or customer premises transmission equipment. Primarily, the interconnection equipment provides a convenient centralized access point for cabled optical fibers, lightguide cable sheath termination, and other functions such as; fiber organization, fiber storage, and the accommodation of splices and connectors. Since the installation of the first Bell System lightwave system, several different types of interconnection equipment units have been developed. These provide and interconnection capability from the central office to customer premises. Described in this paper are the design approaches taken to develop this equipment and short descriptions of the units.