Welcome inside the fibre-access node (FAN). Equipment racks waiting to be fully populated. You can see a ladder and walkway across the top of the racks, which we surmise makes it easier to load into the cable trays.
Here we see a rack for optical line terminals yet to be fitted. That there are no OLTs fitted suggests to us that the facility was not yet operational at the time these shots were taken. (So in its current state it is akin to a telephone exchange without DSLAMs installed for ADSL provision).
This FAN is in Kiama, NSW a first-release site. Typically, a FAN services some 3000 houses. But based on previous stories we have written on the Kiama site, it may serve up to 4000 or 5000.
This is an optical distribution frame (ODF) - or in NBN Co parlance, an optical fibre distribution frame (OFDF).
Let's take a closer look at that ODF ...
And open her up ...
Fibre optic cables.
Blue fibre optic connectors suggest a flat connector (green, by contrast, usually means angled).
Cables.
That's a lot of cables.
This is the side of the ODF - it is designed to keep the bending radius of the fibre consistent to avoid kinks.
A rack-mounted dense wavelength division multiplexer or DWDM fibre-serving platform to control connectivity back to the nearest point of interconnect, which we assume to be at Global Switch in Sydney.
Fibre optics, courtesy of Corning.
This appears to be a patch panel, topped by a power distribution panel.
A top view of the patch rack. We've since reliably been informed that this is a "Fibre Optic Break Out Tray". A FOBOT!
Eaton DC power distribution panels - a mechanical circuit breaker of sorts.
This is the back of the power distribution rack.
Spare cable, anyone? That's a whole lot of money sitting right there.
Fibre comes in off the street through an underground manhole.
This looks to be where the conduit comes into the exchange from the street.
Welcome inside the fibre-access node (FAN). Equipment racks waiting to be fully populated. You can see a ladder and walkway across the top of the racks, which we surmise makes it easier to load into the cable trays.