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The Evolution of Digital

Loop Carriers

White Paper

Occam Networks, Inc.

77 Robin Hill Road
Santa Barbara, California 93117
+1 805.692.2900 main
+1 805.692.2999 fax
www.occamnetworks.com
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The Evolution of Digital Loop Carriers

Since the early 1970s when the first DLC was introduced to cost-effectively deploy voice service in rural areas, the Digital Loop Carrier
(DLC) has become the most efficient method for providing voice service to subscribers. DLCs have grown in size from 96-line channel
bank type terminals to large 2048-line terminals with fiber optics and built in network management. Switch interfaces have evolved
from the original analog interfaces to GR-303 to OC-3c SONET.

And, the evolution continues. DLC vendors tout Next Generation DLCs that promise to deliver broadband service as easily as voice. These
solutions may work in the short run; however, they cannot scale to handle high user take rates and much higher usage per subscriber.
Additionally, these solutions continue to perpetuate a circuit-switched architecture that is ill suited to deliver broadband data effectively.

Occam Networks has developed the next logical evolution of the Digital Loop Carrier — the Broadband Loop Carrier, a new class of local
loop platform that dramatically simplifies delivery of broadband and voice services from the local distribution network.

D I G I TA L L O O P C A R R I E R S

A Digital Loop Carrier (DLC) is a telecommunications system that carries telephone signals from a Central Office to subscribers in the
Local Loop using digital signals as the transport mechanism. A DLC may be used to transport signals to and from the CO over digital
high-speed connections to a Remote Terminal (RT). The RT may be located any distance from the CO; however, twisted pair loops longer
than 18,000 feet must be augmented with inductors (called load coils) for acceptable voice transmission.

The DLC may interface with the Central Office via a Central Office Terminal (COT). The COT is connected to the Class 5 switch via either
twisted pairs of copper wire (standard phone lines) or digital DS1 lines using GR-303 or TR-08. If the COT is connected to the switch via
pairs of twisted copper wires, the voice traffic is digitized and transported over digital communication lines to RTs. Usually, voice traffic is
transported from the COT to a Remote Terminal via fiber optic SONET or metallic DS1 lines. The Remote Terminals turn the digitized voice
into an analog signal that is carried to a subscriber’s telephone set via a twisted pair of copper wires. Some RTs are connected directly to
the switch via DS1 lines.

SLC-96

In 1979, the SLC-96 system was introduced. It was the first widely deployed Digital Loop Carrier. The SLC-96 in universal Mode 1
operation consisted of two terminals: a Central Office Terminal and a Remote Terminal. The COT multiplexed the analog phone lines from
the Class 5 switch into five DS1s with the fifth DS1 used as an optional DS1 for protection switching. The RT took the DS1 signals and
separated them into the 96 phone lines connected to subscribers.

Figure 1. SLC-96 Digital Loop Carrier System

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The SLC-96 revolutionized the telecom industry by introducing digital electronics into the local loop as a permanent replacement for
cable. By the 1980s, studies showed that DLCs had become the most cost effective means of deploying phone service over loops of above
average length (> about 12,000 feet). Although the DLC was originally designed to deploy phone service in rural areas, the concept was
so successful that currently more than 75 percent of all new phone lines are deployed using DLCs.

TR-08

To make Digital Switches more cost-effective, Bell Labs decided to integrate the SLC-96 COT into the Class 5 switch. In 1984, Bellcore
(now Telcordia) codified the interface between a SLC-96 RT and a Local Digital Switch (LDS), allowing a LDS to connect directly to a SLC-
96 remote terminal. The documented interface between a SLC-96 RT and a LDS was called TR-08. The TR-08 document was created to
reduce the cost of digital switches and DLCs by eliminating the COT and to provide interoperability between switches and DLCs from
different vendors. This made it possible for carriers to choose switches and DLCs from a broader array of vendors, rather than from the
single incumbent DLC/switch vendor, AT&T.

The TR-08 Mode 1 protocol specified a Remote Terminal that provided service to 96 subscribers, fed to the CO by five DS1 lines and a
copper pair bypass that would connect from the LDS to the TR-08 RT. This additional copper pair bypass was used for testing the
subscriber’s loop.

While the TR-08 protocol was extremely successful, it had several limitations. First was the line count. Ninety-six lines were perfect for
the rural markets in which the SLC-96 was originally deployed, but too small for suburban markets. The lack of flexible concentration
ratios was another drawback. The concentration ratio of a telecommunications system is the number of subscribers divided by the
maximum number of simultaneous calls. TR-08 can only support a fixed concentration ratio of either 1:1 or 2:1. Also, the TR-08 interface
offered no link (other than rudimentary alarms and loop test operations) between the RT and the operations support systems (OSS) that
Bellcore developed to manage telephone equipment.

Figure 2. TR-08 Remote Terminal

SONET

In 1984 MCI asked Bellcore to develop a standard for a mid-span optical transport to connect its inter-city tandem offices. The goal of the
standard was to allow fiber optic equipment manufacturers to develop interoperable fiber optic equipment. Interoperability allowed MCI to
mix and match equipment from many suppliers rather than remain captive to a single equipment supplier. In 1985, Bellcore introduced the
Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) standard, which was eventually adopted as an international ITU standard. SONET was defined at
various rates: OC-3 (155 Mbps), OC-12 (622 Mbps), OC-48 (2.48 Gbps), and OC-192 (9.95 Gbps). SONET has become so popular that today
almost all fiber optic transmission networks include some SONET components. Most DLC traffic is carried over SONET today.

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GR-303

In 1987, Bellcore developed TR-303, now GR-303, in response to the shortcomings of TR-08. GR-303 specifies a ”generic” interface
between a Local Digital Switch (LDS) and a Next Generation Digital Loop Carrier (NGDLC), also known as the Remote Digital Terminal
(RDT). The RDT can have up to 2,048 lines and be connected to the CO by up to 28 DS1s. GR-303 specified that an RDT support a flexible
concentration ratio from 1:1 (672 lines served by 28 DS1s) up to 46:1 (2,048 lines served by 2 DS1s). GR-303 also has an Embedded
Operations Channel (EOC) for OSS communications to the RDT.

GR-303 offered three key benefits: large line counts (2048 lines), flexible concentration, and a built-in network management channel.
GR-303 also provided for efficient provisioning of ISDN line integrated into the switch, while TR-08 offered no support for ISDN.

L I T E S PA N - 2 0 0 0

In 1987, Optilink Corporation, later acquired by Alcatel, introduced the Litespan-2000. It was the world’s first SONET-based GR-303
Digital Loop Carrier. The Litespan-2000 supports up to 2016 lines with analog (TR-57), TR-08, or GR-303 switch interfaces. The Litespan-
2000 offers POTS, UVG, asynchronous DS1/T1, U4W, E&M, and P-phone services to the subscriber. The Litespan-2000 uses SONET in
point-to-point, ring, and dual-feeder configurations.

The Litespan-2000 is currently the most popular Next Generation Digital Loop Carrier (NG-DLC) with sales exceeding $1 billion annually.

UMC-1000

In 1992 Advanced Fibre Communications (AFC) introduced the UMC-1000. Like earlier DLCs, the UMC-1000 was designed for rural
applications. AFC reached a new price point for small line count applications with the UMC-1000. The UMC-1000 condensed the
Litespan-2000’s common control shelf into two common control cards. Each UMC-1000 channel bank supported a total of 120 lines.
Up to 6 channel banks could be connected to support up to 672 lines. Instead of requiring SONET as the transport mechanism, the UMC-
1000 supported both fiber optic and metallic transport media. The UMC-1000’s cost, size, modularity, and flexibility made it the
dominant equipment in the smaller, rural markets served by DLCs.

THE BROADBAND LOOP CARRIER

The Occam Broadband Loop Carrier (BLC) is a new category of carrier-class access equipment optimized for mass deployment of
broadband while continuing to support traditional infrastructure and voice services. It is the ideal platform for carriers migrating to next
generation, converged networks. Integrating the functionality of a Digital Loop Carrier (DLC), a DSL Access Multiplexer (DSLAM), and
media gateway into a single, environmentally hardened, compact platform, the BLC greatly simplifies the network, making mass
deployment of profitable broadband services a realistic possibility. It can be deployed anywhere in the network — from a remote terminal
or cabinet to a central office — and serve both residential and business subscribers. Occam’s BLC supports lifeline POTS and traditional
voice services, plus a full range of broadband services including ADSL, G.SHDSL, VDSL, and Gigabit Ethernet. The BLC’s non-blocking
switched architecture delivers true broadband performance to all subscribers regardless of the number of active subscribers and the
applications that they choose to use.

Figure 3. Delivering DSL from a BLC Remote Terminal

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S U M M A RY

The Broadband Loop Carrier is the logical evolution of two decades of DLC development. The BLC supports legacy services such as POTS
and SONET as well as the services of the future such as Gigabit Ethernet and VDSL. Seamlessly integrating into existing networks, the BLC
provides carriers with a flexible, scalable, and cost-effective platform from which to deliver today’s services and create and deliver
tomorrow’s services.

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