Unit 1. Exercise 1. Local Exchange
The access network is the part of the network that connects the customer or business to the telecom system. It’s a key part of the network, reason being it is the part of the network that reaches the end users and “connects them.” Services are brought to the customer or business through a cabling link between the customer or business and the local exchange. The local exchange acts as the convergence point for the information sent to the customer and the point at which services from the global telecom are distributed to the customers. This creates many cables, interconnection points, and passive equipment to connect the customer to the network.
A metro network is responsible for transmitting information from the local are service provider, as well as information from other independent service providers, and sending the information to the regional and long-haul network. A regional network is a larger version of MAN, and is responsible for transmitting information from metro networks. It’s generally the last point before information traffic is put onto the core network. A key point of the regional network is that its leases lines to other telecom service providers.
Long-Haul networks are primarily responsible for sending information from the metro and regional networks in one part of the geography over long distances to the regional and metro networks of another part of the geography. The long-haul generally operates in a mesh architecture so that there is always more than one route to get to a destination point.
Ocean networks are the most demanding and technically advanced networks in operation today. These networks cost the most to install, reason being that cables need to be installed on or below the ocean floor. They send signals over extremely long distances when linking continents using, high capacity transmitters and fiber optic cables.