digital cross-connect

A network device used by telecom carriers and large enterprises to switch and multiplex low-speed voice and data signals onto high-speed lines and vice versa. It is typically used to aggregate several T1 lines into a higher-speed electrical or optical line as well as to distribute signals to various destinations; for example, voice and data traffic may arrive at the cross-connect on the same facility, but be destined for different carriers. Voice traffic would be transmitted out one port, while data traffic goes out another.

Cross-connects come large and small, handling only a few ports up to a few thousand. Narrowband, wideband and broadband cross-connects support channels down to DS0, DS1 and DS3 respectively.

Used With Telephone Switches
Digital cross-connects (DCSs) are widely used in conjunction with central office telephone switches and may be installed both before and/or after the switch. Cross-connections are established via an administrative process and are semi-permanent, whereas the telephone switch dynamically picks up dialing instructions and routes calls based on telephone number. See optical cross-connect.

A Digital Cross-Connect (DCS)

Digital cross-connects come in many sizes and can take up as little as one shelf on a rack or as many as 60. This TITAN 5500 system from Tellabs is an example of a large wideband cross-connect. (Image courtesy of Tellabs.)

Telco Switch Entry Points

The digital cross-connect (DCS) serves as the entry/exit point on the trunk side of the switches in local telephone company central offices as well as the wire centers of the interexchange carriers (IXCs).

Telco Switch Entry Points

The digital cross-connect (DCS) serves as the entry/exit point on the trunk side of the switches in local telephone company central offices as well as the wire centers of the interexchange carriers (IXCs).