Digital Access Carrier System Benefits and Features Explained

A digital access carrier system is a game-changer for businesses and organizations, offering a range of benefits that can improve operations and reduce costs.

With a digital access carrier system, you can have multiple phone lines and internet connections over a single physical line, making it ideal for high-traffic areas or businesses with multiple locations.

This system also provides advanced security features to protect your data and network, including encryption and secure authentication protocols.

One of the most significant advantages of a digital access carrier system is its flexibility and scalability, allowing you to easily add or remove services as needed without disrupting your operations.

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The Digital Carrier System is a crucial component of the Digital Access Carrier System (DACS). It's essentially a way to transmit multiple phone signals over a single copper pair.

DACS systems typically consist of three main parts: the exchange unit, the copper pair, and the remote unit. The exchange unit, also known as the DACS Exchange Unit (DACS EU), is located at the exchange and converts two analogue telephone signals into digital signals. This digital signal is then transmitted over the copper pair in the local loop.

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The DACS EU can support up to 60 subscriber phone lines, with some models having 15 line cards, each containing two digital trunks for four telephone lines. Other units, like the Telspec DACS EU, can support up to 40 digital trunks and 80 subscriber lines.

The copper pair is the twisted pair in the local loop that carries the digital signal from the exchange to the local pole or in the home. This allows two digital signals to be carried over the same copper pair, increasing the efficiency of the system.

The remote unit, usually found on telephone poles near the subscriber's location, converts the digital signal back into two analogue lines. This process enables two phone calls to be made simultaneously over the same copper pair, a significant improvement over the previous 'party line' system.

Here's a brief overview of the DACS system's components:

The digital access carrier system (DACS) offers several advantages over traditional analogue lines. It's less prone to electrical interference, which means a more reliable connection.

One of the key benefits of DACS is its built-in monitoring system. This alerts the exchange if the connection is lost or errors occur, allowing for quick troubleshooting and resolution. This contrasts with traditional analogue lines, where faults often go unnoticed until a customer complains.

Here are some key advantages of DACS in a nutshell:

This makes DACS a more efficient and effective way to manage digital access, providing a better experience for both service providers and customers.

The DACS system is a great example of how technology can improve our daily lives. It uses a digital signal along most of the distance between subscriber and exchange, making it less prone to electrical interference than traditional analogue lines.

This means you're less likely to experience dropped calls or poor connection quality. The built-in monitoring from the exchange also generates an alert if the connection is lost or errors occur, allowing for quick identification and resolution of issues.

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Here are some key benefits of the DACS system:

The Cisco AS5800 is a great example of how technology can provide scalable and high-performance solutions. It can easily sustain 720 concurrent sessions at or near line speed, making it ideal for large-scale applications.

This level of performance is due in part to the multiple proven high-speed processors and up to 24 T1/E1 PRI interfaces, each with integrated Channel Service Units (CSUs).

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The Cisco AS5800 enables service providers to offer new and differentiated services, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), multiple service levels, and detailed billing.

This means service providers can expand their offerings beyond traditional internet dial services, making them more competitive in the market.

The Cisco AS5800 provides scalable Cisco IOS technologies that support thousands of interfaces, making it an ideal solution for large-scale service providers.

With the Cisco AS5800, service providers can offer network gaming, which can be a valuable addition to their service portfolio.

The Cisco AS5800 also contains specific features to improve the management and deployment of wholesale dial services, making it easier for service providers to offer these services.

This level of scalability and feature support allows service providers to increase their revenue streams and stay ahead of the competition.

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The 5Nines: 5Minutes Availability standard is a game-changer for service providers who require high availability and carrier-class management. This standard ensures that equipment is reliable and can handle the demands of complex dial POPs.

The Cisco AS5800 is a great example of this, with a Bellcore-recognized mean time between failure (MTBF) of greater than 500,000 hours. This means it can operate for an incredibly long time without needing repairs.

The AS5800 is also equipped with hot-swappable cards, power and blower assemblies, redundant and load-sharing power supplies, fans and modems, making it even more reliable. This setup provides availability at 99.999 percent, which translates to less than five minutes of downtime per year.

For even higher availability, the Cisco AS5200, AS5300, and AS5800 are available as part of AccessPath integrated solutions that deliver 6nines or 99.99998 percent availability.

The Digital Access Carrier System (DACS) is a complex system, but understanding its technical details can help you appreciate its capabilities.

One Telspec EU rack can handle up to 80 analogue lines, which are converted into digital trunks.

The exchange equipment (EU) is the heart of the DACS system, and it's responsible for converting analogue lines into digital trunks. One Telspec EU rack takes up to 80 analogue lines, 10 per ALC (Analogue Line Card), and produces up to 40 digital trunks, 5 per DLC card.

The SMAC card is a crucial component of the EU, containing system maintenance and clocks. It's worth noting that pulling out the SMAC card on a live fully populated rack could make all 80 subscribers' lines ring briefly.

The copper pair between the EU and RU carries the 2B1Q signalling and the 140 V DC for powering the RU and subscribers' telephones.

The 140 V DC is not applied to the line until an RU is detected, ensuring the safety of engineers. It's also removed as soon as the RU is disconnected, again for safety.

The RU converts the digital trunk back to two analogue trunks, making it possible for subscribers to use their telephones as usual.

There are three basic types of Telspec RU: internal, external, and underground.

The remote unit contains a mini test head that can test both lines between the RU and subscriber for faults, and then communicates the results back to the EU digitally.

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The DASA Architecture is a game-changer for digital access carrier systems, providing resilience, flexibility, and high performance. It enables the stacking of Cisco AS5800s with other access servers to create cost-optimized solutions.

With DASA, network architects can deploy port densities of more than 10,000 simultaneous connections in a single telco hunt group. This is a huge advantage for businesses with large customer bases.

The Cisco AS5X00 and AccessPath families offer the largest range of dial solutions available today, from 2 to 500 Primary Rate Interfaces (PRIs). This flexibility allows customers to choose the correct product for different parts of their networks.

All products in the Cisco AS5X00 and AccessPath families support Cisco IOS software and offer common user interfaces, management tools, and network services. This consistency makes it easier for customers to manage their networks.

By providing a broad family of compatible products, Cisco enables customers to pick the right starting point for a "pay-as-you-grow" rollout without compromising future capabilities.

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The digital access carrier system is made up of several key components that work together seamlessly.

The network interface unit (NIU) is the central component of the system, responsible for connecting the digital access carrier system to the network.

A digital cross connect system (DCS) is used to switch and route signals between different parts of the network, ensuring efficient communication.

The digital access carrier system relies on a robust transmission system to send and receive data, including fiber optic cables and digital signal processors.

A digital multiplexer (DMUX) is used to combine multiple low-speed signals into a single high-speed signal for transmission over the network.

The Digital Access Carrier System (DACS) is a clever way to carry multiple phone lines over a single copper pair. It converts analogue signals into digital signals, allowing for more efficient use of existing infrastructure.

At the heart of the DACS system is the DACS Exchange Unit (DACS EU), which is located at the exchange. It takes in analogue signals from normal telephone lines and converts them into a single 128kb digital format.

This digital format is then used to simultaneously carry information from two lines over one copper pair in the local loop. It's a game-changer for phone networks, allowing for more lines to be carried on existing infrastructure.

The DACS EU has line cards that contain digital trunks, with each card supporting two digital trunks for four telephone lines. This means that a single rack can support up to 60 subscriber phone lines.

The Telspec DACS EU, used by BT, is a bit different. It has eight pairs of line cards, with eight analogue line cards and eight digital line cards. This configuration supports up to 40 digital trunks and 80 subscriber lines.

Both the DACS EU and the Telspec DACS EU have synchronisation, maintenance, and alarm monitoring systems to ensure that the system runs smoothly and efficiently.

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The Digital Access Carrier System (DACs) is made by a couple of companies that BT has partnered with. Telspec and ECI are the two companies that supply DACS to BT.

BT regions install either Telspec or ECI DACS, depending on their location. For example, in South Wales, ECI DACS is fitted.

This means that the type of DACS used can vary from one region to another.