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Serving area interface

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Serving area interface

The serving area interface or service area interface (SAI) is an outdoor enclosure or metal box that allows access to telecommunications wiring.

Contents

Alternate names

  • Access point (AP)
  • Cabinet (Cab)
  • B-box
  • Cross box
  • Cross-connect box
  • Jumper wire interface (JWI)
  • Outside plant interface (OPI)
  • Pedestal (Ped)
  • Primary connection point (PCP) (UK)
  • Secondary connection point (SCP) (UK)
  • Telecom cabinet

    • Function

    The SAI provides the termination of individual twisted pairs of a telephony local loop for onward connection back to the nearest telephone exchange (US: "central office" (CO)) or remote switch, or first to transmission equipment such as a subscriber loop carrier multiplexer and then to the exchange main distribution frame (MDF).

    In the United Kingdom, the components from the PCP onwards to the customer are known as "D-side" (distribution side), and from the PCP back to the MDF as the "E-side" (exchange side). In the United States, the connection back to the MDF is known as the F2 (secondary distribution cable) and/or the F1 (main feeder cable) pairs.

    SAIs are used in suburban and low-density urban areas, serving some of the same purposes that manholes do in high-density urban areas. Besides a cross connect point, they sometimes contain a DSLAM or more rarely a remote concentrator or both.

    References

    Serving area interface Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA