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

Alternate names

*Access point (AP) *Cabinet (cab) *B-box (breakout box) *Cross box *Cross-connect box *Jumper wire interface (JWI) *Outside plant interface (OPI) *Pedestal (ped) *Primary cross-connection point (PCP) (UK)"Multimedia Telecommunications" (BT Telecommunications Series), B. Whyte (Ed.), Springer 1997 *Secondary cross-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 A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a telecommunications system used in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It interconnects telephone subscriber lines or virtual circuits of digital syst ...

(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

Local loop Street furniture {{telecommunications-stub

Alternate names

Function

See also

References