T1 short-haul vs. long-haul - jack terminology

Fri Jul 23 19:23:54 UTC 2004

OK, from my reading in Newton's Telecom Dictionary, it appears that NIU 
is a generic term for "whatever the customer plugs their cable into", 
be it a powered or a dumb device. Mea culpa.

However, the writeup on "smart jack" reads, in part:

"...installed on the premises as a semi-intelligent demarcation point, 
the smart jack is completely passive until activated remotely by a 
digital code, typically something like 'FACILITY 2', sent down the T-1. 
This code activates a relay [that loops the circuit]."

That may not accurately define the Adtran and Westell devices that are 
pictured (they appear to have additional features beyond this), but 
it's a good guess they provide the remote loopback function described 
above in addition to the monitor points and management console port. I 
also doubt that the Hyperedge unit pictured does so, although I can't 
seem to find any online documentation on the unit  (it is, as you 
described it, a 'glorified patch panel'). Feel free to correct me.

Hope this serves to clarify things...

-C

On Jul 23, 2004, at 2:57 PM, Allen Kitchen wrote:

> Christopher - FWIW, Michel's description tallies with common usage in 
> Bell
> of PA and Bell of NJ territory (now Vz, of course). Seems like a
> counter-intuitive use of "smart" in "SmartJack" but the diff between 
> it and
> a "regular" 8-pin RJ-type jack is the self-connecting loopback 
> arrangement
> that is SUPPOSED to be buried in these. That's why they called it 
> "smart" to
> begin with, according to legend here.
>
>  ..Allen
>
> Allen Kitchen
> Special Projects Manager
> Diskriter Inc. / Pittsburgh, PA / 412-344-9700 x 313 /
> akitchen at diskriter.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog at merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog at merit.edu] On Behalf Of
> Christopher Woodfield
> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 2:51 PM
> To: Michel Py
> Cc: nanog at merit.edu; Andre Oppermann
> Subject: Re: T1 short-haul vs. long-haul
>
>
> I think we can probably chalk this up to a difference in dialect, for 
> lack
> of a better word...what you're calling an NIU is exactly what I would 
> call a
> smartjack and vice versa. Can you point to any sort of "official"
> documentation that defines these? I'm looking to see if anyone in my 
> office
> has a Newton's as I speak...
>
> -C
>
> On Jul 23, 2004, at 12:15 AM, Michel Py wrote:
>
>>> Christopher Woodfield wrote:
>>> In the interest of complicating things further, I think you have NIU
>>> and smartjack backwards in your explanation..
>
>