North American Network Operators Group

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RE: T1 short-haul vs. long-haul

  • From: Williams, Jeff
  • Date: Thu Jul 22 11:05:28 2004

>o What is the "demarc"?  Is it the jack/punch-block where the SmartJack is
   connected to?
The demarc (short for demarcation point) is the last place on a circuit that
the carrier is responsible.  With a T1 this is typically some sort of
semi-intelligent device (NIU, smartjack) that responds to remote loop
commands and has a RJ48 jack.  Some LECs hand off on 66 blocks.  YMMV.

>o What is an "MPOE"?
The MPOE is the Minimum Point of Entry of a building.  (Sometime called the
MPOP- Minimum Point of Presence) This is typically the room in which the
LECs CO cables are terminated (but not always).  This is where any
non-extended demarcs will be.

>o What is the "NIU"?
The NIU (Network Interface Unit) is a multifunction device and does a bunch
of stuff (surge protector, loop, etc) quite often the term NIU and smartjack
can be used interchangeably.

>o Where is the SmartJack normally located?  In your offices or somewhere
else
   in the building (maybe some room where the cable to the CO is
terminated)?
The smartjack will almost always be located at the MPOE.  Even if you get an
extended demarc they won't move the it.

One note of advise- whoever you use as the provider (AT&T, MCI, L3 etc) make
an extended demarc part of the order from the very beginning.  Essentially
you want the provider to be responsible for the whole thing, up to the 6'
cable to your equipment.  This will alleviate any finger pointing if your
able to say 'it doesn't work at my router- I don't care who does it, but get
it fixed.'  One call (well, at least one organization) is all you'll have to
deal with.  The carrier will try to test to the NIU, then the CSU.  If they
can run clean to the NIU but not the CSU they'll call you back to verify
power- then dispatch someone to test from the extended demarc.

HTH,

Jeff


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