The Humble Pillar in the Australian Telecoms Network

 

The Humble Pillar is a staple of the Australian telecommunications Network. It has along and noteworthy history for more than half a century. It has protected a critical communications network against all of Australia’s harsh environmental conditions and has a working installed base of more than 90,000 units. It supports the major portion of all telecommunication services to all customers in Australia. This paper is presented to enlighten the industry in the history, product capability, product availability and the new developments that have been designed into this important range of telecoms infrastructure.

History

The concept of the humble Pillar was won by a competitive design process promoted by Telecom Australia and the system was introduced into the Telecom network in 1955. It was designed in Australia by GPC in conjunction with Telecom Australia engineers. As is normal in the Telecommunications industry, developments such as these have in the past proven that Australia can hold its own in telecommunications network development worldwide.

The challenge of connecting all Australian residents wherever possible to the national telecommunications network was and still is a major feat, however, with the passage of time and the growth of suburbia, the system had a chance at being implemented within the Telecom network in an orderly way.

The basic function of the pillar was to provide a sealed enclosure where cross connection of copper services could be managed close to the customer. The average Distribution Area is approximately 200 customers, therefore, the standard product aims at servicing customers up to 500m from this cross connect point. The pair count capacity of the standard pillar is 900. Broken down it allows 200 pair in coming (Exchange side), 200 pairs outgoing (Customer side) and 500 pairs for spare capacity.There are also two variants to this common product, a 300 pair and an 1800pr capacity pillar. Both of these products exist in the Telecom network at a much smaller rate.

The pillar is pressurizable which enables it to sustain relatively high levels of submersion under water. This feature has proven itself time and time again since 1956. The product has also been taken up by other carriers around the world and other utilities locally in Australia.

With the advent of FTTH and the proposal to build a ubiquitous network in Australia the pillar was relegated to a secondary role. However, recently it has once again taken a primary role in the FTTC proposal of the new government. It will provide high speed services to customers at a rollout rate that cannot be matched by the provision of an FTTH network.

 

The future roll of the Pillar in the Australian Telecommunications network

Over the last 18 months, Warren and Brown Technologies in Victoria, have regenerated all pillar components and now make available the 900 and 1800pr pillar to Telstra under contract.

In addition, due to the change in government policy and the requirement for this product to be able to carry very high speed services to a large population, certain features and enhancements have been designed into the system. These are now available and are generally backwards compatible, making an already reliable and cost effective system even more viable to deploy. The fact that this product is so widely used and has the ability to manage future high speed services is invaluable to the Telecommunications industry.

These recent technological advances have again been made possible with the same close cooperative design and product development between Telstra and a local design and manufacturing company that lead to the introduction of the Humble Pillar 59 years ago.

 

Pillar Features

The common pillar has seen various improvements since 1956, the basic unit externally is the same as when introduced however the internals have constantly been upgraded to meet or overcome certain refinements required in the network.

Basic features:

• IP 68 pressurizable
• Cross connect facility for full flexibility
• Compact design offering lowest visual impact
• Modular
• Expandable
• Secure, lockable but easily accessible
• Metallic construction
• Retrofittable

Tag strip technology:

Early pillars relied on tag strips potted in epoxy resin to provide the cross connect function from the Exchange side to the Customer side. These were cumbersome and slow to deploy. In fact many pillars still have this technology and require resoldering to connect services. The fact that these products are still operational is testament to the Australian engineering staff who originally designed this product.
Changes to IDC technology:

When Insulation Displacement Connections were introduced in the 80’s this provided for great productivity gains as well as reliability gains to be realised. The wire did not need to be stripped prior to termination and as long as the correct tool was used a gas tight connection was made at the termination point which allowed for a very fast and reliable connection. Issues can arise, however, in external plant networks due to the environment and incorrect tools being used to terminate.
Current IDC technology:

Today, IDC technology has evolved for the outside plant. The availability of a tool-less modular block that is environmentally stable over very harsh conditions means that even further reliability gains can be realised in the future. In addition compatibility with current test cords and practices is ensured and the addition of protection devices is also available.

 

Further to the internal connectivity capabilities the W&BT team has designed a number of additional features into this product with efficiency and ease of expandability being the main focus.

 

• Ability to expand the 900 to an 1800pr unit with the addition of a simple kit
• Devices such as XDSL filters or lightning protection can be inserted onto the pillar saving valuable space and interconnection cables within the VDSL cabinet
• Pre tailed connection devices, saving the need for field staff to terminate the pairs in the field

 

Conclusion

The current ubiquitous pillar has evolved providing a very secure termination facility and the ability to reconfigure services to the customer much more efficiently than in the past. The legacy product destined for the scrap heap has now earned a new lease of life, becoming an integral solution to the broadband challenge for Australia by allowing the efficient rollout of very high speed services for Australian consumers and bringing with it the latest features of the internet to business, government and the local household. This has again been achieved by Telstra working closely with a leading Australian Design and Manufacturing company.