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[burakkucat]

Sorting through the 'this and that', another item of ex-Beattie origin has come to light. Images are attached, below.

As can be seen, it is clearly marked 'ASDH NTE 4U/7A'. The label affixed to its bottom reads --

Access SDH
Item name  NTE 4U/7A
Item code   293641
Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Ltd
FC9641NT11
Iss 02
FNTE-D12

Does any fellow Kitizen recognise it? Know from where I may download any documentation? Can explain its usage to me, please? 

Its bottom label has already told me that the 'ASDH' expands to 'Access SDH' and if my searching is correct, the 'SDH' expands to 'Synchronous Digital Hierarchy'. So I have an item of 'Access Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, Network Terminating Equipment'.

Hmm . . . '4U'. Well we can see that it has four distinct sets of connectors (75 Ohm BNC 'Out', 120 Ohm RJ45 'balanced', 75 Ohm BNC 'In' & 15-pin female-D 'X21') each labelled 'TRIB 1' to 'TRIB 4'. I shall assume, therefore, the '4U' refers to four units. Any suggestions as to the meaning of 'TRIB'?

Hmm . . . '7A'. I can't deduce anything for that.

Clearly it is something to do with telephony via a fibre-optical feed. So who can satisfy the curiosity of this feline, please? 

[kitz]

Not got time to look as its late and I need to get to bed, but quick reply which may set you on the right virtual path (pun intended!)

Btw use the SDH protocol on their 21CN backhaul - See SDH & Optical Fibre Backhaul.  This (along with the revevant hardware) allows them to split up portions of bandwidth on say a 622Mbps link into Virtual Paths, that could be used for various things such as virtual path or circuit for dedicated use by a SP, dedicated bandwidth etc etc.   

I havent even had time to even google, but what I would imagine you have there is something which would multiplex/demultiplex the VP/VC.. or more correctly... in the case of SDH - the virtual Tributaries.

---

Edited to add

Just had time this am to do a very quick google before I go out..  unfortunately Fujitsu are pretty quick (and always have been) about removing information about old kit from their site, so I cant find anything..   but its looking like that is an old NTE unit for a leased line.  Thinking back about 10yrs years ago when a high school near here wanted broadband, they used 4 x SDSL lines.  That could well be something similar which demultiplexes 4 x SDH leased lines?

Whats the date on the "Passed" sticker?  Im beginning to think its old kit redundant now that we have faster speeds available, but would have in days of old be used by say large organisations (include local authority type organisations) who wanted more bandwidth than the traditional technology would allow.  Going back 10 yrs the VPs on the backhaul were only 2Mbps increments  (remember the joys of DataStream ?)

[burakkucat]

Many thanks for your thoughts, Kitz. I'm happy with the idea of 'TRIB' being a reference to a tributary.

The NTE for a fibre optic leased line could well be the answer . . .

As for the 'PASSED' sticker, it has long dropped off. However I can make out 'Apr 07' . . . which in my 'book' isn't that old!

Looking around (on eBay), I have found an example of an 'ASDH NTE 16U/7A' and an 'ASDH NTE 4U/7A' as a rack-mount pair. So somebody had a use for between 17 and 20 TRIBs.    Images attached, below.

[kitz]

Im pretty certain these are the 'NTEs' for leased lines which demux several lines and combine the bandwidth in a similar way which SDSL and even ADSL can be bonded to provide a higher bandwidth.

Going back about 10yrs, 2Mbps was the standard leased line speed and it wasnt unusual for organisations to purchase multiple links if they needed more bandwidth.  These boxes will be the kit that 'bonded' the 4 x leased lines so that the company had an 8Mbps connection rather than 4x 2Mbps connections.

2Mbps leased lines were E carrier circuits, but according to wiki could be multiplexed up to 140Mbps.  Multiplexing these E1 leased lines was done over SDH making each E1 line a tributary of the aggregate bandwidth. 

---

The reason I asked for the date on the sticker is they look similar to the ones in use by our LEA (and other Local Authority Depts) services, who require that all electrical equipment is tested for safety on an annual basis.  These stickers should be replaced each year and date on the sticker would tell the last safety check and possibly give an indication of when last in use.

However, Ive just noticed the piper logo - which was last used by BT in 2003 -  which could also be an indication of age.
I also believe BT use Cisco rather than Fujitsu NTEs these days for leased lines.
 

>> Looking around (on eBay), I have found an example of an 'ASDH NTE 16U/7A'

Ive also seen a couple of 36U/7A versions.  There seems to be an influx of them atm which makes me think that corporates may be moving on to increased bandwidth via other means ie EFM, newer 1/10Gbps Fibre and even making use of FTTC.

Looking at the example on that rack, the previous owner would likely have had a 32Mbps link installed sometime after 2003 but they retained (some of) their older >8 Mbps either as a fail-over or possibly like what they did at the local college - a separate network for a specific part of the building.

[burakkucat]

Ah, things are becoming a little clearer now, thank you.

So if I understand things correctly between 1 to 4 E1 2 Mbps leased lines, coming from Beattie, were connected to the 'TRIB' ports and the resultant N x 2 Mbps connection was taken, by the EU, from the 'OPT(X)' port.

An expanded portion of the image with the 'PASSED' sticker is attached, below. We can clearly see that it was tested in April 2006 and a re-test was due in April 2007.

[Edited to strike out incorrect statements!    ]

[kitz]

I cant point you to anything definitive as Im taking this from bits and pieces of information scattered over various sources.

Whilst without doubt the primary use for the ASDH NTE 4U/7A, ASDH NTE 8U/7A etc was at one time for E1 leased lines, they were clever little bits of kit and could also be used to connect and combine various other types of connections.  The different interfaces on the trib ports ie x.21 G.703 (BNC or RJ45) means that these multi-function units could also be used for other types of internet access such ISDN30 which combines has 8-30 x64k channels.

As well as T1, E1, ISDN30, the ASDH NTE X/7A could also support private circuits for connectivity between 2 company locations.

-----------

Interestingly it was whilst searching for some information on BTs provision of private circuits that I came across the following which was buried in the depth of BTs website, which may interest you as it describes these NTEs quite nicely. Megastream 2
"Single circuits can be delivered using CWSS and for multiple circuits optical fibre NTE’s delivering 4 x 2 and 16 x 2M/bit circuits are also used."

Megastream 2 is no longer an active product - limitations of 2Mb is old hat now - and has now been replaced with SHDS..  but from the Megastream page theres a link showing a single port  Fujitsu ADSH NTE.

[burakkucat]

Thank you for your research, Kitz. It is appreciated. I now need to examine the links that you have provided.

Now before I took possession of my ASDH NTE 4U/7A last year, in exchange for the sum of (I think) £5-95, I was provided with the photographs which I attached to my initial post (after suitable resizing). When I took possession of the equipment, I took notice of the 'PASSED' sticker but failed to note that the unit I then owned was not the one so photographed but a newer version that the vendor had available.

How do I now know? The 'Beattie' logo. In the photograph it is the older 'Piper'. On my unit it is the 'Colourful World' (but in monochrome). See today's photographs, below.

In my earlier posts, I suspect that I might have typed in such a way to cause confusion. I own a ASDH NTE 4U/7A, as mentioned in the first post. As part of my researches I came across the pair 16U/7A and 4U/7A (available on eBay) and uploaded the images thereof in post three. That pair I do not own. 

Having now perused the links provided, I can see that my initial assumption was correct. A fibre optic line arrived at the EU's premises from 'Beattie' and was connected to the ASDH NTE X/7A. From the tributaries, there were between one and X Megastream 2 circuits available for connection to the EU's CPEs. 

[Black Sheep]

Not much help, but a list of the ASDH units.


ASDH HDSL NTE1H/7A 1x2Mbit/s standard Unit -
2 copper pairs 
ASDH NTE 4U/7A 4x2Mbit/s standard unit -
single FC optical interface
ASDH NTE 4P/7A 4x2Mbit/s protection unit -
dual FC optical interface ASDH NTE 4E/7A 4x2Mbit/s expansion unit -
no optical interface.
ASDH NTE 16U/7A 16x2Mbit/s standard unit -
single FC optical interface 
ASDH NTE 16P/7A 16x2Mbit/s protection unit -
dual FC optical interface 
ASDH NTE 16E/7A 16x2Mbit/s expansion unit -
no optical interface 
ASDH NTE 34U/7A 1x34/45Mbit/s standard unit -
single FC optical interface 
ASDH NTE 34P/7A 1x34/45Mbit/s protected unit -
dual FC optical interface
ASDH NTE 34E/7A 1x34/45Mbit/s expansion unit -
no optical interface 
ASDH NTE 4UE/7A 4 Port 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
standard unit -
single SC/PC optical interface
ASDH NTE 4EE/7A 4 Port 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
expansion unit - no optical interface 
ASDH NTE
4UE/7B 4 Port 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
standard unit
ASDH NTE
4PE/7B 4 Port 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
protected unit
ASDH NTE
4EE/7B 4 Port 10/100 BaseT Ethernet
expansion unit - no optical interface
 
ASDH BBU/7A Battery back-up kit

[burakkucat]

Not much help . . .

I respectfully disagree. To see such a list, which emanates from a reliable source, is most interesting! 

[Black Sheep]

Ha ha ...... thank you sir.

[kitz]

Not much help . . .

I respectfully disagree. To see such a list, which emanates from a reliable source, is most interesting! 

I tend to agree with b*cat, it helps round this thread up, because theres various bits and pieces scattered over the internet asking what these units were for and what they did, but Ive not found anything in one place that is able to put all the definitive information in one thread