albis-elcon announced today that its RPS 1600 remote powering system for FTTX nodes and small cell networks is being used by a number of global network operators for affordable delivery of broadband services to major cities and rural areas. Leveraging existing copper lines, the RPS 1600 enables network operators to supply power to remote equipment without having to lay new cables or engage in third-party contracts. Supporting long-distance power consumption for up to 1.4 kilowatts per site at a distance of up to 6 km, the RPS 1600 helps operators address the global demand for high-bandwidth online services with an energy-efficient remote power supply.
“Delivering high-speed broadband services to rural areas can be challenging. Traditionally, network operators needed to invest heavily in infrastructure equipment to address distance from the power source issues. Moreover, the return on investment is considerably less in these areas compared with metropolitan cities where there are more subscribers,” said Eric van den Heuvel, vice president, product unit infrastructure, at albis-elcon. “The RPS 1600 allows network operators to power fiber-to-curb and fiber-to-building applications quickly and affordably, bringing high-speed broadband access to their customers on time and at a fraction of the cost of previous rollouts. Ultimately, this approach makes rural areas more attractive from a monetization standpoint, reducing the digital divide.”
By enabling copper infrastructure to be reused for electricity supply of micro DSLAMs in the field, the RPS 1600 provides network operators with significant OPEX and CAPEX savings. The system eliminates AC powering, digging, battery maintenance, and installation, reducing the cost of rollouts by an estimated 40 percent. Featuring a carrier-grade design, high level of safety protection, and intuitive network management functionality via albis-elcon’s MetroIntegrator software, the RPS 1600 guarantees long-distance power provisioning over telecom networks.
The RPS 1600 includes the PSC 1600 (Power Supply Central unit) with 16 sources and the PSR 080x (Power Supply Remote devices with up to IP68 water protection) with 8 power sinks and 120W output power per PSR-unit. Due to RPS1600 system flexibility, up to 6x PSC1600 and 12 PSR080x units can be easily combined in to one system, increasing the total output power per location by up to 1.440 watts.
Limiting the electricity current to 60 mA, the RPS 1600 enables easy compliance with the RFT-C standard and minimizes power losses on the twisted copper pair. The RPS 1600 supports a wide spectrum of applications, including ONUs in street cabinets (FTTC), micro-DSLAMs or MDUs used for FTTC/FTTB deployments, and mobile nodes for micro/pico cell-sites in 3G/4G networks (eNodeB).
The RPS 1600 is the latest product to come to market based on albis-elcon’s long-lasting experience and deep technological know-how in remote powering products and repeaters including FSP, PCM, and ZWR systems. The company’s remote powering product line is successfully being used by Tier-1 carriers in Germany and France, as well as other major carriers in Europe.