One of the key incentives for Verizon to automate patch panels is the promise of achieving what Wellbrock called “localized maintenance” rather than globalized. When Verizon makes interconnection changes today, they have to be coordinated with the entire region of the country surrounding the point of change because some of the affected fiber may be serving to back up other routes. However, if automation allows fiber changes to occur in milliseconds, the changes may not pose any consequences for the larger network and therefore might not need to be coordinated with the entire region. That could be an enormous time-saver.

As another example of its ambitions, Verizon recently tested what Wellbrock called a small “magneto-optical switch” that could switch between fibers in 44 microseconds (that’s 44 millionths of a second). It was so fast that it didn’t trigger a protection response from the Sonet gear in the network, which typically operates at a slower pace--in milliseconds. “It was fast enough to where the system didn’t care,” Wellbrock said. “And we’ve got a faster one now that we’re going to do some trials with.”

A switch that operates in microseconds wouldn’t currently offer the kind of scale that Verizon needs, Wellbrock added, though the carrier might eventually find a hybrid device that could apply microsecond switching to a limited number of test ports.

As for the current choices of patch panel automation gear, Verizon may use a mix of solutions depending on the various priorities specific to each circumstance. For example, on the line side of central office gear, loss is a delicate issue but port count is not as important. But on the short interfaces within a central office, where protection switching may be needed, loss is not as important as speed.

When Verizon finally settles on a solution (or solutions) for automating patch panels, it’s likely to hold off on deploying it until another project requires them to make widespread changes to the fiber. Because there’s so much live traffic involved, Verizon would rather do any necessary changes all at once. “A standalone project to replace all patch panels, I doubt that would happen,” Wellbrock said.

The company is hoping to conduct more trials this year and expects widespread deployment of automated patch panels next year.

“We’re wanting some of these products to mature a little more,” Wellbrock said. “We’ve been wanting to automate these patch panels for a long time but never had the technology. I believe if we start deploying these, we’ll see innovation in this area that we haven’t so far.”