Central Office / Headend / Mobile Switch Center

The Core of Every Network

The core of every network is the central office, headend, or mobile switch center (CO/HE/MSC). You may ask, what is a central office, headend, or mobile switch center? They are above-ground locations where active electronics live. The active electronics transmit and receive communication signals to provide services to end users. These services include voice, text, data, etc. As the number of connected devices grows exponentially, optical communication networks are required to evolve to support demand and advancements, such as 5G. As the central office enables all devices across communication networks, these facilities will remain a critical component of all networks and must not be overlooked.

Faced with the significant challenges of meeting increased bandwidth demands and providing enhanced services, network operators are re-evaluating their inside plant strategy. Our fiber optic hardware and cable assembly solutions simplify the design and deployment of your central officeheadend, or mobile switch center. Our versatile product families offer industry-leading density and flexibility and provide the lowest total cost of ownership.

While central offices, headends, and mobile switch center sites are focused on solutions located at the beginning of communications networks near the active electronics, Corning also offers solutions for the outside plant. For fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) solutions surrounding single-family units (SFU)multidwelling units (MDU), and broadband communities, check out the fiber-to-the-premise site. For information about MSO solutions, go to the hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) site.

Articles, Trends, and Insight

Leveraging technology to offer next-generation services.

Leveraging technology to offer next-generation services.

Traditionally, expanding fiber-based broadband access has involved fusion splicing optical fibers together in the field – a process that is time consuming, requires skilled labor, and is highly susceptible to delays from inclement weather, labor and material availability, and human error. With continuous innovation at the very heart of Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies (OTTC) business, OTTC  looked to technology and manufacturing advancements to deliver faster results for their subscribers and for their bottom line.

Find out how Corning’s innovations helped OTTC deliver exceptional customer experiences in this case study.

Read More

The drive for bandwidth is on, don’t get left behind.

Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM) 101

As consumers purchase more and more devices (cell phones, televisions, laptops, etc.) communication networks supporting these devices need to evolve to supply enough bandwidth for the increasing demand. One of the leading technologies allowing network operators to increase network density while leveraging current infrastructure is wavelength-division multiplexers (WDM).

In this webinar, we’ll discuss what WDMs are and why they are critical for the success of next generation bandwidth needs. We’ll tackle some of the questions on how they work, the physical components needed to be successful, and best usages in the telecommunications industry. We’ll also take a few minutes to...

Learn More

Top 6 IoT Design Considerations

Top 6 IoT Design Considerations

Keeping up with increasing service level demands, as well as the way those services are delivered to the customer, is driving a transformation in the central office/headend to include data center functionality. As various companies respond to these subscriber demands, the more important factor will be who responds first.

Learn More

CO, HE, and MSC Site Architectures

CO, HE, and MSC Site Architectures

While there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to network future-readiness, we have the design experience coupled with versatile central office, headend, and mobile switch center offerings to create a scalable solution that optimizes the capabilities of your unique network. There are multiple components within these inside plant buildings that allow users to send and receive signals from devices. The purpose of the products within the CO, HE, and MSC site is to provide cost-effective port management between actives and passives via port replication, and to provide a transition point between the outside plant and inside plant which carries signals or services from the actives to an end user’s device (cell phone, laptop, television, etc. ).


To learn more about each portion of these architectures and our leading product offerings for each element of the architectures, click on the links below.

Connections Matter. Configure yours today!

Connections Matter. Configure yours today!

Cable assemblies are an often-overlooked, critical component of your inside plant connectivity portfolio. As the industry’s leading supplier of cable assemblies, Corning’s state-of-the-art manufacturing process ensures reliable connector performance with products that meet or exceed all industry standards for reflectance and insertion loss. To configure assemblies that meet your specific needs, check out our cable assembly configurator!

Configure Now!

Tools and Resources