Patent ID: 7109603

Claim:
A system for integrating communications equipment, comprising: a power supply, wherein said power supply provides power to telephone equipment located in a central office of a telephony network for providing telephone service to a plurality of telephony network subscribers; and at least one power converter for receiving power from said power supply, said at least one power converter having: an active power converter module configured to receive power from said power supply and having a first output voltage connection that connects to a second set of communications equipment, the active power convener module operating to convert the power from the power supply into at least one output voltage to power said second set of communications equipment, a standby power converter module configured to receive power from the power supply and having a second output voltage connection that connects to said second set of communications equipment, the standby power converter module operating to convert the power into at least one output voltage to power said second set of communications equipment when the active power converter fails, a chassis having first and second backplane circuit board connectors and first and second channels aligned respectively with the first and second backplane circuit board connectors such that the first and second electrical connectors detachably connect to the active and standby power convener modules respectively, the first and second channels guiding the active and standby power converter modules to and from the first and second connectors respectively, a first relay connected to the first output voltage connection for providing a first monitoring signal that indicates whether the active power convener module is operable, a second relay connected to the second output voltage connection for providing a second monitoring signal that indicates whether the standby power converter module is operable regardless of whether the standby power converter is operating to convert power into the at least one output voltage.