Patent ID: 7457503

Claim:
A telecommunications cabinet comprising: a housing including an access opening for accessing an interior of the housing, the housing also including at least one door for opening and closing the access opening; a plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords positioned within the housing, the plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords including a first plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords and a second plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords; a first cable routed out of the housing, the first cable being optically connected to the first plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords; a fiber optic splitter optically connected to the second plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords; a second cable routed out of the housing, the second cable being optically connected to the second plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords; an array of fiber optic adapters mounted within the interior of the housing for optically coupling the first plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords to the second plurality of connectorized fiber optic cords; a connector storage arrangement where fiber optic connectors of at least some of the connectorized fiber optic cords are stored within the housing, the connector storage arrangement including an away of storage ports; the fiber optic connectors including connector bodies having first ends positioned within the storage ports, the fiber optic connectors also including ferrules positioned at the first ends of the connector bodies, the ferrules having side surfaces and end surfaces, the ferrules holding optical fibers having polished end faces positioned at the end surfaces of the ferrules; and dust caps having open ends positioned opposite from closed ends, the dust caps including inner surfaces defining central openings that extend from the open ends to the closed ends of the dust caps, the dust caps being mounted on the ferrules of the fiber optic connectors with the inner surfaces of the dust caps engaging the side surfaces of the ferrules and the closed ends of the dust caps opposing the polished end faces of the optical fibers, the dust caps being mounted on the ferrules of the fiber optic connectors while the first ends of the fiber optic connectors are positioned within the storage ports.