Patent ID: 6937157

Claim:
A cable assembly for connecting cards in a metallic cross connect switching system, the assembly comprising: a first card having a near end module including a near end mating part; a second card having a far end module including a far end mating part, wherein the near end module and the far end module each includes a communication device, a far end detector, a near end detector, and visual indicators, wherein the far end detector detects the presence of the far end module and the near end detector detects the presence of the near end module; a near-end loop back coupled to the near end detector; a far-end loop back coupled to the far end detector; and a cable further comprising: a connector at each end of the cable for connecting to the near end mating part and the far end mating part; a communication pair for coupling the communication devices; loop back pairs for triggering the far end detectors; and traffic pairs for transmitting data between the near end module and the far end module.