CONNECTOR HOLDERS AND DISTRIBUTION FRAME AND CONNECTOR HOLDER ASSEMBLIES FOR OPTICAL CABLE

A planar connector holder (10, 156) for optical fibers having storage compartments (20, 22) for incoming fibers (114) and a mounting region (12) for connectors to outgoing fibers. The two storage compartments lie back-to-back on each side of a planar base (16) of the holder, the compartments being interconnected for fiber to pass from compartment-to-compartment. The mounting region and the storage compartments are aligned from end-to-end of the holder. With connector mounts (62) mounted in the mounting region, the mounts lie in planes common with the two storage compartments in a depth direction of the holder. A movable connector guard (70) is mounted upon the front of the holder. Also included is a distribution frame (76) and holder combination in which the holders are mounted in two banks of holder receiving stations (78) with patch cords (130) extending between the banks and selectively between connectors. These patch cords advantageously may hang freely as lengths of excess material within a storage channel formed between two vertical banks of receiving stations.