Intergrated multi-rate cross-connect system

An integrated multi-rate cross-connect system (10) includes a broadband subsystem (14) for processing optical and electrical telecommunication network signals. A wideband subsystem (16) processes wideband level electrical telecommunication signals from the network, from the broadband subsystem (14), and from a narrowband subsystem (18). The narrowband subsystem (18) processes narrowband level electrical telecommunication signals from the network and the wideband subsystem (16). An administration subsystem (12) provides centralized control and synchronization to the broadband subsystem (14), the wideband subsystem (16), and the narrowband subsystem (18). The wideband subsystem (16) is coupled to the broadband subsystem (14) and the narrowband subsystem (18) by internal transmission links (30) to allow for remote distribution of each subsystem. Each subsystem operates within its own timing island synchronized to a reference timing signal to facilitate component distribution.