This column includes at least one exchange section defined between an associated upper liquid distributor and a lower fluid inletoutlet or an associated lower liquid distributor, the exchange section including an upper portion and, under it, another portion preferably of the conventional type. The system includes a high-pressure air hose coupled at one end to an air-supply source and adapted to be coupled at a plurality of outlets along the delivery system to bottles capable of containing pressurized air. Each of the final classes of the customer characteristic is represented separately in the predictive model. As a result, the physical state of the optics is continually and immediately available to the packet engine, in substantially real time.