Reel Time 2006-2007 Columns

When selecting armored fiber, what additional steps are required to ensure proper grounding & bonding? Read this August 2007 Reel Time Article for an in depth look at this question. 

What can you do to protect your fiber optic cable plant while also reducing installation time and expense? Read this February 2007 Reel Time article to find out.

What can structured cabling manufacturers do to help green the planet? This December 2007 Reel Time column explores the reality, and the hype surrounding the green movement in the structured cabling industry. 

This article is intended to provide you with some field experience that will help you avoid the “gotcha’s” possible when working with tight buffered optical cabling.

 As technology evolves in every industry, everything that gets smaller, also seems to get better – from cell phones to iPODs to cameras. So, why should it be any different in the cable industry? This article will look at recent developments in copper and fiber cabling technology and attempt to answer, “Why is cable getting smaller and why is this better?”

Interlocking armor cable was developed to be installed indoors in both plenum and riser spaces without the use of conduit. Soon after, indoor/outdoor versions became available. Armored cable is robust, but yet special care and consideration must be taken to properly install the cable. This article details the best practices for such operations.

Now that Ethernet 10GBASE-T (IEEE 802.3an) is ratified and published, specifiers and end users are looking at the cable options to assure an efficient 10 GbE channel for their networks. The major­ity of U.S. installers tend to narrow the selection to Category 6 UTP, FTP or Augmented Category 6 (otherwise known as CAT 6A). However, there is one approved Category cable that seems to get very little attention in the U.S. that would provide future proofing to beyond 10 Gb/s, namely Category 7. (Originally published in Cabling Business Magazine, November 2006)

A major contractor was challenged with providing a consistent structured cabling layout for multiple applications and multiple networks. For this REL TIME column, we are presenting a real life installation scenario. The original system design, which encompassed a fairly straight-forward 50-micron fiber backbone and Category 6 copper for the horizontal data, voice and video cable runs, quickly turned into a mélange of applications and complex networks. Read how the installer was able to readjust the infrastructure design to fit the customer’s needs.