Fiber optic cable management system should provide bend radius protection at all points where a fiber optic cable makes a bend. Protect fiber optic cable from microbends and macrobends loss
Microbends are small deformities in the optical fiber and macrobends are larger bends of the fiber cable. But just deploying is not enough; a successful fiber network also requires a solid infrastructure based on a professional fiber optic cable management system.
Why is proper fiber optic cable management so critical?
Service providers have deployed more and more fiber optic cables for their high bandwidth, low costs, greater reliability and flexibility.
Going with the cheapest approaches for fiber optic cable management can cost more money in the long run.
Fiber optic cable management affects a network's reliability, performance, cost and maintenance. Fiber bends beyond the specified minimum bending radius can cause signal loss or even break the fiber, causing service disruption.
Specifying Fiber Cable Management Systems: Cost and Value
As a means of keeping operational costs down, service providers around the world are increasingly turning to systems integrators to install their networks. There is, however, an inherent risk in this practice. The system should be designed to ensure that individual fibers can be installed or removed without inducing a macrobend on an adjacent fiber. Well defined fiber optic cable management routing paths Audio & video cable
The leading cause of fiber optic cable minimum bend radius violation is improper routing of fibers by fiber installation technicians.
3. This helps ensure the network's long-term reliability; thus reduces the network operation cost by reducing network down time. Physical protection of installed optical fibers
Well defined fiber optic cable management system physically protects the fibers from accidental damage by technicians and equipment throughout the network. Two of these specifications are:RCA audio video cable
Telcordia Generic Requirements for Fiber Distribution Frames GR-449-CORE, Issue 2, July 2003
Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) Generic Equipment Requirements, TR-NWT-000063
. Easy access to installed optical fibers
Allowing easy access to installed fibers is critical in maintaining proper bend radius protection.
Fiber optic cable management system procurement
When making the decision on purchasing your fiber optic cable management systems, the goal is getting the most cost-effective system that provides the best cable management, flexibility, and growth capabilities. Telcordia recommends a minimum 38mm bending radius for 3mm fiber optic patch cords. It also makes accessing individual fibers easier, quicker and safer.
As a rule of thumb, the minimum bending radius should be bigger than ten times the outer diameter of the fiber cable.
2. Accessibility is critical during network reconfiguration. In light of the importance of proper cable management within the ODF, the service provider needs to specify the basic requirements for the cable management system.
4. A strong fiber cable management system will enable you to extract the maximum value from your installed optical fiber networks.
There are several industry-standard specifications that can assist service providers in writing specifications for their cable management systems.
In a proper fiber cable management system, routing paths are clearly defined and easy to follow; such that the technician has no other option but to route the cables properly.
Well defined routing paths reduce the training time required for technicians and increase the uniformity of work done.
As the purchasing decision for the fiber cable management system moves from the service provider's engineering group to the systems integration prime contractor, the cable management features of the distribution system are generally not specified.
What can happen, then, is the equipment installed may lack key features and functionalities.
This practice allows the service provider's technicians to focus on operations and maintenance, rather than network installation.
Four goals to achieve with professional fiber optic cable management
1. It provides the ability to reconfigure network, restore service and implement new services quickly