How to Choose Fiber Enclosure for Your Data Center

The data center is the heart of a fiber optic network. To ensure its long-term reliable network performance, all the optical equipment within data center should be well organized. However, the current multi-fiber counts and high-density optical cabling put strain in the cable management. Fiber patch enclosure provides solid fiber-optic-link protection and space-saving cable management, which is becoming a must-have component in data center. There are several fiber optic enclosures available on the market that are widely utilized in data center or server room. This article will briefly introduce the commonly used fiber enclosure designs to better meet your data center requirement. LC to LC fiber cable and patch panels are mounted in a fiber enclosure in the following picture.

Fiber Enclosure Designs

Rack mount fiber enclosure is the commonly used type in data center as it provide a convenient and rugged termination point for fiber jumper cables. This rack mount enclosures offer a flexible connectivity system using a variety of adapter plates and MPO cassettes. The enclosures work equally as well with armored cable as they do with multiple trunk cables and are available in 1U-4U versions.

1U enclosures fit standard 19-inch racks and have rear cable management rings. 2U, 3U and 4U enclosures are designed for side or rear trunk cable entry, have removable front and rear covers, edge guards on the front for cable assembly protection and front and rear cable management rings. 2U, 3U and 4U enclosures also fit standard 19 and 23-inch racks and have a clear plastic, removable front door that can be outfitted with a label for easy identification of connections.

Except for different size, there are two types of rack mount enclosures: fiber enclosure with a removable lid and slide-out fiber enclosure (see in the following figure). The slide-out version is typically more expensive than the other version. But slide-out fiber enclosure can allow customers to remove the whole enclosure from the rack, thus, it can provide easier internal fiber connection access.

As for the design of the fiber enclosure front panel, two commonly used types are fixed front panels and removable front panel. The fixed front panel can be loaded with appropriate fiber optic adapters, while the removable front pane can accommodate several fiber optic adapter panels or cassettes just as seen in the following image.

How to Select the Fiber Enclosure

If this is your first time to install a fiber optic network, you should follow the instructions below. Only in this way can you satisfy your installation requirement, and matched your budget as well.

• Physical requirement

First, list all the requirement that will be mounted in the enclosure and their complete measurements:height, depth, width, weight. All of these figures will ultimately determine what type of fiber enclosure you will need. Note that always select a bigger fiber enclosure for all your existing equipment as well as for future proof.

• Critical accessories

A fiber enclosure should provide plenty of grommeted access points through the rear and top of the cabinet, as well as through the bottom for raised floor installations. Not only are the fiber optic cables mounted in the fiber enclosure, but devices like hubs, routers, patch panels, and monitors are needed to be mounted in the enclosure-network.

All servers should be protected by an uninterruptible power supply(UPS) system, available in a variety of rack-mount configurations. Thus power protection is needed. Remember that any accessories that are not rack-mountable will require additional trays, shelves and mounting accessories.

• Budget

Money is always a main considerations. Thus choose the fiber enclosure that can meet your premium features at a very competitive price is the number one task. People are usually in a dilemma about whether to choose a equipment that are suitable for now or the expensive one for future proof. It is hard to say, but a premium enclosure is a durable item that will provide services for years to come.

Summary

High density fiber enclosures can maximize the amount of active equipment in a data center by minimizing the footprint of the networking infrastructure, but there’s a problem—all that fiber in a small amount of space creates problems when changes need to be made. Therefore for easiest access, quick-release side panels should be a top priority when selecting an enclosure.

With several years of experience in fiber optic cabling solutions, FS.COM offers the world-class optical products and services to maximize the performance and scalability of your data center applications. Our fiber enclosures provide the highest fiber densities and port counts in the industry contributing to maximizing rack space utilization and minimizing floor space. For more detailed information, you can directly contact us.

Why Is Optical Fiber Key to Cloud Computing?

In such a digital world, human beings are keen on developing technologies to facilitate daily lives. In order to process and store tons of information, many different forms of storage like CD-ROM, USB Key, and DVD has been developed. However, the above devices can only store limited data, which is not adequate for the information explosion. Thus cloud computing, as an advanced storage solution, appears on the stage. So how to achieve cloud computer? Different voices with different opinions emerge, but from a technician’s standpoint, a reliable cabling connectivity or fiber jumper is key to cloud computing. Whether you agree with my opinion or not, the following article will provide some detailed information about it to help you find out the answer.

What Is Cloud Computing?

The “Cloud” in the term cloud computing, describes an image of the complex infrastructure, covering all the technical details. Obviously, the cloud computing has nothing to do with the weather “cloud”. It is just an analogy to give it a body to imagine. Cloud computing is a model for computing transforming. In this model, data and computation are operated somewhere in a “cloud”, which is some collection of data centers owned and maintained by a third party. This enables ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

There are public cloud, private public and hybrid cloud. When a cloud is made available in a pay-as-you-go manner to the general public, we call it a public cloud. And when the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for a business or an organization, it is called private cloud. A composition of public and private cloud is called hybrid cloud. A hybrid cloud integrates the advantages of public cloud and private cloud, where private cloud is able to maintain high service availability by scaling up their system with externally provisioned resources from a public cloud when there are rapid workload fluctuations or hardware failures.

Optical Fiber Is the Key to Cloud Computing

In the “cloud” network, subscribers’ terminals are simplified into a pure and single device with only input and output functions but meanwhile utilize the powerful computing and processing functions from the “cloud”. This means that the terminal must have a very fast connection, because the simple terminal means fast network and powerful platform requirement, where “pipes” are put forward higher requirement. Thus, fiber is the ideal “pipe” for cloud computing. The following image shows the evolution of memory storage.

In fact, computer applications, software and even file storage now reside on the Internet or in the “cloud”. Yet another driving force is mobile Internet traffic, which relies heavily on cloud computing. It is said that there is over 1 Exabyte of data currently stored in the cloud. And this number is growing exponentially every day. The greatest thing that will limit your ability to work seamlessly in the “cloud” is your Internet connection. Thus, to access the tremendous amounts data, we need fiber networks that can carry Terabits—one trillion bits per second. Fiber jumper cables can offer more available bandwidth and speed which meets the demands of the “cloud”. Obviously, no technology is more effective at meeting that challenge than fiber at present.

What’s more, FTTH infrastructure is expected as a solution to meet the growing demands for high bandwidth. It brings fiber optic connections directly into homes, allowing for delivery speeds up to a possible 100 Mbps, or even more. These speeds open the door to a variety of new services and applications for residential, business and public service markets. The relationship between FTTH and cloud computing is subtle. FTTH encourages the growth of cloud computing with its benefits. And cloud computing may in turn drives the development of FTTH.

Conclusion

As cloud computing market continues to mature, current and potential information technology capabilities offers many benefits to our lives. However, just like other new technology advancement, cloud computing also faces many challenges, which requires all of us to form thoughts on the strengths and downfalls of the technology. Fiber optic cable, as an indispensable component of network infrastructure, plays a vital role in cloud computing. After going through the whole passage, do you agree with me? Or what’s your opinion? You can leave your messages to share with us.

Loose-Tube or Tight Buffer Indoor/Outdoor Cable for FTTH Application

FTTH (Fiber to the Home) network compared with technologies now used in most places, increases the connection speeds available for residences, apartment building and enterprises. FTTH network is the installation and use of optical fiber from a central point known as an access node to individual buildings. The links between subscriber and access node are achieved by fiber jumper cables. Loose-tube and tight buffer cables are commonly used to transmit signals with high speed, which are capable of supporting outdoor or indoor environment. Is there a cost-effective solution that can support both indoor and outdoor environment in FTTH network? To answer this, the construction and comparison of loose tube cable and tight buffer cable will be introduced in the following article.

Loose-Tube and Tight-Buffer Cable

The “buffer” in tight buffer cable refers to a basic component of fiber optic cable, which is the first layer used to define the type of cable construction. Typically a fiber optic cable consists of the optical fiber, buffer, strength members and an outer protective jacket (as showed in Figure 1). Loose-tube and tight-buffer cables are two basic cable design. Loose-tube cable is used in the majority of outside-plant installations, and tight-buffered cable, primarily used inside buildings.

Loose-tube cable consists of a buffer layer that has an inner diameter much larger than the diameter of the fiber see in the following picture. Thus, the cable will be subject to temperature extremes in the identification and administration of fibers in the system. That’s why loose-tube cables are usually used in outdoor application. The loose-tube cables designed for FTTH outdoor application are usually loose-tube gel-filled cables (LTGF cable). This type of cable is filled with a gel that displaces or blocks water and prevents it from penetrating or getting into the cable.

Tight buffer cable using a buffer attached to the fiber coating is generally smaller in diameter than loose buffer cable (showed in Figure 2). The minimum bend radius of a tight buffer cable is typically smaller than a comparable loose buffer cable. Thus tight buffer cable is usually used in indoor application.

Tight buffered indoor/outdoor cable with properly designed and manufactured can meet both indoor and outdoor application requirements. It combines the design requirements of traditional indoor cable and adds moisture protection and sunlight-resistant function to meet the standards for outdoor use. Tight buffered indoor/outdoor cable also meets one or more of the code requirements for flame-spread resistance and smoke generation.

Choose Tight Buffer Cable for FTTH Network

The inner construction of tight buffer indoor/outdoor cable have been introduced above. The following will explain why tight buffered indoor/outdoor cable is a better FTTH cabling solution. Figure 3 shows a clear structure of FTTH network.

Using the traditional choice of LTGF cables as the outdoor cable, there would be a conversion from one fiber type to another type, which includes prep work on the fiber, the need for splice tray, the routing of fibers in the tray, and other similar detail. Before termination and splicing, the gel of LTGF cable must be cleaned and the breakout point of the main cable must be blocked by some method to prevent oozing of the cable gel. In addition, this cable type must normally be terminated or spliced close to the cable entryway of a building to switch to indoor cable, as it generally incompatible with indoor fiber codes. This time consuming and labor intensive process adds hidden costs to install the LTGF cables.

However, using only tight buffer indoor/outdoor cable for FTTH is much more convenient and cost-effective. A tight-buffered indoor/outdoor cable can be used throughout the link, requiring no transitions at the building entryway. Tight buffer indoor/outdoor cable requires less care to avoid damaging fibers when stripping back the cable. The termination and splicing of these cables are easier than that of LTGF cables.

An important reason why choose tight-buffered indoor/outdoor cable for FTTH cable installation is the reliability of the overall system. Splicing are the weakest point in a FTTH network. With splicing, the bare fiber ends are open to dust, dirt, water, vapor, and handing which might reduce the fiber strength and increase brittleness. Choosing loose tube outdoor cable for FTTH, there will be splices after the conversion from one cable type to another type. The splices inside a building may be held in a cabinet that is open to the air, which might decrease the reliability of the FTTH network. Using the tight buffer indoor/outdoor cable could eliminate splicing and improve the installation reliability greatly.

Conclusion

This article has explained loose-tube and tight buffer indoor/outdoor cables. Network installer can run a single cable type and remove a transition point between the outside plant and the inside plant. At the same time, the reliability of the overall FTTH network can be increased greatly. FS.COM offers high quality fiber cable assemblies such as Patch Cords, Pigtails, MCPs, Breakout Cables etc. All of our custom fiber patch cords can be ordered as Single Mode 9/125, Multimode 62.5/125 OM1, Multimode 50/125 OM2 and Multimode 10 Gig 50/125 OM3/OM4 fibers. If you have any requirement, please send your request to us.

It’s Time to Deploy FTTH

Fiber to the home (FTTH) developments clearly influence the demand for today’s home purchases. Developers and home builders recognize the need for reliable high-speed broadband communications. Thus they should seize the opportunity to design FTTH network during the design and construction of the development. In fact, deploying FTTH in a new development is at cost similar with deploying copper at the same location. But the long-term benefits stemming from fiber-ready infrastructure further catch people’s attention. Unlike coax and xDSL, fiber is more than just fast. So why implement FTTH development? The following article will give a further illustration of the reasons.

Fast Bandwidth

Cable modem and xDSL helped residential broadband get off the ground. Now, however, the sheer speed of fiber overcomes bandwidth limitations of coax and copper. To illustrate, rising consumer demand for big-screen LCD displays can chew up 19 Mbps of bandwidth per channel. In addition, broadband connections are constantly clamoring for more band-width, both upstream and downstream. With busier lives, families want high-speed broad-band communications to transfer e-mail, digital photos and Internet files and they also want entertainment options such as time-sensitive, interactive video gaming that requires bi-directional bandwidth capability. With the typical household having three or more TVs and the ferocious appetite of broadband vying for capacity, it is easy to see that an abundant supply of fiber bandwidth must be included in the design and construction of the development. Figure 1 shows the basic FTTH architecture.

Reliable Capacity

Noisy channel conditions, inclement weather, environmental clutter such as buildings and trees, corroded connections and distance limitations can all impact the reliable delivery of residential broadband. However, the FTTH network access architecture is immune to all of these conditions so there is virtually no downtime. In addition, economical battery backup at the residential NID automatically kicks in when line power is interrupted. Furthermore, FTTH assures the demanding subscriber that they always receive the high-speed broadband capacity that they are paying for, both upstream and downstream, no matter how loaded the access network may be. This built-in reliability is no longer the exception but rather what the homeowner now expects and the builder’s life becomes much easier with satisfied homeowners.

Easy Deployment

Making the optical channel ready for signals once required a skilled technician to carefully splice fiber cables together. Today, the success of FTTH is no longer tied to fiber splicing in the field. As already alluded to, the distribution and drop segments of the FTTH network are easily deployed and intuitively connected. For example, the preterminated fiber drop can reduce subscriber connection time by up to 50 percent because it can be easily screwed into the terminal and the NID by an installer who does not need to know anything about fiber. In the distribution segment, the ease of deployment can shave off 80 percent of the deployment time, because once the terminal distribution system has been placed, homes are immediately ready to be connected into the network.

In addition, with FTTH, there is no need for high-voltage power supplies in the neighborhood. Manufacturers are also continuing to improve the appearance and reduce the size of fiber cabinets and terminals relative to the traditional copper products. Combined, this results in a much more aesthetically pleasing deployment than ever before.

Future Proofing

An FTTH network offers land developers an enviable return on their investment capital. Timely planning today can net thousands of dollars in profit. For example, if you invest $500 per home to deploy the fiber jumper and connecting hardware and the home then sells for $5,000 more than it would have otherwise, your investment just returned a handsome 1000 percent profit. That is easy math and easy money.

The return on fiber investment does not stop with its deployment, however. The network operator will also appreciate that robust, reliable and cost-effective FTTH network as they seriously consider their operational expenses. For example, an optical access network featuring segments that can, by design, be quickly connected together not only reduces the upfront deployment cost but also will reduce the amount of time required to turn up subscribers, test and troubleshoot the network. As the triple-play battle for the residential customer continues, a preterminated FTTH network can make the business case very enticing because it sets the network operator’s stage for reduced operational costs and additional revenue from advanced services such as home security and home networking.

Operationally, fiber drop cables are quickly and easily screwed into terminals and residential network interface devices (NID) across the country to save both time and money. Without these key advances in FTTH technology that reduce capital and operational costs, FTTH would continue to wrestle its competitors but now FTTH wins the access investment hands down.

Beneficial Solution

Modern day residential services like HDTV and high-speed broadband that enhance the quality of life in homes are being delivered via FTTH. Looking forward, FTTH residential developments ensure that advanced services such as telecommuting, telemedicine and distance learning will all be transparently realized. FTTH results in reduced commutes and environmental pollution, prolonged quality of life, and education, education, education. Broadband communications is a key element in an increasingly competitive global economy. With FTTH, the world will be better positioned for social and economic prosperity.

Summary

To sum up, FTTH deployment is unstoppable with all the positive impacts that fiber affords. If you are still waiting for service providers to install cable and manually turn up services, then you are left behind. Fiberstore provides a full range of fiber jumper cables suitable for FTTH deployment. MM fiber patch cords and single mode fiber patch cables are also available. Come to us if you have any request for our products.