connecting two buildings 5

[turborob]

I have an assignment for college which requires you to define the types of cable to use for a lan,(connecting two small buildings together) internaly i have chosen utp cat5 cable for 100 mbts data transfer, but i am at a loss to what cable to use to connect the two buildings together, the buildings are 130 mtrs apart.
any suggestions on the two ,internaly or externaly would be welcome.
thanx in advance Rob....

 

[jimbopalmer]

Worst choice: both 10base5 and 10base2 copper cable will go over 150 meters, both risk introducing ground loops into the building wiring, and are only 10 meg.

10baseFL is also 10 meg but as fiber it does not conduct electricity, reducing the risk to you and the network equipment

100baseFX is both safe and Fast and is my recommendation if conduit exists between the two buildings

1000baseSX is cool but but be more bandwitdh that you need.

Free space optical (for some reason they prefer that name to 'death rays') can fo 100 meg over laser. this is good if you have no conduit between the building, and security is a prime concern.

802.11b wireless radio ethernet is cheap but not very secure. while they claim 11 meg 5.5 is more likely.

Wetern multiplex makes radio ethernet in a 20 meg, 100 meg, and 680 meg speed, not a standard but that means it is more secure.

The one thing you can't give for your heart's desire is your heart. - Lois McMaster Bujold

 

[MasterRacker]

Jimbo pretty much covered it. My 2 cents: use at least gigabit fiber for any long runs internal or external. In addition to the reasons jimbo mentioned you also want to have excess bandwidth to grow into. You don't want to have to replace cabling every time you step up the speed of your network.
Jeff
I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....

 

[dkediger]

Just did this last month for real. Buildings 1000' apart.

Buried 12count MM fiber to use GigEthernet over. Also buried 100 pair copper for phone service, as there are no fiber adapters for our type of phone system.

We're only using 1 pair of the fiber and 4 pairs of the copper.

Used direct burial armored cable; also put in a 4" PVC conduit that is empty at this time.

Burial involved about 50% boring to get under a street, several driveways, and a loading dock.

Cost: $16,000, including terminations at each end.

 

[MasterRacker]

How'd you handle the terminations on the copper? (Hope you used something better than simple sneak fuses.)
Jeff
I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....

 

[dkediger]

Right now they're simnply on 66 blocks. The way the phone system works, the copper is just a private conduit for a T1, with a router on each end.

 

[MasterRacker]

Even a buried, shielded cable can still be a lightning conduit. (I know from experience). At a minimum put grounded sneak fuses on each end of the used pairs and punch down all the unused pairs to ground.

Shielding alone isn't enough protection and we've learned the hard way that you can't do enough grounding.
Jeff
I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....

 

[kcottrcdd]

I'm with MasterRacker..... But I would include gas protector panels on both ends of the 100 pair cable.

 

[MWM]

You are proably past the installation/cost justification stage now, such that protectors and low-voltage circuit protection is not an option.

Be aware that standard protectors, such as required by the NEC code for exposed cables, are designed for protection against large voltage and current excursions. But even small transients have potential for damage to electronics such as routers and T-1 NIUs.

Conservative and best would be telco-style protectors and low-voltage protection, such as PanaMax. They have small units, some of which fit over 66-block pins.

Yours,
Mike