Speaking of Fiber again.

[BillieWhiskers]

This is something that has been bugging me for the past couple of years. When I started my current job two years ago, the first week I happened to notice that our fiber backbone runs come in to the MDF simply bundled and tie wrapped with the rest of the cables, no interduct, no wire management from the wall to the racks. I know this is not standard; it is downright sloppy in my opinion. Is this acceptable though? I have brought it my boss's attention, (she hired the company that did the job) she just chuckled. She is not an IT nor is she technical in the least. Just thought I'd ask the opinion of the experts.
I am thinking about taking some pics to show what a bang up job the cabling company did. Anyway to post pics here?

 

[daronwilson]

Send me some pics, I'll send you some rooms I have seen. As for fiber, IMHO it is proper to drop it in innerduct everywhere. Usually when I get it to the rack, I throw some orange split loom around it (available from panduit) because it is smaller and easier to work with. Will fiber work without the innerduct? Sure, especially if it is the breakout type, that is each strand is in a 3 mm buffer tube so it is designed to be broken out and handled. This stuff is much larger overall, but I think more durable.

I guess the real question is what is right? That one is a challange no matter how you view it. You can weigh that clear from "if it works, it must be right" to following appropriate standards and making it much prettier and easier to deal with.

My suggestion is to get the EIA/TIA standards, and in fact a new one out that was agreed on by ANSI/NECA/BICSI which covers cabling in commercial buildings and let that be your guidline. Like any standard, they are something to strive for, but they aren't actually required to make things run.

I have some horror sites as well, hopefully over time the customer upgrades and decides to spend enough money to have them done right. Personnally I don't do them if they want it done substandard because I have to support and warranty it. Not worth it.

Daron J. Wilson
Telecom Manager
LH Morris Electric, Inc.
daron.wilson@lhmorris.com

 

[mpstech]

It sounds like as long as it works, they (boss) do not worry about it. I think your problem is going to be when you try to expand. No innerduct makes that a pain and drives up cost and possible downtime for you systems. Like Mr Wilson said consult the EIA / TIA Standards, problem is most electricians and installers don't use them, they do as they were taught.