INTELLIGENT CABLING
Fibre optic
technology
is immune to
electromagnetic
interference and
has practically
no length
limitations.
In environments where major
rebuilding or refurbishment activities are
planned, higher rollout speeds can bring
significant savings. Fibre to the Office
can also be used in projects with specific
requirements. For example, where space
is limited or where structural changes
cannot be made, such as renovations of
historical buildings. There is no need for
technical rooms on each floor, saving
building space.
Benefits
Fibre to the Office uses future-proof
fibre-optic cables with high bandwidth
for riser cabling and horizontal wiring.
This means that several generations
of active equipment can be supported.
Furthermore, network expansions are easy
to accommodate. With Fibre to the Office,
it is easy to realise network topologies
with built-in redundancy – which, in turn,
means higher network uptime.
Fibre transmission can halve energy
requirements in comparison with
equivalent copper systems. Furthermore,
Fibre to the Office infrastructure can be
expanded more easily and with fewer
additional resources. Fibre to the Office
also supports Power over Ethernet in a
highly efficient manner. The lower and
more scalable number of ports on a FTTO
switch up to 5, make it possible to provide
all ports with Power over Ethernet.
Fibre to the Office can be installed
much faster and easier than a traditional
network with floor distributed switches
and cabling. The fact that installation
times for large portions of the network
can be significantly reduced mean, in turn,
that initial installation time can be 60%
lower than is the case with established
network designs.
Installation time of the cable
infrastructure can be minimised since no
on-site terminations are required. The
savings on installation times are mainly
the result of less cables and, therefore, less
pulling time. Installation and integration
of distribution rooms is completely
eliminated. The zone distribution boxes
also increase the flexibility for future adds
and changes.
Choosing a Fibre to the Office network design
over a traditional network design results in
lowering of expenses. The costs of passive
fibre infrastructures are lower than those
of copper and savings are largely achieved
by low building related costs and no floor
distribution rooms.
Cost of ownership
Fibre to the Office can significantly
change the entire total cost of ownership
structure. Introduction of highly efficient,
low maintenance FTTO switches
with extensive remote management
capabilities on board and a lower number
of equipment rooms, means less power
consumption and less staff hours.
The longer lifespan and reduced
installation times contribute to
significantly lower operational costs.
Lower requirements for service, repair
and network management lead to further
savings. Downtime is also reduced:
not only because less maintenance is
generally required, but also because
FTTO switches offer high protection
levels against hacking attacks.
As less equipment rooms for sub-
distribution and related monitoring are
needed, capital expenditure is reduced.
Savings may be realised on cabling, active
network components and other costs
both in the purchasing and operation
phases. Further contributors to improved
capital expenditure include lower energy
and maintenance costs, less patches and
significantly improved flexibility in the
area of moves adds and changes.
The future-proof fibre ring, low-
maintenance smaller switches, minimal
cooling requirements and fewer network
ports and floor distributors can soon add
up to savings of 30% or more.
Looking at a sample application with
1,000 user ports, we see that choosing a
Fibre to the Office network design over
a traditional network design results in
a lowering of expenses as high as 36%.
These savings are achieved in several
areas. First of all, the costs of passive
fibre infrastructures are lower than those
of copper.
The cost savings are largely achieved by
the low building related costs and no floor
distribution rooms.
Excerpted from Nexans’ Fibre to
the Office.
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