CAT5 surge/lightning strike protection recommendations?

Tue Sep 13 20:24:51 UTC 2005

I have a bunch of cat5 buried about 1 ft below the surface connecting multiple
buildings on a campus (short runs) and lightning strikes nearby have caused
surges along one or more of the cables and burnt out switch ports. I would
like to protect the switch ports -- there seem to be lots of products on the
market.

Anyone have recommendations (tested/practical is best :-)?

The APC Protectnet PNET1 and PRM24 seem quite nice and not too expensive --
if they work....pros? cons?

Thanks,
Adi