CAT5 surge/lightning strike protection recommendations?

Wed Sep 14 15:48:32 UTC 2005

re: ""what did your electricians say ..."

Back to lurking in a moment, but I should note that fire and safety code issues
are so shrouded in matters of locality and jurisdiction, at times, and bound up
in industry and governmental standards that are so esotric in nature, that the
typical electrical worker, and I dare say even most licensed electricians and IT
consultants, are totally unaware of the specifics, or they are given to gross
misconceptions and half-truths. This is so, not so much due to the complex nature
of the matter at hand, but due to a lack of regular exposure to it. Nufsed.

Frank A. Coluccio
DTI Consulting Inc.
212-587-8150 Office
347-526-6788 Mobile

On Wed Sep 14 10:58 , 'Hannigan, Martin' sent:

    I asked him "what did your electricians say" and the entire
    ground conversation went south.

    Good post. Thanks.

    --
    Martin Hannigan (c) 617-388-2663
    VeriSign, Inc. (w) 703-948-7018
    Network Engineer IV Operations & Infrastructure
    hannigan at verisign.com

    > -----Original Message-----
    > From: owner-nanog at merit.edu
[owner-nanog at merit.edu','','','')">owner-nanog at merit.edu]On Behalf Of
    > Frank Coluccio
    > Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 10:52 AM
    > To: nanog at merit.edu
    > Subject: Re: CAT5 surge/lightning strike protection recommendations?
    >
    >
    >
    > There's not much left to interpretation and preferences here, aside
    >
    > from the choice of medium to be used. I should also add that
    > some of the
    >
    > advice that has been posted in this thread, as well-meaning
    > and thoughtful as it
    >
    > has been, has been downright dangerous to follow.
    >
    >
    >
    > If one is going to run copper cable between buildings, or outdoors, in
    >
    > general, in lieu of the better alternatives of fiber or wireless, then
    >
    > there are local and national electrical, fire and safety
    > codes in effect
    >
    > that spell out what you must do, enforceable under the penalty of law.
    >
    > And while certain of those precautions have been spelled out
    > upstream in
    >
    > piecemeal fashion, none thus far has been entirely accurate
    > or complete.
    >
    >
    >
    > Yes, when running copper between buildings, lightning
    > arresters/circuit
    >
    > - i.e., protection - are a must, but they must be placed
    > within a couple
    >
    > of feet of the building point of entry, or POE. Think about
    > it. Does it
    >
    > make great sense to protect a cable from surges deep within
    > the interior
    >
    > of a building if the cable traverses vast distances on premises
    >
    > unprotected between the point of entry and the terminal point.
    >
    > Therefore, the stipulation of performing grounding, bonding and surge
    >
    > protections at the point where the cable enters the building (in
    >
    > potentially at addition points, elsewhere, when required).
    >
    >
    >
    > Also, if the copper cable is "armored" with a corrugated steal jacket,
    >
    > as many outside plant cables are, then the shielding (the armor) must
    >
    > also be "bonded" to earth ground at the POE, as well. So the issue
    >
    > becomes one not only of grounding, but bonding, as well. And while I'm
    >
    > on that subject, be aware that many FIBER OPTIC cables designed for
    >
    > inter-building/outside plant use are also armored and must be
    > treated in
    >
    > the same manner.
    >
    >
    >
    > BICSI (Building Industries Consulting Systems International)
    >
    > www.bicsi.org does a good job of rolling up all of the relevant
    >
    > standards, as do a number of other sources. For some good coverage of
    >
    > safety, grounding and bonding principles and techniques see the
    >
    > following Structured Cabling Supplement reference by Panduit
    > (taken from
    >
    > the Cisco CCNA Networking Academy Program)
    >
    >
    >
    > http://www.tecmiami.com/cisco/extra/CCNA1_CS_1_en.pdf
    >
    >
    >
    > Frank A. Coluccio
    >
    > DTI Consulting Inc.
    >
    > 212-587-8150 Office
    >
    > 347-526-6788 Mobile
    >
    >
    > 