OT: Below grade fiber interconnect points

Thu Nov 14 14:01:07 UTC 2013

There are a couple of ways to do this.  If you're going to keep everything
below grade in a man hole or cable vault of some type, you definitely need
to have it in a sealed splicing enclosure.  That means instead of using a
patch panel, everything has to be fusion spliced.  You'll get less loss
because it's a direct splice, but changing things later becomes a pain.

The other option is to use an outdoor fiber patch cabinet / pedestal.
There are multiple outdoor rated above ground fiber cross connect cabinets
available that you could probably find an unobtrusive place to install.
Or, there are several manufacturers (3M, etc.) that make fiber cross
connects that fit in a plastic version of a standard telco pedestal which
you could pretty much place anywhere.

On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 9:04 PM, Justin M. Streiner <streiner at cluebyfour.org
> wrote:

> On Wed, 13 Nov 2013, Roy Hockett wrote:
>
>  Thank you for comments. Let me clarify the situation.  We have a building
>> that has been fiber cross connect
>> location and is being demolished.  This location has about 20 fiber cable
>> entering where we patch between
>> fiber paths.  If we relocated these cross connect field to another
>> building and that build is demolished we have
>> to do this all over again, so the desire was to have an independent
>> facility for the fiber cross connect field, but
>> I am guessing due to esthetics the below ground vault was selected, we
>> just learned of this selection and thus
>> my query to this group to find other that have dealt with similar
>> situations and if so, experience base recommendations,
>> and things to be aware of.
>>
>
> If the vault has a controlled environment and access, similar to what you
> would find inside of a comms room, that's one thing.  If it's more like a
> typical manhole (damp, dirty, dark, possible temperature extremes, other
> utilities/hazards), then the only thing that should be in there is a
> water-tight splice case.  Fiber patches need to be in a clean environment.
>
> Did this project provide any funds for relocation or replacement of the
> communications facilities that would be lost due to the demolition?  We've
> gone through this many times on our campus.
>
> jms
>
>