Cabling Chronicles
Cat 6A – A Bright Future Ahead
We all know that Category 6A is considered the highest performing twisted-pair cabling that supports 10 Gig speeds, and it’s been around now for more than a decade. So, you might be surprised to learn that Category 6 (now 17 years old!) continues to dominate worldwide sales of twisted-pair copper cabling. Although declining, even Category 5e that was introduced 20 years ago maintains a significant share of the market.
April 16, 2019
Testing on the Edge
You’ve probably heard all the buzz about edge data centers. Don’t worry – this doesn’t mean you’ll be testing fiber links while hanging on the side of cliff. But while you might be testing in new spaces, edge data centers won’t really change what you’re already testing.
So what exactly is an edge data center, anyway? Let’s take a closer look.
April 10, 2019
Shutting the Door on Dust
We know we talk a lot about fiber cleanliness, but let’s face it, contamination of fiber endfaces is still the number one cause of failures – regardless of much we harp on the topic.
You’ve probably often also heard comments surrounding the fact that dust caps are really just dust collectors. Thankfully, there are plenty of manufacturers out there that get it and have responded with shuttered fiber connectivity.
April 1, 2019
The Making of an Expert Fiber Tester and Network Troubleshooter Part 2 of 3
Profile: Vangie Michenzi - (Read Part 1 of Vangie’s story)
Senior Fiber Optic Project Manager
BICSI Credentialed ITS Technician
Certified Data Center Designer and Installer
Advanced Communications Technology Services
March 26, 2019
The Making of an Expert Fiber Testing and Network Troubleshooter Part 2 of 3
Part 2 of a three-part series
Profile: Vangie Michenzi
Senior Fiber Optic Project Manager
BICSI Credentialed ITS Technician
Certified Data Center Designer and Installer
Advanced Communications Technology Services
March 25, 2019
Gearing Up for Single-Pair Ethernet in the Enterprise
Maybe you’ve been hearing some buzz recently surrounding single-pair Ethernet and a couple of new standards in development to support 10 Mb/s Ethernet. If you’re thinking that 10 Mb/s seems like old school, you’re probably not alone. After all, 10BASE-T has been around since the 1990s and is rarely even used as a signaling rate in today’s LANs. But this latest 10 Mb/s application is something different, and it has countless opportunities for a wide range of low-speed, low-bandwidth IoT devices – all over a single pair.
March 20, 2019
Why an MPO Inspection Camera? | An Interview with the Product Manager
This week, Fluke Networks announced the FI-3000 Fiber Inspector Pro, designed for inspecting the end faces of Multiple Push-On (MPO) fiber connectors. We sat down with Carolyn Carter, the Senior Product Manager for
March 12, 2019
Single-Mode Fiber is On Rise. Are You Ready?
Many of you are likely seeing an increased use of single-mode fiber among your customers due to several benefits (primarily distance and bandwidth), connection to carrier networks, and emerging single-mode applications in development.
March 8, 2019
Copper Keeping Pace with the Trace
When it comes to Tier 2 fiber testing, there are many smart people in our industry who can read an OTDR trace and pinpoint the type and location of a fault within the cable. And for those who might not be proficient in reading a trace, Fluke Networks’ OptiFiber Pro OTDR features advanced logic that automatically interprets the trace to provide a detailed and graphical map of events that includes the location of connectors, splices and anomalies.
February 25, 2019
Beware the Polar Vortex!
This winter’s phenomenon popularly known as a “polar vortex” has kept many of us around the world under a blanket of snow and ice and well below freezing temps.
February 20, 2019
