FIGURE 2: A rollable type high-count optical ribbon cable example. Most leading
optical fiber manufactures offer this new type of cable in a variety of fiber counts
and options, including indoor riser, plenum, indoor/outdoor LSZH and more.1
May/June 2019 I 47
TODAY’S OPTICAL
FIBER CABLES
Fiber optic splicing technologies
have come a long way over the
past 30 years. As technology has
marched along, fiber formats and
splicing requirements have kept
pace with needs. The data centers
of today are dominated with optical
fiber ribbon cables that could
be populated with up to 3,456
individual fibers. These high-count
ribbon cables are needed to be able
to transfer the mass amounts of
data, especially between linked data
centers. If the required connectivity
were fusion spliced one fiber at
a time, the job would take forever
to complete! Ribbon cables are
definitely needed for this very fact
alone. The need for this increased
number of fibers brings about the
requirement for smaller and lighter
ribbon cable formats.
The trend for ribbon cables is
moving toward a rollable ribbon
type cable (Figure 2) that allows
for up to double the fiber per duct
as shown in Figure 3. The very
nature of the ability of the fiber
to be very flexible allows the entire
duct to be filled. This type of optical
fiber is sometimes called spider fiber,
because when it is outside the duct
it may resemble a spider’s web when
held loosely. Another key benefit
of rollable ribbon fiber cable is the
outer polyethylene extruded foam
(PEF) jacket is much easier to strip
in preparation for splicing.
864 F Standard Ribbon 1728 Rollable Ribbon
25.6 mm 25.6 mm
FIGURE 3: Standard ribbon vs. rollable ribbon comparison.2