One of the key distinctions
between conventional cabling and
blown fiber is that the initial installation
of the tube cable fiber pathway
infrastructure is the only time that
there will be physical disruption to
the OSP and buildings for optical
fiber projects. Because the installers
blow the fiber bundles in the main
distribution frame (MDF) room and
intermediate distribution frame (IDF)
rooms where the TDUs are typically
located, there is no need to ever re-
enter the tube cable infrastructure,
walls or ceilings. The physically
nondisruptive attributes of the blown
fiber system may be of interest to
healthcare facility customers, especially
as it pertains to the infectious
control mandates of the infection
control risk assessment (ICRA) since
dangerous pathogens often lurk
in the ceiling tiles.
40 I ICT TODAY
With the blown fiber system,
upgrades, MACs, fiber path rerouting
and other fiber-related projects can
be done anywhere and at any time,
discreetly out of view of employees
and visitors while preserving the aesthetic
beauty of buildings if that
is a pertinent customer goal. It also
eliminates overtime fiber projects
(e.g., 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.), construction
permits, and vetting large
crews for physical and cybersecurity
often associated with conventional
installations. Because any type of
fiber bundles can be blown in and
out of the network continuously,
there is no end to the fiber and bandwidth
life cycles. Some blown cabling
systems may make the above claims
as well.
Both conventional and blown
fiber offer many options for termination
of the fibers from single and
multi-fiber connectors (e.g., LC, SC,
ST and MPO) to splice-on-connector
options. Pre-connectorized plug-andplay
options are available with conventional
cabling but are not with
the blown fiber system.
Whether conventional or blown
fiber is used, manufacturers require
certified and/or licensed technicians
to perform the installations to assure
proper techniques are used and for
warranties to be validated. In most
cases, manufacturers of both require
technicians to attend classes to
receive these certifications and
require that the certifications be
renewed at certain intervals to keep
the installers up to date on the most
current techniques. This is critical
in working with any manufacturer
as most offer a 20 to 25-year warranty
on their systems when properly
installed.
FIGURE 7: Installation steps in the blown fiber system: Step 1: Create an end-to-end tube cable pathway that consists of tube cable
(e.g., OSP, riser, plenum, armored) Step 2: Install/blow the fiber bundle through the tube cable pathway (2, 4, 6, 12, 24, 48, or 72
fiber counts) (e.g., SMF, MMF, LOMM) Step 3: Terminate the fiber bundles at fiber termination units.