Less Intrusive Retrofits, Expansions and Upgrades
If network retrofits, expansions, and upgrades are needed,
optical fiber reduces much of the expense and operational
impact. A fiber infrastructure can reduce high-efficiency
particulate absorption (HEPA) tenting requirements. HEPA
tenting is intrusive, disruptive and expensive for healthcare
facilities. With less cabling, there is also less need to
access above the ceiling. Therefore, there is less impact
relative to infection control risk.
For future network upgrades, today’s SMF cable
supports 1 GbE, 10 GbE, 40 GbE, 100 GbE and wavelength
division multiplexing (WDM) technologies, so
there is a high probability that the SMF LAN infrastructure
will support all future healthcare demands and may
not need to be touched after initial installation.
Space Savings = Cost Savings
Healthcare facilities that leverage fiber optic cabling and
POL technologies can gain significant space savings. The
space can be repurposed for more patient beds, larger
patient accommodations, additional work areas or other
healthcare facility amenities.
As discussed earlier, ANSI/TIA-1179-A expects that
45 percent of rooms should have two to six ports, 25
percent should have six to 12 ports, and 30 percent of
rooms should have 14 or more ports. These Gigabit port
densities and cabling can add up quickly and become
overwhelming in the main data center. Passive optical
LAN with fiber optic cabling provides a better alternative
for managing this girth. One OLT can serve 8,000 Gigabit
Ethernet endpoints (Figure 6) and can reach 12 to 18
miles across a passive infrastructure (Figure 7). A legacy
copper LAN data center can support only 450 Gigabit
Ethernet endpoints that reach only 300 feet over copper.
One SMF cable can serve 128 Gigabit Ethernet endpoints
compared to one copper cable that can serve one Gigabit
endpoint (Figure 8). As a result, POL occupies 90 percent
less space yet has four times greater GbE density and 300
times better reach compared to copper-based LANs.
Because POL can also transport healthcare network
services across a span of 12 to 18 miles with no power,
air conditioning, ventilation, floor space or management
needs, this means that telecommunications
rooms (TRs) can be eliminated, and the number
52 I ICT TODAY
POL Gigabit Ethernet Density per Shelf
3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
0 1000 2000
Copper POL
FIGURE 6: POL data center shelf density can be as much
as 8,000 GbE versus a copper LAN shelf supporting only
450 GbE.
POL Gigabit Ethernet Reach in Miles
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Copper POL
FIGURE 7: Gigabit Ethernet reach over a POL architecture
can be up to 18 miles versus a copper LAN reach of .06 miles
(300 feet).
POL Gigabit Ethernet Density per Cable
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Copper POL
FIGURE 8: POL Gigabit Ethernet density per fiber cable
can be 128 while a copper LAN is only one.