Cabling Installation & Maintenance articles from July 2002

Cabling Installation & Maintenance archives from July 2002

Cat 6 is here - now what? It looks like those deploying gigabit-speed protocols are the most likely candidates for Category 6. (Editorial).(Category 6 standard for publication)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... It is official. Early last month, the TR-42 Committee of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA--www.tiaonline.org) approved the Category 6 standard for publication. Officially, the specifications for Category 6 cabling systems...

Fiber-to-the-desktop: fact or fiction? Tomorrow's applications and increasing demand for network performance are the real compelling reasons for LAN managers to use fiber in the horizontal. (Perspective).(Brief Article)(Column)
July 1, 2002... To date, fiber-to-the-desktop has not met the expectations that many of us in the optical networking industry have been predicting. With continuing advances in copper cabling and the wide-spread adoption of Gigabit Ethernet over copper in the...

Pre-construction wireless site surveys, and other virtually impossible tasks. (Ask Donna).
July 1, 2002... Wireless seems like a strange topic for a cabling installation magazine, but it is not. You see, a wireless LAN is not exactly wireless, it's...well...less wired. A wireless access point must have either a data cable or a power cable, or...

Let's hear your NEC questions.
July 1, 2002... Have you read the new National Electrical Code 2002 from cover to cover yet? Anything in there you find especially puzzling or problematic? If so, please forward your comments to me before August 15. I have been asked to serve as an alternate...

Media converters facilitate horizontal fiber architectures: technological advances have driven down prices while increasing functionality. (Design).
July 1, 2002... In network cabling systems, media converters sometimes are viewed as temporary, stopgap, or work-around solutions for users who want fiber in the horizontal or require link distances that copper will not support. While some of these perceptions...

Real-time monitoring brain comes to cable management systems: for retrofits or new builds, emerging intelligent patch panels can instantly document MACs. (Installation).(moves, adds, and changes)
July 1, 2002... Cable management systems that feature intelligent patch panels are making their way into the market, and three major software providers are carving out a niche as they pair up with structured cabling manufacturers. The systems differ in...

Keeping your cool when the racks heat up: enclosure manufacturers are building technologies into their equipment to help cool the contents. (Technology).
July 1, 2002... In distributed data-communication networks, such as those typically found in commercial office buildings, heat loads have long required some type of thermal management. And enclosure manufacturers have responded for years. "Many of our...

Opportunities widen as home market broadens. (Industry Spotlight).(survey of homeowners)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2002... As the popularity of home networking in the U.S. increases, the demographics of those using the technology are evolving, according to a recent survey conducted by In-Stat/MDR. And as homeowners are bombarded with a wide array of multimedia...

American University will become first fully integrated wireless school. (Industry Spotlight).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... American University in Washington, DC is installing a wireless system to handle voice, data and messaging, starting this fall, making the 10,000-student institution the first fully integrated wireless university. The project, which will...

TIA group confronts optical-fiber 'myths'. (Industry Spotlight).(Telecommunications Industry Association)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Optical fiber is fragile. Its performance capabilities are unnecessary, and the fiber itself is more difficult to install than copper. These are just some of the myths that the Fiber Optics LAN Section (FOLS) of the Telecommunications...

Is audio driving structured cabling for the home?(Russound SMP offers A-BUS audio system)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Russound SMP (www.russound.com), a manufacturer of audio/video control and distribution systems, sees a growing need for structured cabling in the home networking market. And this need, they say, will be driven by audio entertainment systems....

Taking the labor out of cable labeling and marking: today's labeling equipment has automated functions and time-saving features that take the sweat out of ID-ing your cables. (Product Update).
July 1, 2002... A past Product Update (see "Cable labeling equipment makes installation more efficient," February 1998, page 70) in Cabling Installation & Maintenance predicted "the future of cable marking and labeling lies in improving existing automation."...

Product Update: cable marking/labeling equipment.(Directory)(Illustration)
July 1, 2002... PRODUCT UPDATE: CABLE MARKING/LABELING EQUIPMENT Product Name/Model Applications: Indoor (I), Outdoor (O), Hazardous ...

Network interface device enclosure. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Corning Cable Systems' all-plastic network interface device (NID) is designed to house active components for fiber-to-the-home, fiber-to-the-business, and broadband access markets. It can incorporate a fusion splice tray and up to 3 meters of...

Uninterruptible power supply. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Compaq's UPS R1500 XR uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for rack mounts is designed to provide power protection in space-constrained rack enterprise environments. Rated up to 1,500 VA/1,340 watts, the UPS features a simple front-panel display....

Multi-layer tester. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... EXFO's FTB-8000 SONET 10-Gbit/sec test module, a test unit contained inside the FTB-400 platform, lets you integrate protocol-, optical-, and physical-layer testing capabilities inside a single box for networks with data transmission rates as...

Network wiring modules. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Pass & Seymour/Legrand's punchdown phone modules let you distribute up to four phone lines to 10 locations in the home. These modules use 110-punchdown technology have an optional security system interface feature. The in-line amplifier module...

Surge protectors. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... MCG Surge Protection's DLP-10G, DLP20G, and DLP-30G are triple-stage hybrid protectors that combine gas tube protection with high-speed avalanche diode stages for rigorous transient clamping. Installed between sensitive equipment and data...

Optical fault-finder. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... OZ Optics Limited's visible optical-fiber fault locator delivers up to 10 milliwatts of visible light through a singlemode fiber. By using a high-power version, faults can be detected up to 10 km from the source. It can also be used as an...

Category 5e-verified composite cable. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Through a single Belden Electronics division HomeChoice composite cable, any room in the home or office can be wired for computer multimedia and networking, cable and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television, telephone services, as well as...

Specification-grade patch panel. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Available in Category 5e or Category 6, Molex Premise Networks' Specification Grade patch panel has an "automatic gate" that protects ports from dust and contaminants. Spring-loaded pressure pops out an improperly placed patch cord, reducing...

Multimode optical-fiber cable. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... NORDX/CDT's FiberExpress 2000 multimode optical-fiber cable is made with laser-optimized 50/125-[micro]m multimode fiber. This cable can be installed in lengths up to 300 meters for 10-Gbit Ethernet applications, using multimode vertical-cavity...

Cable pulling lubricant. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Greenlee Textron's Clear Wire Pulling Lubricant remains stable over a range of temperatures (-20[degrees]F to + 190[degrees]F and -6[degrees]C to + 190[degrees]C), according to company claims. The polymer base lube is clear, colorless, and...

Plenum audio cable. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Comprehensive Video Group's CVC2TW/P twisted-pair plenum audio cable is composed of two #22 AWG bare copper wires with a #26 AWG tinned copper drain wire. An overall shield of aluminum mylar foil provides 100% coverage, according to company...

24-ribbon fusion splicer. (New Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... AFL Telecommunications' FSM-40R24 24-ribbon fusion splicer eliminates the need to split 24 fiber ribbons in two before splicing, and a color LCD screen displays all 24 fibers simultaneously. Thirty-six preprogrammed modes let you perform...

Enclosure cooled by air conditioning. (Premier Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... APW-Wright Line's Tower of Cool is a computer cabinet design using High Delta T cooling (HDTC). It cools 8 kW of equipment within 42U by incorporating the building air conditioning system and the computer cabinets into one system. By evenly...

Terminal crimping tool. (Premier Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Thomas & Betts' Sta-Kon ERG-2008 Comfort Grip is Underwriters Laboratories Inc. listed for handling large, tubular non-insulated Sta-Kon terminals ranging from 8 AWG to 1/0 AWG. A shorter, ergonomic frame is designed for mechanical advantage...

Residential cable. (Premier Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Genesis Cable Systems' Audacious Sound cables are manufactured with a high-strand-count for flexibility and increased frequency response, plus feature only oxygen-free conductors. In addition to being available in standard 14 to 16 AWG stranded...

Category 7 tester. (Premier Products).(advertisement)
July 1, 2002... Ideal Industries' LANTIEK 7 is compliant with emerging Category 7/International Organization for Standardization (ISO--www.iso.ch) F standards, and capable of certifying installations up to 750 MHz, according to company claims. Snap in...

Correction: off by a few inches.(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2002... On page 64 of the May 2002 issue the New Product description of Leviton Voice & Data Div.'s splitter modules states the modules are "available in 1x8, 3x8-, and 4x16-inch styles." These numbers were not supposed to represent inches, rather...