For proper fiber optic cable management, three crucial factors need to be considered. Manufacturers should consider these three factors when producing fiber optic cable management products. They are:
Fiber Cable Routing paths
The fiber cable routing path is the first area of fiber cable management. This has to do with the fiber cable’s minimum bending radius. Cable routing paths should be designed to guide technicians to route cables properly. This will lead to consistent routing and easy to manage fiber optic cable network.
Another benefit of proper routing is that it reduces overcrowding in the termination panel and the cableways. This helps to drastically reduce any possibility of bend radius violations and breakdown in the future. Proper routing paths also ensure uniformity in the installation of cables and maintain bend radius specifications at various points. This ultimately increases network quality and reliability.
Aside from this, properly designed routing paths help to access fiber cables quickly, easily, and safely, leading to a massive reduction in configuration times. Well-defined routing paths greatly reduce the possibility of fibers being twisted and make it easy to trace them. The time for routing and rerouting patch cords is massively reduced with proper routing paths. This greatly reduces the overall operating costs and time to restore service.
Fiber Cable Access
Fiber cable access is the second factor for proper fiber optic cable management. Installed fiber cables should be easily accessible as this helps to maintain a proper bend radius. Fibers being accessible means you should be able to install and uninstall them without causing any damage to the next cable. That is installing or uninstalling fiber optic cables shouldn’t cause a macro bend on adjacent fiber cables.
Fiber cable accessibility is so crucial in fiber cable management because it has a massive effect on network configuration time. It can make a difference between a network reconfiguration time of 40 minutes per fiber and a network of about 100 minutes per fiber. Fiber accessibility directly affects the network’s operation costs and reliability.
Optical Fiber protection
The last area of fiber cable management is the protection of installed fiber cables. Measures should be put in place to ensure fiber cables are protected from damage. This could be accidental damage by technicians or equipment. To avoid these damages on fiber cables connected to various equipment, the cables should be given protective covering.
