|
Back to the Tutorials Menu
Termination Economies
The Bottom Line Advantage: Termination Cost Savings of Tight-Buffered
and Breakout-Style Cables vs. Loose-Tube Gel-Filled Cables
Termination of fiber optic cables can be a major installation
expense. By enabling direct field termination of B-Series and BX-Series
Breakout or D-Series and DX-Series Distribution Cables, Optical
Cable Corporation offers a major economic advantage to installers
and users.
When you specify Optical Cable Corporation's tight-buffered B-Series
and BX-Series Breakout or D-Series and DX-Series Distribution Cables,
you may anticipate a cost savings approaching 66% of the estimated
per-fiber cost of a typical furcation and field termination of
a loose-tube gel-filled cable. Labor costs for loose-tube gel-filled
cable are typically three times that of field termination for Optical
Cable Corporation's tight-buffered indoor/outdoor cable. Other
termination methods can result in costs four times higher than
the direct termination of Optical Cable Corporation's tight-buffered
indoor/outdoor fiber optic cables.
These estimates are based on installation of a 72-fiber cable.
For lower fiber counts, field termination costs per fiber of Breakout
and Distribution Cable will remain the same, while per-fiber cost
for loose-tube gel-filled cable will rise as hardware, cleaning,
and preparation time costs are amortized over fewer fibers.
These savings are especially impressive when viewed in relation
to cable link length. In a cable run of 400 fiber meters per connector
(a link length of 800 meters), the savings will be approximately
$.08 to $.13 per fiber meter. While this savings will decrease
as link length increases, the economies remain impressive across
the range of typical installations.
The simplicity of Optical Cable Corporation's field termination
technique makes these savings possible. Terminating a tight-buffered
cable requires only cable-stripping and connector installation
tools and a few minutes of labor. When loose-tube gel-filled cable
is used, installation expense must be elevated to include cleaning
solvents, rags, fan-out tubes, splicers, splice housings, splice
trays, splice closures, and the labor cost of extensive cleaning
and preparation time.
Optical Cable Corporation's field termination technique offers
several additional advantages:
- All
buffer and coating layers are removed simultaneously with a
simple mechanical stripper
- Since
no gel filling is present, cleaning of the fibers is not necessary
during termination
- Termination
rework is drastically reduced
- Installation
flexibility is improved, since it is not necessary to terminate
all fibers at the same time
- Emergency
restoration time, usually under the most adverse conditions,
is dramatically reduced
When evaluating competitive cable alternatives, be sure to consider
the installation economies inherent in Optical Cable Corporation's
tight-buffered indoor/outdoor cable designs.
|
