fiber managment

Now that use of fiber for network connections is increasing, the need to manage them is more important than ever. It’s a good thing there are so many reliable options out there!

For the purposes of this concept page, we’re defining fiber management as rack mounted fiber equipment.

Here are a few key considerations for proper fiber management: 

• Accessibility is critical when you need to make a change. When adding, removing or moving connections in a fiber shelf, providing space or room is key to ensure that you can reach the correct connection without disturbing any others.
  
• Identification is important so that you plug into or remove the proper connection. Network clients aren’t pleased when accidental disconnects happen. In some cases, it can be devastating. Part of the identification process through labeling is maintaining proper fiber polarity as well. If you’ve ever had to “flip” the connectors on a duplex patch cord, you’ve dealt with incorrect polarity; it’s an installation issue that persists today. 
• Protection of the fibers is a must. It should be recognized that the fiber shelf must protect individual strands of glass from being accidentally pinched or damaged when closing doors. This is why you see technicians cringe when opening a fiber shelf they did not install—they often don’t know what’s behind it nor whether they can get it back in place safely. 
• Safety may seem like a silly concern for fiber but it’s not. Multimode glass transmits at low wavelengths (850mn). Single-mode glass’ hi-powered transceivers operate at high (1550mn) wavelengths that can’t be seen by the human eye but will cause retinal damage if exposed, which is why it’s a really good idea to use integral dust covers on your fiber ports. These covers keep dust out and keep accidental exposure from occurring.