Guide to designing and installing copper and fibre trunk cabling systems
A comprehensive free guide to designing and installing copper and fibre trunk cabling systems in Data centres is now available from Siemon.
The ‘Trunk Cable Planning & Installation Guide’ will also be of interest to existing end users wishing to gain greater insight into the various factors to be considered when upgrading trunk cable infrastructure.
Ideal for data centre infrastructures and backbone applications where cable distances are reasonably predictable and can be easily determined, trunk cables are pre-terminated copper or fibre assemblies ordered to specific lengths and available in a variety of termination and performance configurations. This fully-illustrated guide addresses all aspects of infrastructure design and installation including: Calculating Trunk Cable Length; Planning for Installation; Pathway Sizing Considerations; Impact of Cable Slack; System Design; Installation and Testing
Factors that should be considered when determining the type and performance of the trunk cable to be installed, as well as whether or not trunk cables are the best solution for a particular installation, are also discussed, including:
Identifying the long term needs of the client. This will help to dictate the performance requirements of the system, e.g. category 6, 10Gig, Fibre, etc.
Site requirements: As with any cabling infrastructure, the type and quantity of the cabling system will be limited by pathway spaces, plenum/non-plenum conditions, shielding requirements and local building codes.
The need to identify all connectivity pathways to determine the quantity and length of the trunk cables to be installed. For example, quantity will be dictated by the number of cabinets/racks to be linked together and the port density of each. Similarly, cable length will be dictated by the distance between the cabinets to be linked, as well as the pathway to be taken, especially when dealing with a fixed system such as underfloor/overhead cable tray configuration, or when attempting to maintain proper airflow in a data centre environment. When trunk cables are being used as part of a building backbone system, lengths are dictated by the pathways provided for the vertical/horizontal links between telecommunication rooms.
The need to determine measurements from final construction drawings issued by the architect, or from the results of a detailed walk through of the jobsite. The reason for this is that such cabling assemblies are a custom ordered assembly
A number of quick-reference tables for sizing cable assemblies and their respective conduit/ pathway requirements, plus a capacity guide for Siemon pre-terminated copper and fibre trunk cable assemblies and associated cable management systems, are also included.
A copy of the Siemon Trunk Cable Planning & Installation Guide, which incorporates an informative video (9 MB – Windows Media Format) by structured cabling specialist Lyle Menard, RCDD/NTS, showing the features and benefits of pre-terminated copper and fibre trunk cable assemblies, may be downloaded from:http://www.siemon.com/us/white_papers/07-09-24-trunk-cable-planning-installation.asp
