JULY 7, 2010 – Draka Communications (Euronext Amsterdam: DRAK) is claiming a significant advance in FTTH installation with an enhanced air-jet technique that the cabling company says can double the throughput of fiber delivery. Its Ready-Connect Duplex accommodates two pre-ferruled bend-insensitive fibers (BendBrightXS) that are blown through micro-ducts to the FTTH customer outlet box at higher speeds and efficiency than current technology allows, the company asserts. The new technology also eliminates the need for multiple technician visits, Draka adds.
“With precision engineering and miniaturized mechanical components we are able to further refine a key process in getting fiber into the home without inconveniencing the customer,“ explains Donald Brass, product manager, EMEA, Draka Telecom Solutions. “This has a substantial impact on project budgets, for small or large scale FTTH installations. Ready-Connect Duplex is further evidence of how Draka’s constant focus on cost reduction and performance improvement contributes to improved TCO [total cost of ownership) and lower capex and opex for fiber-rich network projects”.
The Ready-Connect system involves blowing pre-ferruled cables (cables with pre-fabricated semi-finished connectors) through micro-ducts directly to an FTTH termination or distribution point inside a home. The approach uses jets of compressed air injected from a central point up to a kilometer away and can service up to 50 homes in a single session, Draka says. Installation is completed by snapping the connector-housing around the ferrule. The ferrules are designed to reduce the risks of manually completing the connection on site.
Draka estimates that implementation time and labor costs can be reduced by as much as 50 percent with additional savings achieved through reduced cable splicing and storage space.
Draka’s Ready-Connect Duplex uses two bend-insensitive fiber cables with pre-mounted 2.6-mm diameter ferrules blown through 4-mm inner diameter micro-ducts. The micro-duct approach is based upon jetting technology processes proven in the industry for several years as a reliable solution in large-scale FTTH installations, often involving over 200,000 homes, according to Draka.
By using ventilated end caps there is no need for a technician inside the customer premises because the fiber stops automatically once it reaches the consumer’s home, Draka says. The final connector is snapped on during a single operator visit to complete the termination.
Draka says it is currently using its microduct system JetNetXS and jetting technology in the deployment of a large-scale fiber project at Energy City Qatar (ECQ) in the Middle East (see "Qatar's Energy City taps Draka for broadband fibre network").
Visit Draka Communications