FEBRUARY 18, 2010 -- Draka Communications extends its solutions for next-generation broadband deployment with SmartDrawXS. SmartDrawXS is designed to reduce the need for skilled labor when branching fiber to customer premises, which can result in FTTH branching savings of between 15 and 30 percent.
“For Draka, SmartDrawXS is another small step in providing a universal framework for next generation network deployment, as well as a significant leap in contributing to reducing splicing, time and costs during the critical phase to the customer home,” says Edgar Aker, marketing director of Draka Communications Telecommunications Solutions. The Draka technique is suitable for P2P, PON, and AON Networks with any number of customer premises or network layouts.
SmartDrawXS is a technique that uses a dedicated tool, jointly developed between Draka and Swiss manufacturer Plumettaz, who are marketing the tool independently as the Plumett DomoJet, says a company representative. The technique, applicable to outdoor and indoor plant situations, uses special retractable cables filled with loose color-coded fiber modules designed with low friction properties. The solution makes use of window-cuts at multiple points along the cable length, allowing individual fiber modules to be cut and pulled back to an earlier window. These retractable modules, using BendBright bend-insensitive fibee technology, are then pushed or blown through separate microducts to reach a termination or distribution point within the customer premises.
The SmartDrawXS tool retracts the selected colored-fiber module from within the retractable cable, keeping the retracted length in its storage container. The operator can then easily push and/or blow the selected fiber into a branch duct to the customer premises. The device requires less skilled labor and removes human error, as well as avoiding damage to the fibers, while minimizing man-hours for installation and increasing fiber pulling and pushing distances, according to the representative.