Fibre - LAN

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ch@rge

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Hi All!

We're expanding our network and want to improve the network between our buildings. We currently make use of a Wireless bridge however, with the expansion of our network, this wouldn't be able to cope under the load in future.

Any ideas - Cat5 cable is out, as we have HEAVY lightning in our area. Fibre is probably the best bet, but I don't know of any great places to purchase the cable, and cost of splicing, etc... Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated.
 
ch@rge said:
Hi All!

We're expanding our network and want to improve the network between our buildings. We currently make use of a Wireless bridge however, with the expansion of our network, this wouldn't be able to cope under the load in future.

Any ideas - Cat5 cable is out, as we have HEAVY lightning in our area. Fibre is probably the best bet, but I don't know of any great places to purchase the cable, and cost of splicing, etc... Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

What about installing one of those metal poles to attract the lightning then place the cable far away from the pole (also maybe place concrete tubes underground and run the cable though them.
 
Rickster said:
What about installing one of those metal poles to attract the lightning then place the cable far away from the pole (also maybe place concrete tubes underground and run the cable though them.
Click to expand...

+ a couple of lightning arresters just to be safe.
 
How far apart are your buildings?
What hardware do you have to put on each end?

You do get surge protectors that will sit inline on CAT5/6 that can grant you the protection you are looking for.
People always shy away from fibre when it would fit perfectly in some situations.
 
ch@rge said:
Hi All!

We're expanding our network and want to improve the network between our buildings. We currently make use of a Wireless bridge however, with the expansion of our network, this wouldn't be able to cope under the load in future.

Any ideas - Cat5 cable is out, as we have HEAVY lightning in our area. Fibre is probably the best bet, but I don't know of any great places to purchase the cable, and cost of splicing, etc... Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

For cable you can try Datanet.

I would recommend giving Mark Cox from OptiCom-Fibrelinks a call and having a chat with him.
 
One building is about 150m apart, the other is about 50/100m - both will have high volume usage on the other end.
MDKza said:
People always shy away from fibre when it would fit perfectly in some situations.
Click to expand...
I agree here. I'm thinking fibre is a great 'future-proof' solution and will resolve our lightning matters - Also it can allow us a faster backbone accross our network.

We do have lightning conductors around, but the copper still gets nailed everytime.

The only hassle with fibre is the splicing - we're quite remote in KZN (think Drakensberg) and the cost of travelling is always quite high. We have another fibre link between our buildings and it works really well - Just lost the contacts for the installers back then (7 years ago)
 
Well, if it is such a remote area, and you looking to save money with fibre, why not buy the fibre "pre-made".
I have done this in the past. Think you ask for ruggudised fibre pair.
Just install your own underground pipe to protect the fibre and pull it in :)

Bridge mode is easy to set-up on wifi connections, but the problem is that ALL your network traffic runs over it. If you can set-up routing between sites, less unnesesary traffic will travel over the wifi, thus higher througput.
There is also new products out, like AirFibre on the wifi.
 
wetkit said:
Well, if it is such a remote area, and you looking to save money with fibre, why not buy the fibre "pre-made".
I have done this in the past. Think you ask for ruggudised fibre pair.
Just install your own underground pipe to protect the fibre and pull it in :)
Click to expand...

I was going to suggest this as well. Only problem is that you will have to put the fibre in a steel pipe. According to the FOA its called Direct Buried Cable. I'm not sure if you can buy this pre-made or not which is why you would need the piping.

ch@rge said:
One building is about 150m apart, the other is about 50/100m - both will have high volume usage on the other end.

I agree here. I'm thinking fibre is a great 'future-proof' solution and will resolve our lightning matters - Also it can allow us a faster backbone accross our network.

We do have lightning conductors around, but the copper still gets nailed everytime.

The only hassle with fibre is the splicing - we're quite remote in KZN (think Drakensberg) and the cost of travelling is always quite high. We have another fibre link between our buildings and it works really well - Just lost the contacts for the installers back then (7 years ago)
Click to expand...

For interest sake what hardware do you have connecting your fibre right now?
I have a contact thats a member of the FOA I can put you in contact with, I'm sure he can get someone out there to help you.
 
MDKza said:
For interest sake what hardware do you have connecting your fibre right now?
I have a contact thats a member of the FOA I can put you in contact with, I'm sure he can get someone out there to help you.
Click to expand...

Apologies for the delayed reply - Telkom issues in our area since last week.

We make use of a fibre converter to connect to our network switches. However, We've since purchased switches that can take the SFP connectors directly - so when installing this fibre, we'd ask for our ST connectors to be respliced.

I'd appreciate any contacts - TBH, the more info we can get, the better.
 
Another option would be to connect ST midcouplers and then make use of an ST-LC patch lead to connect to your switch. (Assuming you have LC SFP on your switch).
Then splicing would not be needed
 
ch@rge said:
Hi All!

We're expanding our network and want to improve the network between our buildings. We currently make use of a Wireless bridge however, with the expansion of our network, this wouldn't be able to cope under the load in future.

Any ideas - Cat5 cable is out, as we have HEAVY lightning in our area. Fibre is probably the best bet, but I don't know of any great places to purchase the cable, and cost of splicing, etc... Any ideas/help will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I tried the CAT5 in a heavy lightning area - it does not work, even with fancy surge arrestors. In one storm lost R80k worth of equipment. Installed fibre and not one failure in 5 years. I use a small crowd Deuxtec - (If you want I can send you their number). We did the "blown fibre" thing where we bought the direct burial tube and did all the trenching and hard work ourselves. The fibre is installed afterwards and spliced etc. The cost for this came to about R12/m for OM2 MM fibre - no idea what the current cost is. Depending on distance SM fibre may be the way to go - it is more expensive by approx. R2/m but it will future proof the installation for a long time if you install SM fibre.
 
UPDATE

We've found a supplier - Here's our order list:
4 core MM cable
LC Midcoupler (MM)
Pigtail (MM)
LC-LC Patch Lead (MM)
Yourk Box, Entry and exit glands with a splice casette for each.

Does anyone know of a reputable splicer in PMB or midlands area for the above specs?
I've found a guy in DBN, but the travelling costs are more than the cost of the abovementioned equipment!
 
Rooikop said:
I tried the CAT5 in a heavy lightning area - it does not work, even with fancy surge arrestors. In one storm lost R80k worth of equipment. Installed fibre and not one failure in 5 years. I use a small crowd Deuxtec - (If you want I can send you their number). We did the "blown fibre" thing where we bought the direct burial tube and did all the trenching and hard work ourselves. The fibre is installed afterwards and spliced etc. The cost for this came to about R12/m for OM2 MM fibre - no idea what the current cost is. Depending on distance SM fibre may be the way to go - it is more expensive by approx. R2/m but it will future proof the installation for a long time if you install SM fibre.
Click to expand...

We decided on MM fibre based on the distance (One length is 175m and the other is 100m). Just the splicing needed now. We've got guys to trench, duct and put in can put in the fibre ourselves - just need someone to make the connections happen ;-)
 
ch@rge said:
We decided on MM fibre based on the distance (One length is 175m and the other is 100m). Just the splicing needed now. We've got guys to trench, duct and put in can put in the fibre ourselves - just need someone to make the connections happen ;-)
Click to expand...

Don't exceed the fiber bend radius http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bend_radius

The contact I provided earlier is based in Hilton, he might not do such a small job but could possibly point you to someone else in the area.
 
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