Product category:
Electrical Services
News Release from: HellermannTyton Data | Subject: RapidNet
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 07 September 2005
Rapid installation of cabling networks
HellermannTyton's RapidNet is a unique pre-terminated solution that enables organisations to take the risk out of cabling and benefit from faster installations.
The physical network infrastructure is often de-prioritised when it comes to IT spend Companies frequently want cabling installations completed as quickly as possible at a limited cost
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 19 Oct 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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RapidNet reduces installation time by up to 75%
HellermannTyton's unique pre-terminated RapidNet solution improves installation speed on cabling projects by up to 75%.
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HellermannTyton has added to its RapidNet family of pre-terminated cabling solutions with the introduction of a new shielded system, to compliment existing unshielded (UTP) and fibre versions.
These tight budget and deadline restraints put pressure on cabling contractors and increase the potential for mistakes that risk the overall performance and quality of the installation.
Pressure on contractors is confounded by the latest cabling technologies, particularly Category 6, which has made cable termination much more labour-intensive and complicated.
Architects, building services contractors and engineers involved in the specification of cabling projects need to reassess how cabling networks are installed to budget - yet without compromising quality.
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Traditional and pre-terminated cabling solutions
Structured cabling manufacturer HellermannTyton has been chosen to provide the cabling infrastructure for the new five million pound Northampton Science Park development.
One solution is to transfer certain activities previously conducted during the installation to the manufacturing factory shop floor.
HellermannTyton's RapidNet is a unique pre-terminated solution that enables organisations to take the risk out of cabling and benefit from faster installations, of a consistent high quality, with less business disruption.
More complex installations.
For Category 6 cabling in particular, a more demanding performance criteria means it is more sensitive to installation quality.
"Whilst in the past, installers could give themselves a degree of leeway on installations, the more stringent requirements for link and channel testing in Category 6 cabling means more stringent installation practices are required," explains Peter Hawtin, Product Manager HellermannTyton.
"This, coupled with the need to revisit terminations when failures occur, has made for tedious and frustrating installations, with lost time and money for all involved." Some of the important potential problem areas which need to be considered during installation of Category 6 cabling are cable pulling tension, cable bend radius, cable compression, cable kinking, the number of cables in the bundle, cable jacket unsheathing and pair-untwisting.
Termination problems such as cutting sheathing back too far can really have an impact, as can tiny details like the routing of each wire at the back of the jack and even the order in which the punch-downs are done.
What is pre-terminated cabling?.
Pre-terminated systems such as HellermannTyton's RapidNet are a revolution in copper and fibre network cabling and offer an advanced alternative to traditional installation methods.
Peter comments: "These systems bring the time-consuming, difficult and error-prone area of cable termination under cabling manufacturers' control.
The cable is terminated on the manufacturer's factory shop floor, in a stringent quality controlled environment, and the systems arrive pre-labelled and pre-tested.
The upshot is improved quality and performance." Copper.
RapidNet from HellermannTyton is an example of a pre-terminated system.
This flexible system has been developed to supply contractors with many termination options and uses bundled cable containing six high performance Category 6 UTP or FTP cables bound together.
Each six way cable is cut to customer specific lengths and terminated to meet the demands of the installation.
Termination configuration options vary and include end-to-end patented cassettes, floor, ceiling and floor box options, as well as open ended assemblies.
Patch panel cassettes make the installer's job much easier.
They present the pre-terminated and test-certified RJ45 ports encased in the robust cassette shell (which includes internal cable strain relief, labelling and a slide release mechanism).
Each six-port cassette is inserted into a metal 1U blank patch panel, which is fixed to the rack using unique rack-snaps in place of cage nuts, saving even more installation time.
The panel has four rectangular openings supplied pre-labelled front and rear, to ensure that each cassette is inserted into the correct sequence along the panel.
Fibre.
Fibre installation and termination is also particularly labour intensive and highly skilled.
The RapidNet pre-terminated fibre solution, available with 0M1, OM2 and OM3 Multimode and OS1 singlemode optical fibre cables, works in the same way as the copper version.
Fibre cassettes present 12 factory terminated and tested LC connections that have all been machine polished to ensure insertion loss is kept to a minimum.
The rugged cassettes protect all the terminations reducing the risk of damage to the sensitive individual fibres.
Bend radius is controlled to ensure improved transmission of singlemode systems.
The universal design allows both copper and fibre cassettes to be used within the same modular panel.
The benefits:.
Faster installations.
Cable termination is one of the most time consuming and skilled elements of a cabling installation; by using a pre-terminated solution, the physical time needed by contractors to install the cable is significantly reduced.
Peter explains: "Using traditional methods, the installation and termination of a typical 24-port patch panel takes approximately 1.25 hours.
Of this time, the onsite installer spends several minutes screwing the patch panel into the rack using cage nuts and screws, the rest of the time is spent terminating the 24-horizontal cables to the rear of the patch panel.
A typical 42U cabinet may contain 28 x 24 port patch panels in one rack.
The length of time spent terminating these panels would be on average 35 hours.
With a RapidNet solution, it is possible to reduce the installation time by as much as 75% - in this example that equates to saving more than 26 labour hours in the distribution area alone." The fact that installations can now be completed so much quicker than by traditional methods minimises disruption and downtime for the business.
With RapidNet, installers can easily predict the amount of time required for each job, work faster and therefore be more flexible to their customer requirements.
Because installation speed is so fast, RapidNet can used for last minute jobs where changes need to be made quickly.
Repeatable and reliable quality.
Even though the installation is completed extremely fast, performance is never compromised.
Pre-terminated systems offer guaranteed repeatable and reliable quality, because each individual link has been terminated in a factory quality controlled environment and fully tested before being delivered to the site.
Peter explains: "For our pre-terminated solution, performance testing is carried out in compliance to ISO 11801 and EIA/TIA 568 standards.
For copper we permanent link test to the standards' requirements with an approved tester.
For fibre, all links on each assembly are tested to the same standards with an approved tester for insertion loss, length and polarity.
Applications.
Pre-terminated systems are ideal for high performance cabling requirements.
High standards of factory pre-termination and meticulous testing means quality can be relied on.
Because they can be installed so quickly and carry a high degree of performance and reliability, they are the ideal solution for mission critical data centres, temporary networks, and disaster recovery planning.
Just as effective in open raised floor environments, pre-terminated solutions are suitable for under-floor or ceiling void installations.
Work smarter.
"Whether undertaking panel-to-panel installations within a communications room or completely flood wiring an entire premises, pre-terminated solutions such as RapidNet present a fast and more reliable alternative to traditional solutions," argues Peter.
In summary, pre-terminated solutions take the risk out of cabling installations, the significantly improve installation speed by as much as 75%, as well as addressing the critical issues of quality control and reduced business disruption.
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