Gulf Construction Online - Splice outlet eases broadband access

Cables & Telecommunications

Labry ... ‘company growing strong’.

Splice outlet eases broadband access

R&M’s four-port splice outlet makes it easy to use fibre optic cabling for maximum functionality in minimal space, especially in retrofitted buildings.

01 August 2009

SWISS cabling specialist Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) has developed a new outlet for fibre optic cabling for residential and commercial buildings – the FO splice outlet, which allows network operators and homeowners to extend fibre optic broadband all the way into individual rooms, particularly the living room.
The FO splice outlet is a wall outlet with four ports and integrated splice storage for optical fibres. The ports can be fitted with two LC duplex, SC or SC-RJ connector sockets. The R&M outlet also accommodates a standardised Cat5e or Cat6/RJ45 connection module, allowing the hybrid use of fibre optic and copper cabling, and thus providing maximum functionality in minimal space.
The splice storage unit can be mounted and opened with ease. Simple mounting shortens the overall time required for installation. The construction ensures that the bending radius of the individual fibres does not fall below 15 mm, thereby avoiding losses in signal transmission.
“R&M recommends that customers use innovative G.657.A optic fibres with optimised bending characteristics. Even at small bending radii, they exhibit only minimal attenuation losses (dB); in this case, 0.1 dB at a radius of 15 mm,” he says.
With a surface of 88 by 88 mm, the new FO splice outlet fits in standard Swiss outlet frames. The front plate is 14 mm deep; the adapter, 34 mm and the housing has a modern design.
The solution is ideal for retrofitting existing buildings, where space for additional installations is often at a premium and lean, easy-to-install systems are required. The socket can be sealed and labelled. Coloured dust caps can be employed to mark the individual ports. The adapters point downward to prevent any danger from laser beams.
The FO splice outlet blends well with the R&M copper and fibre optic home cabling systems already on the market. With the FTTx and FTTH solutions from R&M, customers can modularly expand their systems for everything from central offices to individual homes, says the spokesman.
R&M views itself as the leading supplier of comprehensive cabling solutions that guarantee the successful expansion of broadband access. The R&M range for fibre optic home cabling also includes thin in-house cables with four fibres and optimised bending characteristics. They can be laid with ease even in tight spaces, so electricians can always find a path for installing them into the individual stories and rooms. R&M delivers units preterminated on one or both ends if required.
R&M is an independent Swiss family business, with over 40 years experience in the information and communication technology market. Today it is a market leader in the structured cabling industry, where it provides solutions for organisation’s cabling infrastructure to ensure it is secure, reliable, and hassle free.
The firm concentrates on the development and manufacture of future-oriented passive structured cabling solutions for communications networks (Layer 1).
While the cabling specialist continued its strong growth trend from 2007 in the first half of 2008, sales increasingly felt the effects of the financial crisis in the second half of the year. R&M closed the fiscal year with sales of $219 million, a figure 2.2 per cent higher than in 2007.
Jean Pierre Labry, managing director of R&M Middle East and Africa, comments: “R&M has consistently pushed its internationalisation strategy over the last 10 years and further strengthened its position on international markets in 2008. The company has emerged as one of the top three players in Europe and the Middle East. It generates 78 per cent of its sales abroad.”
The Middle East saw an increase of 63.4 per cent growth during the year, along with other success in other regions across the world such as Germany and Latin America.
Two thirds of total sales were made with structured building cabling (private networks). This segment has declined slightly since 2008. Higher sales (over 18 per cent) in telecom (public networks) helped R&M to prevent a sales decline in the group as a whole. Growth in this segment is largely attributable to fiber optic projects. Fibre optic technology is a focal point of investment.
R&M is also investing in decentralization. The first management and logistics hub that was recently opened in Singapore will be followed over the next two years by four hubs in other regions.
R&M has won market leadership in Switzerland and is present in 16 further countries with subsidiaries and agencies called MOs (marketing organisations). Its Middle East and Africa regional office is the firm’s fastest growing subsidiaries worldwide with a successful track record that spans over 10 years.
One of the company’s key strengths is its close proximity to customers in the Middle East, with regional headquarters in Dubai and offices in Saudi, Egypt and Jordan supporting partners and underpinning R&M’s commitment to the region.
R&M provide solutions for private networks (offices, industry, data centres, residential, among others). It also offers carriers a range of comprehensive solutions for modern wide-area and access networks, including tailor-made concepts for an absolutely reliable infrastructure in the areas of fibre optic networks, copper networks and home networks. Latest solutions include New LC Duplex Generation and SC-RJ fiber optic connector, in addition to FO splice outlet.