FTTH: Company Seeking Installers May Signal Breakthrough
You may have seen the listing on the FOA home page:
Interested in Installing Fiber To The Home? A major player has openings nationwide! Contact the job search firm : Call Sandy or Yvette, TOLL-FREE (877) 409-0999, Fax resume to (708) 409-8485, or email resume to info@topqualitypeople.com
We don't have a lot of detail but are working on finding out more. FTTH has been the goal of everyone in the fiber optic industry since the beginning. Now we have fiber in the long haul and metro networks, FTTH is the next obvious step. Cost effectiveness has been the hang-up but maybe the bust in the FO market has driven prices low enough to make it fly.
Stay tuned for more news...
Will New TIA/EIA 568 TSB-140 On Testing Confuse Users?
The TIA is working on a new TSB
for fiber optic testing that is supposed to clarify references
in 568-B.3 to test procedures. Much as TSB-67 and TSB-95 were
written to clarify UTP test procedures for Cat 5 and Cat 5E respectively,
TSB-140 is supposed to remove the confusion about what fiber optic
tests are required and how to perform them.
Appropriate fiber optic test procedures are covered in many other
standards, developed by the fiber optic standards committees of
the TIA in the USA and ISO worldwide. 568-B.3 references these
procedures, but TSB-140 seems to be designed as a way to have
all the material in one place for reference. Thus TSB-140 includes
how to make continuity and polarity tests using a visual fault
locator, insertion loss tests with a optical loss test set (OLTS)
and troubleshooting with an OTDR. As written, TSB-140 has a new
twist for TSBs, if offers two "Tiers" of testing. Tier
1 includes insertion loss with an OLTS and Tier 2 adds OTDR testing
to the OLTS loss test.
There have been objections to including OTDR testing in TSB-140
as "Tier 2" for several reasons. First of all, the term
"Tier" does not appear in any other TIA standard nor
is it defined in any standards document, perhaps confusing users
as to what "tier" of testing is appropriate in any given
situation.
No fiber optic network standard accepts OTDR data for system loss,
as it is known to not be correlated to actual network loss which
can only be tested with an OLTS. Most OTDRs are not appropriate
for testing fiber optic cables in structured cabling systems,
as they lack the distance resolution needed and do not give accurate
loss data due to their different measurement technique. Few premises
cabling installers are adequately trained in interpreting OTDR
data and misreading them can cause good cables to be failed and
vice versa.
Finally, OTDR testing is expensive, greatly increasing the installed
costs of fiber optic cabling. Fiber proponents worry that end
users, confused by the "tiers" of TSB-140, will specify
unnecessary OTDR testing, and they will be less likely to choose
fiber because of the higher costs if OTDR testing is included
in the price.
Objections to these issues led to inserting one sentence in the
scope of the document saying that Tier 1 testing "constitutes
testing in accordance to this TSB." Hopefully that, plus
the detailed description of what the use of OTDR testing is, will
adequately inform the end user interested in having their fiber
optic cabling tested properly.
US Company Finally Sampling 1310 VCSEL Transmitters
Picolight, a Boulder, CO based company, has introduced 1310 VCSEL sources in the form of small-form-factor transceivers. VCSELs (vertical cavity, surface-emitting lasers) revolutionized the 850 nm transmitter business for multimode fiber, offering high power and ultra-high bandwidth at extremely low costs. Moving the technology to 1310 nm for singlemode fiber proved a difficult task, but Picolight has finally begun shipping devices. The VCSEL uses much less electrical power than edge-emitting lasers, reducing heat problems, couples greater power into SM fiber for longer distances and simplifies drive circuits.
1310 VCSELs will be somewhat less expensive than current edge-emitter solutions, but need more volume to produce the same kinds of savings we have seen with 850 VCSELs. Once these devices become inexpensive, using singlemode fiber will be a more sensible solution for >gigabit networks, but many installers and end users will need more training and experience to install SM properly.
Your Name, CFOT
The FOA encourages CFOTs to use the logo on their business cards, letterhead, truck or van, etc. and provides logo files on this site for that purpose. But we are also asked about how to use the CFOT or CFOS certifications. Easy, you can refer to yourself as "Your Name, CFOT" or "Your Name, CFOS/T" for example.
Feel free to use the logo and designations to promote your achievements and professionalism!
Become a Certified Fiber Optic
Instructor
The Fiber Optic Association (FOA) offered again this summer theTrain-the-Trainer program for teachers and instructors that leads to a new FOA CFOS/I Instructor Certification. This "first in the industry" program brings all the expertise of the Fiber Optic Association to the process of training and certifying fiber optic instructors, both in industry and in the academic world. In addition, those coming to the course will receive the FOA's complete training program for teaching a CFOT course.
You missed Cincinnati, but more are planned. Contact us for times and places.
Download the Train-The-Trainer Application (PDF file, 56kB)
For information or questions, contact Jim Hayes at jeh@jimhayes.com or call him at 1-760-451-3655.
Remember To Renew Your Membership !
Remember to renew your FOA membership to retain your CFOT certification. If you forgot to renew, use the online application form or the FOA online store to renew NOW!
Want To Get FOA Email?
We have been asked if we could send the FOA newsletter by email
or post it on the website. We are looking into that and will definitely
get one started soon. When you renew, you will be asked if you
are interested in email newsletters and if so, you will be asked
to give your email address for us to use in a mailing list. If
you want to get started now, send an email to info@thefoa.org
with the subject "eMail List"
Note that The FOA never releases its mailing lists for any
use! Your data is always safe with us.
|
|
Want to write for the FOA
Newsletter? Send us articles,
news, anything you think might be interesting to the rest of the
membership!