Fibre optic cabling

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Does anyone here have any experience with fibre optic cable installation?

Is it a required area of knowledge for network engineers?

Just like to hear some views from anyone who has experience of it.

 

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Experience running the cable from one place to another? Or plugging the cable into a device? Or configuring the device that the fibre is run into?

 

I have a little bit of experience in making the ends of fibre optic cable.. not for networks but in electronics and the principles the same. Its hard with out the right equipment, damn near impossible to garuntee a good connection let a long a great one!
Any small kinks or nicks in it reduces the effectivness of the cable scattering the signal in the cable. I wouldnt recomend it to someone who is just starting out in cabling.
Plus its expensive!

As for using it in networks, i've not yet come across a company prepared to fork out the cash to install it so wouldnt hav eany advise there. I know some companies must use it and somone on heres bound to have had experience in it.

 

All and any of it really. Do you have to have specialised training (in fibre optics) for splicing, terminating and configuring?

 

Thanks for your input! Do you think it's likely to become more commonplace in networking in the near future?

 

With people wanting a wireless network i dont think it will be come common place. Where it does get used and probably will continue to is in high band width and backbone network applications.
I reckon its mianly down to its costs that it hasnt replaced UTP cables for most companies networks.

 

Not just costs - it's notoriously difficult to deal with without having extensive experience and expensive equipment. I've used fibre before for backbone switches and SANs, but only ever the pre-made cables - never one I've tried to knock up myself.

Incidentally, we're having a fibre link put in at work - going from the equivalent of a T1 (about 1.5Mb) to a 100Mb LES overnight

 

All of our equipment is networked by fibre - except for the odd printer that uses RJ45 connector and then the fibre goes through a media converter immediately before the printer (so it has about 6 inches of CAT5).

It's pretty easy to user, reasonably hardy - we've used it for backbones as well as right up to the back of users computers. Installing it is pretty straight forward - it lays pretty much like UTP, some of the switches and routers are slightly different but as a whole I got acustomed to it very quickly.

As for setting up cisco stuff I can't comment, but seems to be pretty much the same as UTP.

 

So it is an asset to have fibre optic installation experience?

 

I don't bother... I have very little patience for making cables, and my expertise is better suited elsewhere... I waste more money than I save by trying to do it myself.

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

So the answer to the question "Do you have to have specialised training (in fibre optics) for splicing, terminating and configuring?" would be yes.
It seems like it could be a bit of a 'grey area' in networking. I don't know if that's down to demand / need.

Is it something that IT companies tend to do inhouse or do they, in your experience contract the work out?

 

Everywhere I've worked, we've contracted the work out with a cabling company, even for CAT5/CAT6 cabling, which I'm more than capable of doing... but again, my time can be better spent on more important tasks.

I don't think you need "specialised training" for fibre... how hard could it be? --> link

 

Not at all, there are enough 'cable guys' around.
I was asking if it was required knowledge and whether it was relevant to networking or necessary to have any skills in said area.

 

Know what it is, when to use it, and how to (carefully) stick the cable in a fibre-capable device. That's about all you need to know.