DVI Communications, Inc., a leading Information Technology, ICT consultancy and systems engineering firm, engaged the services of CertiCable Inc. (dba TiniFiber) to resolve a situation involving a congested conduit that was unable to accept the larger AIA Armored Fiber. Here is their story.
The client had decided to sell their existing building where they were scattered throughout the building and relocate to a new building where they would consolidate and occupy approximately four floors. This sale of their existing building and relocation to the new building would be a financial saving for the client and would provide them with more than enough space for future growth.
Planning and design of the client’s technological needs in new office space took approximately one year and the buildout took another year. All of the client’s requirements were taken into account from a new state of the art datacenter, two intermediate IT rooms built on each floor, a series of new riser conduits through the building to facilitate the passage of communications cabling from the data center to the intermediate IT rooms and the roof, cooling requirements for the data center and intermediate IT rooms, and the planning and implementation of new power redundant generators to assist in the event of power failure. Additionally, a custom Audio-Visual system for large meeting rooms, small conference rooms, breakout rooms, and a new building-wide security system integrated with the client’s other off-site facilities was designed and implemented.
The riser conduit system supported an RF application connecting a rooftop antenna farm located on the 32nd-floor rooftop to the digital radio equipment in the tenant space in the 4th-floor data center. The conduits as originally designed and installed provided ample pathways for the client’s communication needs with a space for additional growth which at the time was thought adequate.
Two years later the client contacted DVI requesting assistance to add additional radio antennas and equipment to be installed on the building’s roof. However, following the initial installation, the riser conduit system was used in an expedient manner to support other applications by the client, and the additional cables that were installed significantly congested the conduit system.
The existing conduit between the 4th floor and the roof was now severely congested and would prohibit a normal aluminum interlocking armored optical fiber cable which was required to protect the cable in the existing congested conduit.
Without an acceptable pathway to the roof, the additional roof antenna could not be installed. One solution, which was briefly considered was for the client to install an additional conduit pathway from the 4th-floor data center to the roof, but this would be far too costly for the client in a day two post-construction environment. After extensive research into the dilemma and discussion with multiple product vendors, a solution was determined.
With the assistance of the TINIFIBER Manufacturer’s representative Heidi Landau, we determined that TINIFIBER had a micro armored 12 strand multimode optical fiber cable that was 65% smaller and more flexible than the conventional aluminum interlocking armored optical fiber cable and with careful pulling it would fit in the existing conduit from the 4th floor to the 32nd-floor rooftop location, and the strength of this cable enabled it to be pulled through the relatively congested existing conduit at the appropriate tension but without any adverse impact to the new or existing cables.
The TINIFIBER micro armored 12 strand optical fiber cable was installed from the 4th-floor data center to the 32nd-floor rooftop. The new equipment and antenna were installed without any further problems and the client was very satisfied with the final cost-saving solution.
Luis J. Bieyro, RCDD
Senior Project Consultant / IT Infrastructure Manager
DVI Communications Inc.
IT / Telecom / Security / AV Consultants