Data Network Cabling Breakthrough - New Turnkey Solution Includes Connecting Hardware
Blown Fiber makes network decisions today far easier to modify tomorrow

The Blolite’ System is a revolutionary way of changing network cabling installation, MACs (moves, adds and changes), upgrades and disaster recovery using "blown fiber" technology. The basic premise is ingeniously simple, yet a radical departure that completely changes the rules of network flexibility and changeability to meet any future contingency.

Instead of fixed, permanent semi-rigid cables in a typical structured cabling system, small and flexible yet empty plastic Microduct tubing is installed. Not only is empty Microduct much easier to pull through crowded conduit, but future MACs can often be accomplished by installers without disturbing a working office.

Individual or multiple optical fibers are then "blown in" through the Microduct tubing using compressed air from a Blolite blowing head. The fibers can travel a thousand feet or more straight up, or turn up to 300 tight corners and 90-degree bends (with a one-inch radius) in a matter of seconds.

Taking Blolite a quantum leap further ahead, turnkey solutions are now being packaged by connecting hardware manufacturer The Siemon Company (Watertown, Connecticut) in a North American alliance with cable manufacturer General Cable (Highland Heights, Kentucky), including all connecting hardware required for fully warranteed end-to-end fiber cabling systems.

Blolite fibers can be used as part of Siemon’s LightSystemSM and LightSystem PlusSM cabling systems, providing an extended system warranty on connecting hardware, installation and applications when installed by a Siemon Certified Installer.

Overbuilding capacity in fiber optic networks has become the conventional wisdom in network design for "future proofing" and making sure that any future need can be accommodated. Blolite changes the entire economic equation, because optical fibers can be installed and paid for as needed. Instead of all at once, the customer’s investment can be spread over time.

Singular benefits of The Blolite System include:

• Simplicity – Easier and faster to install, less disruptive in a working office environment, zero stress on fiber (lower risk of installation damage).
• Flexibility – Responsive to change, including adds, moves, upgrades, relocating hubs and network resources, and disaster recovery – not dependent on "hard-wired" cabling.
• Cost deferment savings – Fiber costs of the initial installation may be dramatically reduced, with expanded investment on a more cost-efficient "pay as you grow" basis.

Network decisions today will be far easier to modify tomorrow, without the problems and replacement expenses associated with uprooting and ripping out defective cabling and reinstalling new cables. With Blolite, the installer simply "blows out" the old fiber, then blows in new fiber. Blown fiber not only changes the way many networks will be installed. It makes network planning decisions more flexible and less permanent as well.

Photo courtesy of General Cable