e i g h t - c u b e d . c o m 

New fibre cable

Has anyone noticed how thin the new fibre cables are becoming?

I am in the unenviable position of having no fibre trays under the raised floor where I am currently working. Apparently, when the facility was constructed, fibre trays were specified, but were later removed from the plan as being "too expensive".

Ignoring the false economy discussion that that last sentence could create, I have to deal with the fact that someone dragging a cable over my fibre could cause a major outage.

I was fairly comfortable with the cables that Compaq were delivering with the 1GB fibrechannel gear. They were reasonably rugged, and unless you actually stepped on one, or bent it 180 degrees, they would take quite a bit.

However, the cable that Compaq/HP is now delivering for 2GB fibrechannel is scary in it's lack of protection.

At the point where the two redundant paths enter the storage cabinets, the fibre comes together (i.e., one misplaced foot can take out both paths).

How to protect against this? I could use conduit, but at the switch cabinets, I could never pack the ends of the conduit into a small enough space (we have a lot of storage).

I think that I will have to explain the risks to the business, and either ask them to retrofit proper fibre trays, or accept the situation.