Grow Your Network Up, Not Out: Wall-Mount Fiber Enclosures
More people—and their devices—are feeling the need for speed as 24/7 digital connection and collaboration become commonplace. To keep up, more fiber is being deployed today than ever before.
For example, common applications like streaming video content and high-definition video calls, along with emerging technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence, are calling for more bandwidth. To support these innovations, more fiber is being used to extend channel distance and produce enough throughput.
To stay connected to these applications, consumers are bringing more devices with them (smartphones, smart watches, tablets, smart earbuds, etc.), whether they’re headed to work, school, the store or the doctor’s office. All these devices require more fiber to support faster speeds and higher bandwidth demands.
Finally, carriers and service providers are bringing fiber closer to consumers and devices to offer better service and performance. This, too, requires more fiber deployment.
Deploying fiber in new places
As fiber becomes more integrated into networks, much of it is deployed in environments that aren’t designed to support this equipment or infrastructure. There isn’t always dedicated space in an existing building to add another telecommunications room or even another floor-mount rack.
But all this fiber optic connectivity (cables, patch panels, enclosures, etc.) must go somewhere—without cramped quarters negatively impacting its performance.
In many cases, this often means:
- Using the remaining spaces in telecommunications rooms, which are often small and tight
- Turning different types of rooms into usable telecommunications space (think supply rooms, custodial closets, utility rooms, space under the stairs, etc.)
- Finding new ways to optimize square footage in mixed-use spaces (part telecommunications room, part storage, for example)
The need to add more fiber connections in a space-efficient manner is inspiring enterprises to consider vertical expansion with wall-mount fiber enclosures.
They enable you to grow up instead of out with your network infrastructure by maximizing existing wall space and tapping into available real estate—with no expansion required. This can also reduce costs by providing more capacity at less cost per square foot.
3 tips to choose your wall-mount fiber enclosure wisely
As you think about ways to move enclosures off the floor and onto the wall, there are a few things you should take into consideration. The wall-mount fiber enclosure you choose should allow you to accomplish the following things.
1. Make installation more comfortable
As space becomes tighter, installers and technicians need options that allow them to be more imaginative in their approach to getting work done comfortably and practically.
For example, Belden’s FiberExpress (FX) ECX Wall-Mount Fiber Enclosure system features swing-out, fully removable assemblies. As long as the incoming cables have enough slack, technicians can take the assemblies off the wall and to a workstation for splicing. For example, some workers like to position a small table directly underneath the wall-mount fiber enclosure, where it serves as a place where technicians can comfortably sit, work and focus.
If that isn’t an option, or workers don’t want to take the assembly to a workstation, they can simply slide a cassette in the front and complete the splicing.
2. Reduce manpower requirements
Time is money. Look for a patch panel that can be installed by one person without exceptional strain.
And because installation may be happening in a somewhat “improvised” space, the wall may not always be smooth or flat. Embossed, recessed mounting holes allow one-person installation even on uneven walls.
3. Provide necessary levels of security
Look for enclosure doors that can be locked, protecting and securely separating trunk and patch sides to create a secure, easy-to-manage fiber environment.
Optional lock kits on both doors of the FX ECX Wall-Mount simplify today’s installation and tomorrow’s maintenance and operations.
Meet Belden’s new FX ECX Wall-Mount Fiber Enclosure
As an extension of the ECX product family, Belden’s FX ECX Wall-Mount Fiber Enclosures host fiber connections on the wall in small, tight and unique spaces, letting installers take advantage of wall space to host fiber connections.
The durable, metal wall-mount fiber patch panel can hold two, four or six ECX fiber modules. It hosts up to 192 fiber connections in a compact wall space, bringing fiber closer to users and devices without taking up valuable square footage.
Related resources:
About the Author
Josh Goyke graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in sales/sales management. In 2017, he joined Belden and now oversees all Copper Cable product lines for the company’s Smart Building Solutions platform. Josh focuses on product life cycle management ensuring we deliver reliable, streamlined, and accessible solutions designed meet the evolving needs of the enterprise market.