In my January 2020 fiber optic update, I wrote, “But later in the year [2019], it seemed that disruption was being disrupted.” Well, 2020 did not wait until later in the year; disruption began in full force by early March...
Around the world, hundreds of millions of homes and businesses are connected to the internet on optical fiber, and almost every one with a network architecture called passive optical network (PON). There are two main...
When I first started working in fiber optics 40-plus years ago, the world was quite different. Computers were big rooms full of cabinets used by businesses and monitors had cathode-ray tubes, just like the televisions back...
Last month I wrote about a change in fiber optic standards that seemed out of step with the technical community. That raised questions such as how do fiber optic standards get written? And what are standards anyway...
Recently I was swamped with almost a dozen proposed updates to Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) standards to vote on and review. In fiber optic technology, most standards deal with the specification and testing...
In my print column this month, “When a Loss Is Positive,” I discussed the confusing definition of decibel (dB) as used in various international fiber optic standards. Even though dB is used in practically every standard for...
Around the year 2000, there was a battle royale between fiber and copper cabling forces to capture the desktop. For more than a decade, unshielded twisted-pair copper—what many of us still call Cat 5—had ruled the local area...
Do you live on a dirt road? I doubt it. Most of us live on paved streets off wide avenues and not too far from an expressway that connects us to the far corners of the country. If you have to drive down a dirt road to get...
For the last few months, I’ve been showing you photos of fiber optic installations I’ve taken as I wander around the city of Santa Monica, Calif., where I live. This month is another in this series, with a few detours around...
In my May 2020 Fiber Optics column, I mentioned seeing a crew pulling cable in my neighborhood in a way that was likely to do significant damage to the cable. Now I’ll share with you some of the photos I took and analyze what...
Let’s face it, the term “smart” is getting worn out from overuse. Smart cars, smart grid, smart buildings and many more similar terms have diminished the meaning. In most cases, what it really means is bringing whatever it...
Communications networks are always evolving to handle more data. Indoors, local area network (LAN) speeds increase regularly for wired and wireless. New architectures, such as passive optical LANs, offer logistical and...
In my July 2018 column, “Construction Without Disruption,” I said directional boring and microtrenching are the least disruptive construction practices used in urban areas, so I was pleased to stumble upon an excellent...
Mistreating fiver optic cable I’ve said it before: whenever I see a fiber optic installation in progress, I stop to watch what the installers are doing. Recently, I saw two techs pulling a cable into conduit just a couple of...
Last December, I discussed using optical fiber to transmit light for illumination. This month, I’m going to cover two more aspects of fiber optic lighting and light sources and how some of these lighting projects become real...
For many of us, the year 2020 seemed so far away, but now it’s here and many of the technologies, products and processes that seemed implausible years ago have become standard ways of working. Electrical contractors share...
Corporate computer networks are called local area networks (LAN) to distinguish them from wide area networks, such as the phone system or the internet. The traditional ethernet LAN uses a standardized cabling network of...
In my column in February’s print issue of Electrical Contractor, I suggested it was a good time to upgrade your KSAs—your knowledge, skills and abilities—in fiber optics. Online I thought I’d present you with an online self...
I like to think of training as updating your KSAs—knowledge, skills and abilities. I learned about KSAs many years ago from the NJATC’s apprenticeship programs. When the Fiber Optics Association was started 25 years ago, we...
Way back In 2019, everybody was raving about the prospects for new technologies such as smart cities, 5G wireless, autonomous vehicles, internet of things (IoT) and numerous other applications that would disrupt the status...
