FOA says, 'We have your standard right here ... on one page'

In its January 2012 online newsletter, The Fiber Optic Association stated that it is starting a program "to make standards more accessible to the world of users, contractors, designers and installers." Specifically, the association is creating one-page standards, which it says will be "simple explanations of standards that you use all the time but don't need the originals; you just need to understand how to use them.

"We'll cut out all the fluff and give you the info you need," the FOA says. And, knowing FOA founder and president Jim Hayes, I can say with a high degree of confidence that the organization will live up to that promise.

Perhaps anticipating some of the potential backlash at the prospect of a one-page standard, the FOA asked itself: "Can the FOA create standards? And what is a standard anyway?" It then produced the following definition from ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1996 (definition 3.2), which defines a standard as follows:

A document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.

The FOA then states, "FOA certification is now internationally accepted and our technical references the first choice for unbiased, technically correct information on fiber optics and premises cabling. It's certainly logical that we would next try to put some order in the chaos of current standards. FOA standards are developed by FOA members whose expertise in the technical areas covered by the standards and whose experience in the industry contributes to FOA standards being accurate, relevant and current."

The FOA didn't just announce its one-page standards in January; it offered one as well. FOA CPL1, which you can access as a PDF here, is (as promised) a one-page description of how to test installed fiber-optic cable plants. It is available for free, as the FOA's other one-page standards will be.

You can read the FOA's January 2012 newsletter here.