Guest Blog: Good start to BIMMF debate, but it may be prudent to wait

by Eric Leichter, manager of training and technology, CommScope

I appreciate the balanced view that an industry publication like Cabling Installation & Maintenance offers by providing two sides of the bend-insensitive multimode fiber (BIMMF) story. In its January issue, the magazine published two articles that provide opposing viewpoints on this topic. The first article, Compatibility issues with bend-insensitive and standard multimode, warned that a higher connection loss could be seen when matching legacy and BIMMF. The second article, The facts about BIMMF, did not disagree with this claim, stating, "... differences in designs in BIMMF result in differnces in performance." The article went on to describe the deficiencies in some of these designs. After reading and digesting both, a key takeaway for me was that there is no standard that can make a user of these technologies certain of what performance to expect.

Both TIA and IEC have formed working groups to further investigate this new technology; however, it may take some time for the industry to properly define the performance characteristics of a "standard" BIMMF and to develp the new test procedures that will likely be required. Today's test procedures were developed for a traditional graded-index profile fiber and may not be relevant for fibers with a trench profile. "Testing" can include factory testing by the manufacturer (i.e. core diamter, numerical aperture or bandwidth) or testing in the field by an installer (i.e. source, type of patch cord fiber and mandrel to use). Beyond the unknown timing of BIMMF standards, it is also not possible to say now which, if any, of the available BIMMFs will be compliant to a new standard.

It may be best simply to continue to focus on system performance, as high bandwidth and low bit error rates are the keys to high data throughput. For this, we already have standards-based OM3 and OM4 fibers that provide 100G performance. Today, there's no real need to look any further.

CommScope has authored two white papers that explore the issue in further depth. You can access one white paper here and the other one here.

Eric Leichter, CommScope's manager of training and technology, also blogs on CommScope's website. You can see his CommScope blog here.

While TE was buying, TI was selling

At the same time Tyco Electronics (soon to be known as TE Connectivity) was finalizing its purchase of ADC, Tyco International (which I'll call TI here just because I'm calling the other one TE) was finalizing the sale a majority interest in its electrical and metal products busines to a private-equity firm.

TE and TI are separate entities.

In late December TI sold a 51% stake in that business to Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC. The agreement was announced in November. TI will receive total cash proceeds of approximately $720 million, the VC firm said in an announcement that the deal was completed.

The business will operate as a standalone entity under the name Atkore International. It designs, manufactures and sells galvanized steel tubes and pipes, electrical conduit, armored wire and cable, metal framing systems and building components. Products are sold under brand names including Allied Tube & Conduit, AFC Cable Systems, Eastern Wire and Conduit, Unistrut and Cope.

One person's resolution for 2011: Steal cable

Perhaps trying to keep up with the one entity that is rumored to have possession of half the world's copper, another entity in Richmond, Kentucky took advantage of the quiet New Year's weekend to make off with 3,100 feet of copper cable from an AT&T facility there.

WKYT in Richmond reports that the thief cut through a chain-link fence then broke through locks on the racks that secured the cable. The cable was valued at approximately $7,600.

One particularly compassionate commenter to the WKYT story regretted that the fence was not electrified. "THEN THE UNDERTAKER COULD MAKE SOME MONEY," the commenter wrote (in all caps, of course). "IF IT DON'T BELONG TO YOU, LEAVE IT WHERE YOU FIND IT."

Hear, hear.

CommScope shareholders overwhelmingly approve Carlyle merger

CommScope has reported that 99 percent of the shares voting at a special stockholder meeting held December 30 voted in favor of the adoption of the company's merger with The Carlyle Group.

That overwhelming majority represented 74 percent of CommScope's total outstanding shares of common stock as of the December 3 record date.

CommScope's prediction that its Carlyle Group merger would take place in Q1 2011 looks to be right on track.