CASE STUDYFibEr MAnAgMEnT SYSTEM DElivErS QUiCk rOi FOr CEnTrAl OFFiCE Tracerlight Decreases Outages and Speeds Service Turn-Up CHALLENGE • Reduce time for troubleshooting and tracing fi
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FibEr MAnAgMEnT SYSTEM DElivErS QUiCk rOi FOr CEnTrAl OFFiCE Tracerlight Decreases Outages and Speeds Service Turn-Up
CHALLENGE
• Reduce time for troubleshooting and tracing fiber jumpers
• Improve service turn-up intervals
• Decrease network outages
SOLUTION
• Shortened maximum fiber jumper length from 275 to 30 feet by adding an intermediate distribution frame between each aisle of multiplexers and the fiber main distribution frame using ADC LGX fiber frames
• Replace existing jumpers with TracerLight Connector Identification System jumpers that provide visual indicators at each end of jumpers with flashing LEDs
RESULTS
• Reduced trouble-tracing time by 72 percent with an estimated savings
of $7,100 to $11,600 per month in labor
• Eliminated over 200 abandoned or cut jumpers that cancelled a
$59,000 capital project to install new troughs to support OC-192 equipment
• Reduced outages and improved service turn-up intervals
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Situation
For years at a large central office for an
independent local exchange carrier, the number
of fiber cables within the facility was limited
so that installation and rearrangements neither
taxed manpower nor presented serious issues for
customers However, with introduction of new
high-speed, high-density fiber platforms, fiber
cable congestion was starting to become an
operations issue
With an increase in fiber cables in the CO for
transport and customer circuits, inability to quickly
and safely identify and trace fibers started to
appear As a result, more errors and outages were
creeping into the operation It was clear that if
left unchecked, there would be increased outages
and delays in service turn-up
Working under a mandate to do more with less,
CO personnel decided to proactively attack the
issue by designing a standard fiber management
system for the CO The objectives were to reduce
trouble-tracing time, improve restoration time,
and allow growth with minimal new investment
in infrastructure Of course, the plan required
immediate payback
Reduce Jumper Lengths with
IDF Architecture
The solution consisted of two related parts The
first part was to reduce maximum fiber jumper
length from 275 feet to 30 feet by adding an
intermediate distribution frame (IDF) for each
aisle of multiplexers By permanently cabling
multiplexers to an IDF using ADC LGX frames,
which were then cabled to the fiber main fiber
distribution frame (MDF), the work of installation,
rearrangements and disconnects was limited to
a defined work area “island” with short semi-permanent jumpers Once terminated, active
equipment is never handled again during the
service life of the equipment
The plan reduced trough congestion by
eliminating long fiber runs between aisles Setting
LGX frames between multiplexers and the MDF
enabled moves and changes using jumpers on
the front of distribution panels instead of using
multiplexer equipment cables, resulting in faster
changes with less disruption of service
Creating an office with much shorter fiber jumpers was also a best practices initiative for long-term reliability and service availability Before the project, just having long fiber jumpers around the CO was an invitation for technicians to use them by wrapping extra fiber lengths around cable managers and clogging fiber pathways unnecessarily by laying extra jumper lengths back and forth in troughs Excessive piling of jumpers would eventually cause attenuation problems and outages Eliminating long fiber runs immediately reduced the volume of jumpers in troughs and helped avert misery just waiting to happen, according to CO personnel
Improve Fiber Identification and Tracing
With IDFs and shorter jumpers in place, there still remained the second issue of tracing fiber cables Labeling in multiplexers was not to be trusted— labels often fell off, were not legible or provided insufficient information about a circuit With
a growing number of unprotected broadband circuits leaving the office and fiber rings with subtended multiplexers, it was becoming difficult
to explain on a small label the identification and destination of individual fibers
Instead of relying on labels, all existing fiber jumpers were replaced with ADC TracerLight Connector Identification System jumpers The TracerLight jumpers feature a termination point
on each end with a flashing LED By lighting the TracerLight LED, technicians have instant visual recognition of fiber jumper end points without fishing cable, reaching into troughs and potentially disturbing service on adjacent circuits The flashing LED also minimizes the risk of removing an incorrect fiber from service
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Data Confirms ROI
With the new fiber management system deployed
in the network, field personnel kept logs detailing
their time using TracerLight jumpers In addition,
other measures such as service turn-up and
restoration time were watched With two years
of data showing operations performance prior
to, during and after conversion, the ROI on the
project was compelling
There was a 72% reduction in trouble tracing
time using TracerLight as compared to regular
jumpers As a result, the time required for
turning-up an optical circuit was reduced 30
minutes per circuit Data collected in the CO also
showed a 50% reduction in the time required to
install a jumper
In addition, outages due to jumpers dropped
dramatically Improved bend radius protection,
simplified cable routing paths, expanded cable
access and ample fiber storage provided more
protection for fiber jumpers Human errors such
as incorrect fiber disconnects were reduced by
not having to rely on labels in multiplexers that
were falling off, unreadable or incorrect Instead,
technicians accurately trace jumpers in seconds
using TracerLight
With the fiber management system in place that reduced outages due to jumpers and required less time for jumper tracing, service restoration and installation of new jumpers required fewer labor hours Using straight work time, the new fiber management system equates to labor savings of approximately $7,100 to $11,600 per month
There were other defined savings on the project
Over 500 fiber jumpers valued at $10,000 were removed and scheduled for use at other CO locations Removal of over 200 abandoned and cut fibers also cleared fiber troughs By removing the unused cables, a $59,000 capital project for new troughs to support new OC-192 equipment was effectively eliminated
Averting a Service Disaster
Of course, it is hard to measure the impact of outages that never occur, even though service level guarantees present steep revenue penalties
By preventing an incorrect fiber disconnect or disruption of service while fishing through a cable manager to trace a circuit, the impact of not causing an outage may be subjective, but still speaks to the value of the project However, there were many examples of how TracerLight helped the CO extend mean time to failure (MTTF) and meet its obligations to customers
In one instance, technicians had turned-up a new gigabit Ethernet switch and sales secured
a new business customer with a performance guarantee contract Forty-eight jumpers were pre-wired from the switch back to the multiplexer
On a Friday at four p.m., a technician went to turn-up service and found that all jumpers were labeled incorrectly There was a sure risk of missing scheduled turn-up and starting off on the wrong foot with the customer—not to mention financial penalties of missing the scheduled service turn-up
Instead of two people taking at least two hours of overtime to do the rework of identifying circuits,
a single technician was able to turn service up on time by simply lighting-up TracerLight on each jumper Avoiding this one problem paid for all of the TracerLight jumpers deployed in the CO
Trang 4Web Site: www.adc.com
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ADC Telecommunications, Inc., P.O Box 1101, Minneapolis, Minnesota USA 55440-1101 Specifications published here are current as of the date of publication of this document Because we are continuously improving our products, ADC reserves the right to change specifications without prior notice At any time, you may verify product specifications by contacting our headquarters office in Minneapolis ADC Telecommunications, Inc views its patent portfolio as an important corporate asset and vigorously enforces its patents Products or features contained herein may be covered by one or more U.S or foreign patents An Equal Opportunity Employer
104027AE 1/07 Original © 2006 ADC Telecommunications, Inc All Rights Reserved
Conclusion
As is often the case, it is the little things that distinguish great service from superb service The fiber management system that defines each row of multiplexers as an island, adding IDFs to shorten jumper runs, and using TracerLight fiber jumpers was a small investment with significant returns
In the end, the CO personnel found that to deliver superb service, it was not wise to entrust a valuable customer circuit to someone’s abbreviated pencil writing on the side of a multiplexer The team was able
to create consistency in termination, routing and storage of jumpers within each aisle and created a fiber management system that helps technicians work quicker with far fewer errors