Draka Doubles Capacity of FTTH Air-Blown Cable Delivery

AMSTERDAM –  A significant advance in FTTH installation was announced by Draka Communications, whose new air-jet solution can double the throughput of fiber delivery. Draka Ready-Connect Duplex now accommodates two preferruled, bend-insensitive (BendBrightXS) fibers blown through microducts to the customer outlet box with a higher level of speed and efficiency. This new solution considerably reduces the expense of multiple technician visits to customer homes.

“With precision engineering and miniaturized mechanical components, we further refine a key process in getting fiber into the home without inconveniencing the customer,“ explains Donald Brass, product manager for EMEA Draka Telecom Solutions. “This improvement has a substantial impact on project budgets for small or large-scale FTTH installations."

Ready-Connect involves blowing preferruled cables (cables with prefabricated, semifinished connectors) through microducts directly to a  termination or distribution point inside a home. Installation is completed by simply snapping the connector housing around the ferrule. These precision-assembled ferrules reduce the risks of manually completing the connection on site. The solution uses jets of compressed air injected from a central point as far as a kilometer away to service up to 50 homes in a single session.

Draka estimates that implementation time and labor costs at this final stage can be reduced by as much as 50 per cent with additional savings incurred from reduced cable splicing and storage space.