OFS Solution Connects Fiber to Cell Sites

SAN DIEGO -- The deluge of wireless data generated by smart phones has led wireless providers to seek new backhaul solutions - preferably future-proof solutions, such as fiber. A new entrant into this space is the FOX Mobile Backhaul Solution from OFS, a compact, secure and easy-to-install passive optical system designed for service providers upgrading bandwidth-starved cell sites to support 4G, LTE, and WiMAX applications.

"Mobile service providers are seeing an order-of-magnitude increase in data consumption among smart-phone users, and this is straining the existing copper infrastructure in our customers' wireless networks," says OFS vice president Timothy Pillow.  "The FOX Mobile Backhaul Solution for connecting cell sites offers carriers quick access to 10 to 100 times more bandwidth, which can ease network congestion and allow capacity for revenue-generating applications."

The solution consists of a complete optical path from the optical ring through to the cell site active equipment ports. Lateral cables can be installed quickly using OFS' Fortex DT patented gel-free cable, or quickly pulled through existing conduit using OFS compact microcables. AllWave FLEX ZWP Bend optimized fiber is used throughout.

The FOX Pluggable Drop Cable assembly can be pulled through conduits to help eliminate field splicing, and uses factory-terminated standard connectors that can be securely plugged inside locked enclosures.  The new V-LINX pluggable drop terminal can quickly extend its spooled cable to a variable length of up to 300 feet, and enables up to 12 pluggable connections from the terminal to the cell site equipment. The flexible AccuDry Cables used in both drop solutions can reduce slack storage volume by more than 50 percent compared with existing solutions and protect the connectors with a sock enabling a 100-lb. pull force.

OFS also offers other connectivity solutions for interconnecting or cross-connecting from the drop cable fibers to the cell-site equipment securely and simply.  If field connector terminations are needed, the OFS Splice-on-Connector can be quickly and easily terminated to any of the cables in the FOX Mobile Backhaul Solution.