Blog : Smart Connections

Nancy De Clerck May 3, 2021

Data centre fire shows importance of CPR compliant cabling infrastructure

The night of March 10 2021 saw one of four data centres operated by OVH in Strasbourg completely destroyed by fire. The consequences for their customers were immediate and the costs of repair for the operator enormous. But such fires aren’t rare. Each serves as a reminder of the importance of a flame retardant cabling infrastructure to help protect a building’s occupants, rescue teams and technical equipment.

Yves Debroyer Jan 11, 2021

How fibre optic cables are made

As one of the largest cable manufacturers in the world we do know a thing or two how to produce cables. One of our production facilities, Opticable, is located in the Belgian municipality of Frameries, close to the border with France. Curious to see how our fibre cables are produced? See for yourself!

Joost Grillaert Sep 28, 2020

The road to 100G in Enterprise Data Centres

Enterprise Data Centres need to prepare for the next technology evolution to accommodate the incessant increase of data generation. 100G is set to become the next speed for the core or spine network. Different variants of protocols for 100G Ethernet are now available using multimode fibre. This post focuses on various options ranging from parallel to duplex transmission.

Didier Willems Sep 1, 2020

Structured Cabling Standards

Over 30 years ago, network cabling progressed from disparate proprietary systems to standardised universal structured cabling. This common network topology is based on twisted-pair copper and fibre optic cabling. The intention is to enable buildings to be pre-cabled in a way that would support any type of ICT system. In this post we will look at some of the main Standardisation bodies and the cabling standards they have published.

Joost Grillaert May 18, 2020

Cabling design for traditional Enterprise data centres

Data centres come in many different shapes and sizes and with that vast differences in how cabling is used. In this article we will focus on the traditional enterprise data centres. What are its needs and how do these impact the cabling infrastructure?