Incorporating legal issues for the outside plant (OSP) designer as well as an international scope concerning standards and installation guidance, the new fourth edition of BICSI’s Outside Plant Design Reference Manual (OSPDRM) is being touted as relevant reference material for IT professionals worldwide.
“This is a truly unique outside plant manual in the fact that the information contained within this new edition reflects a broader applicability,” says John Adams, RCDD/OSP Specialist, owner of Adams Telecomm in Valrico, Florida, and BICSI’s Technical Information and Methods (TI&M) Committee OSPDRM subject matter expert team leader (SMETL).
First published in 1999 as the Customer-owned Outside Plant Design Manual, the fourth edition of the OSPDRM is the product of the continuing evolution toward a global document. “It is an invaluable reference for anyone that is involved in the designing, inspecting or the construction of OSP information transport systems,” Adams adds.
Previous editions of the manual relied almost exclusively on U.S. standards. Now addressing global best practices, BICSI says the newest edition can be applied almost anywhere. In addition, new topics covered include a chapter on “Legal Considerations for the OSP Designer,” which introduces the most current information regarding potential issues/problems that OSP designers and installers may encounter given the complexity of their projects.
Written for professionals who design, inspect or maintain the OSP infrastructures in a campus environment, the OSPDRM aims to provide a comprehensive, vendor-neutral overview of the components of OSP design. The manual is also the basis for BICSI’s RCDD/OSP Specialty Program.
“The knowledge gained by using this new manual will be an important asset to designers, consultants, engineers, end users, students taking BICSI outside plant courses, and candidates for the RCDD/OSP Specialty exam,” says David Labuskes, RCDD/NTS/OSP Specialist, vice president of RTKL Associates’ special systems design group and TI&M Committee chair.
For more information about the new OSP manual and BICSI’s RCDD/OSP Specialty Program, visit: www.bicsi.org.Short runs…
BOSTON, MA-A study by FTM Consulting Inc., part of the IGI Certified Report Series (www.igigroup.com), suggests that after a decade of significant growth in the 1990s, the copper-based structured cabling systems market has struggled in recent times and has now stalled. But Structured Cabling Systems Market indicates a resumption of double-digit, fiber-optic-fueled growth in 2006, keyed by the need for Gigabit Ethernet speeds in data centers that will require higher-performance fiber cable. By 2008, says FTP Consulting president Frank Murawski, “Fiber cabling is expected to become the dominant cabling media for structured cabling applications, such as data centers, campus, and fiber-to-the-zone. In addition, fiber will continue to be the dominant cabling used in riser cabling. We project that copper UTP will continue to dominate the horizontal cabling subsystem market in the future.”
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EDEN PRAIRIE, MN-ADC (www.adc.com) is opening a new manufacturing facility in Lexington, SC. The leased facility will manufacture cable-intensive fiber connectivity products for service provider customers that deploy FTTx services throughout the eastern United States. ADC was scheduled to move into the current 10,000 square foot facility last month, with plans to expand to 20,000 square feet later this year. By the end of the year, the company says it could employ up to 65 people at the new facility. “The Lexington site provides a more central location to better serve our East Coast customers as they deliver voice, video and data services to homes and businesses,” comments Pat O’Brien, president of ADC’s global connectivity solutions unit.
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