Fibre made easy as 3M launch easy splice solutions

Fibre installation in the Middle East is set to be simplified with the launch of the 3M No Polish Connector (NPC) and the 3M Fibrlok mechanical fibre splice.

The company states that the respective products have been designed in order to simplify installation of fibre cables in both enterprise and carrier environments.

Ramzi S. Nassif the country business leader for 3M commented: "Unlike fusion splicing, 3M Fibrlok is a mechanical device that does not require electrical power to be installed. In test conditions, 3M Fibrlok has provided minimal communications signal loss, even in extreme environmental conditions."

The steady growth of fibre installations throughout a range of environments including business and public networks has seen communications engineers look ever increasingly at adding fibre cabling to the services they offer. It has previously proved difficult for many contractors to enter the Middle Eastern market due to the skills required for fibre installation as well as the costs of training and equipment.

According to 3M these new products will change this as no specialist training is required, on-site equipment and tools are minimised and project costs are reduced. The NPC and Fibrlok will enable greater range of installers to offer fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fibre-to-the-desk (FTTD) services that are employed for television, Internet or other optical fibre uses.

"Millions of 3M Fibrloks have been used all over the world since their introduction twenty years ago. Although these versions are new to Middle Eastern markets, more than two million have already been deployed by a Japanese FTTH service provider with a 99.98% success rate. Mechanical splicing with 3M Fibrlok can be completed in approximately half the time of fusion splicing - and the splicing kits typically cost considerably less. It makes their benefits in cable-laying throughout the region numerous," Nassif concluded.