Fibre to the office


Fiber to the office is an alternative cabling concept for local area network network office environments. It combines passive elements and active mini-switches to provide end devices with Gigabit Ethernet. FTTO involves centralised optical fibre cabling techniques to create a combined backbone/horizontal channel; this channel is provided from the work areas to the centralised cross-connect or interconnect by allowing the use of pull-through cables or splices in the telecommunications room.
copper based infrastructure

History

FTTO Technology emerged in Germany at the start of the 1980s when fibre based connectivity was extensively explored. FTTO appeared as a response to the growing network complexity.
The aim was to meet the following requirements:

FTTO is a hybrid network involving fibre optic cabling and copper twisted pair patch cords with 8P8C connectors. In an FTTO environment, fibre is laid up vertically from the central distribution switch right to the office floor, where it runs horizontally to active FTTO switches at the users' workplaces. The final distance of 3–5 m to the end user desk is bridged using standard 8P8C twisted pair patch cords. There are only two network levels: the core and the access with no aggregation or distribution level in between compared to traditional structured cabling networks.
The FTTO switch provides a connection between optical uplinks and electrical downlinks. Typically, the switch has up to five twisted pair ports supporting Power over Ethernet and Power over Ethernet Plus. Modern FTTO Switches offer speeds of 1 Gbit/s per user port. Link aggregation may also be supported. Thus, PCs, laptops, IP Phones, wireless access points, cameras, access control units, building automation devices, and other devices with network interfaces may be connected to the backbone network with Gigabit speeds.
FTTO should not be confused with fibre to the desk, which is a concept for structured cabling that is found mostly in military environments as a secure communication technology.

Benefits

Due to the signal transfer qualities of fibre and its electromagnetic interference resilience, signals can be transferred over distances longer than 100 m.
Multi-mode fibre cabling covers distances of up to 550 m and single-mode of up to 10 km for Gigabit Ethernet and more. This is ideal for large, spatially distributed facilities typically found in public administration, universities, hospitals, airports, shopping malls and military.
FTTO is characterized by an absence of network hierarchy which may make an installation easier to deploy and manage.
In FTTO designs there is no need for floor distributors, and no investment in cooling, power supply and security equipment for the floor distribution room is required. Floor distribution rooms hosting technical equipments are not required and the room saved can be used alternatively.
Another advantage of FTTO infrastructures is their flexibility. New users, services or applications can be easily accommodated into the network. Moreover, network adjustments, upgrades and physical changes are seamlessly integrated into the existing network without operation stops. Also, FTTO installations can be realised on average by 60% quicker than their traditional counterparts. Research shows that using EEE-enabled switches can save up to 70% power consumption compared to traditional non-EEE network designs.. On top of that, most advanced FTTO infrastructures help to save up to 40% TCO.
Among the more advanced features of FTTO switches are precise link diagnostics, programmable function contacts, hardened management against hacking attacks, intelligent power budget management, easy reboot with memory cards, and extended durability. Many products have a mean time between failures of over 60 years and interoperability certificates with the leading manufacturers of core equipment.

Advantages of fibre-based infrastructures