A fiber management system (FMS) manages
optical fiber
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
connections from outside of fiber rack to the fiber
routers.
Fiber-optic cable
A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...
duct containing many fibers comes from far end sites and terminates on the FMS using
splicing technology. FMS has fiber in and fiber out ports. From fiber out port the fiber patch will go to
fiber optics
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
based router.
FMS is a process by which a fiber network is managed. It tracks functions or attributes of the system such as schematic design, physical locations of assets, splice points (mechanical/fusion), and more.
Background
Fiber management systems surfaced with fiber optic cable technology in the early 1970s. Peter Schultz, Donald Keck, and Robert Maurer developed the first optical fiber that could transmit digital data more than 65,000 times faster than coaxial cables. In April 1977,
General Telephone and Electronics
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...
launched the first optical network, in Southern California. The next month, Bell launched an optical telephone system in Chicago. Since the 1970s, fiber networks have grown to service over 80% of the world’s data and voice traffic.
Modern fiber management
Fiber optic network management is used to:
Most organizations use software-based platforms, databases, and spreadsheets to execute these activities. With these tools, managers and installers can store data related to network components, connections, and tests that are valuable for planning future developments or troubleshooting issues as they arise. Fiber optic management systems can generate reports that describe various network data points, including cable section lengths, loss budgets, network capacity, optical loss, splice and termination locations.
Operators can also store
geospatial data
Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position).
It is also call ...
and documents if
GIS
A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...
capabilities are available.
Software-based fiber optic network management platforms with GIS features allow network managers to visualize cable routes and evaluate surrounding environments. There are many software-based fiber management systems today, such as:
See also
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Broadband
In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...
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Fiber to the x
Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...
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GTE
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...
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Last mile
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MapInfo
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Municipal broadband
Municipal broadband is broadband Internet access owned by public entities. Services are often provided either fully or partially by local governments to residents within certain areas or jurisdictions. Common connection technologies include unlice ...
References
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Fiber optics