Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1219491
14 I ICT TODAY Connector Cleaning and Best Practices It can be argued that the modern data center relies on a connector or rather a million connectors. They might be factory installed or they might be spliced on. Either way, the technician or installer should worry about whether the connectors are clean and undamaged. It is reasonable to expect that factory-installed connectors are undamaged but expecting them to be clean is a different situation. As one industry expert said, "Dust caps are aptly named… they hold dust." If the connector is not clean, then it is not going to deliver the performance required in today's high-speed networks. Have you ever tried driving 100 mph with a dirty windshield? It does not end well. Trying to drive 100 Gb through a dirty connector is no different. It is estimated that over 80 percent of network turn-up failures are due to dirty or damaged connectors. What is worse is that even if the dirt or damage did not impact the connection on Day 1, perhaps due to 10 GbE transmission, there is the possibility of what may happen on Day 1001 when there is an upgrade to 25 GbE transmission. If the world were a perfect place with perfect conditions, product, and staff, technicians and installers would not need to clean, inspect, and test. Even in a tightly environmentally controlled data cen- ter, there are plenty of small particles, such as dust and pollen (Figure 9) that can block the light on an 8 to 10 µm optical core endface (Figure 10). The IEC defines a clean connector as having no scratches and no defects (e.g., dirt, pollen) in the core. There cannot even be any scratches greater than 3 µm or defects greater than 5 µm in the cladding. It is import- ant to remember that any piece of debris anywhere on FIGURE 9: Comparison of most common dirt and debris found on connector endfaces. Coating Cladding 250 μm 8-10 μm 125 μm — 150 Microns 25 Microns Average Human Hair Lint, Particles Visible to the Naked Eye 10 Microns Heavy Dust, Lint, Fertilizer, Pollen 5-10 Microns Average Dust, Plant Spores, Mold 1-5 Microns Bacteria, Light Dust, Animal Dander 0.3-1 Microns Bacteria, Tobacco and Cooking Smoke, Metallic Fumes FIGURE 10: Fiber-endface cross section. Dirty Endface (Oils) Clean Endface (Core colored green - note size) Dirty Endface (Dust/Dirt)