Prevent Errors, Limit Complexity and Reduce Cost Associated with Cable Certification

Perhaps the last thing a buyer of cable test equipment thinks about when looking for a product is how to prevent testing errors—and that’s a big mistake. While issues such as cost, standards and specifications including bandwidth and test speeds are important, decision makers should not ignore the issues of project errors and the subsequent delays they can cause.

Companies frequently encounter failures with cable testing, many of which could have been prevented. Some of the errors made can actually have a tremendous impact on profitability.

Based on Fluke Networks’ customer surveys, 91% of installers in the U.S., 90% in Asia and 97% in Europe report at least one major problem every month. More than half of the respondents from the U.S. and Europe report seven or more problems, and in Asia it’s 10 or more problems.

These problems add up, according to the research. In total, in any given month more than 22,000 hours in the U.S., 18,000 hours in Asia and 4,000 hours in Europe are spent resolving cable infrastructure issues. That works out to 45 hours in the U.S., 61 hours in Asia and 26 hours in Europe per 1,000 cable links on average, depending on region.

To put it simply, the errors, complexity and reworking can add a week to a week and a half of labor to a typical 1,000-link project. While problems are often issues with the cable or installation itself, they are as likely to be errors in process such as incorrect test limits, misconfigurations of parameters, test data spread across multiple testers, mismatched results, or incomplete testing or reporting.

Despite the existence of such problems, which will only increase as networks become increasingly complex, many companies don’t seem to take this into account when looking at testing products. But they need to understand that many of these problems and the wasted time and money that result can be eliminated with the right solution.

Fluke Networks in June launched a unique new product family, called Versiv, based largely on market research that indicates the needs of the industry and the problems being encountered by companies.

One component of Versiv, the ProjX™ Management System, is designed to help companies manage complex cable testing projects with ease. The Versiv family of products speeds up and error proofs every step of the process of copper and fiber certification and OTDR testing.

The ProjX management system helps ensure that testing jobs are done correctly the first time, and helps managers track progress from set-up to systems acceptance, making sure all tests are completed correctly for all media and test limits. Users enter the testing details for a job once, and the ProjX system stores the information in a project file. They can change modules or jobs without having to re-enter details.

Companies can support multiple testers on the same job by sharing test limits, cable types and test results via the LinkWare Management System.

With technology such as Versiv’s ProjX, companies can eliminate many of the testing errors that can lead to wasted time, helping to boost efficiency and increase profitability.

Looking for more information on this topic? Check out our white paper.