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| I've worked with fiber-optic links between college buildings, even the floors of the dorms. Basically, you don't have to treat fiber different than CAT-5 or CAT-6. There are speed issues with fiber, depending on the fiber you're using.
I like inter-building use of fiber as you don't have the added complications of ground-fault differentials which can burn-out your equipment.
If you will, please consider using HP switching. My college is 100% HP switched, even using Open Shortest-Path First routing. It's never left me high & dry. They are also 100% LIFETIME guaranteed, even if you buy a used HP switch over eBay for cheap. If a port goes bad, just call HP tech support and the next day you will have a replacement switch of the same model, as well as a return label to send the faulty unit back - no questions; no problems; no hassle. Can't beat that.
PLUS, HP switching is a heckuva lot cheaper than Cisco.
Frequently, we'd use pre-terminated fiber optic cables. You measure the distance, then make damned sure you add at minimum 10 feet of "maintenance loop" at each end. This way, in case of the unforeseen, you have extra length to help get you out of a bind.
My employer used(s) CEC - Communications Engineering - to come on-campus to do the terminating of the fiber optics. They were very good, well trained and did the job well. Even though we had well over 100 fiber cables on-campus, we knew it would be much cheaper to have CEC do the terminating. | |
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