Fibre optic cabling, inside and between buildings
In short. Fibre is what you use when copper runs out: over distance,
between buildings, and between cabinets that have to carry everything at once. We install it
inside buildings, between buildings on the same site, and underground where that is needed.
When copper is no longer enough
Copper is limited to 100 metres including patch cords, and for 10 Gbit over Cat6 the
practical limit drops to around 55 metres. Beyond that you are looking at fibre. The other
reason is aggregation: the link between two cabinets carries everything that sits behind both
of them, so it is the first place that becomes the bottleneck. That link is almost always
fibre.
Fibre also solves a problem copper cannot: it does not conduct. Between two buildings with
separate earthing systems, a copper link can carry a potential difference and damage equipment
at both ends. Fibre does not, which is why the connection between buildings is fibre even when
the distance would allow copper.
Between buildings on your own site
If the two buildings are yours and the ground between them is yours, this is a
straightforward job: a trench, ducting, the cable, and terminations at both ends. We do the
groundwork as part of the project. Where digging is not possible — a listed facade, a
public road, a tenant who will not have the courtyard opened — a wireless bridge is
sometimes the better answer, and we will say so.
Repairs and existing fibre
Fibre in the ground gets damaged, usually by someone else’s excavator. If you have an
existing run that has stopped working, we can measure where the break is and splice it rather
than replace the whole route. That is a different job from new installation and it is often
the cheaper answer by a wide margin.
What we hand over
Every fibre link is measured and the results go in the report: loss per link, and where the
losses occur. On fibre this matters more than on copper, because a connector that was dirty
when it was mated will pass on a good day and fail on a bad one. The measurement finds it
before you do.
Single mode or multimode
Inside a building over short distances, multimode is common and the optics are cheaper.
Over longer distances and for anything that has to last, single mode is the safer choice: the
cable itself is not the expensive part, and it does not limit what you can put on it later.
For a link you are burying in the ground, this is not the place to save money — you will
not be digging it up again to upgrade.
Working with us as an international client
We work for companies that have their Dutch operation here but their head office
somewhere else. That brings a few practical things with it, and we are used to all of them.
Our engineers speak English on site, not just over email. We can work to a specification
written abroad and tell you where it does not match Dutch practice before we start rather
than after. And we deliver documentation you can hand to a landlord, an auditor or a head
office without translating it first.
One thing worth knowing if you are used to other markets: in the Netherlands the
permanent cabling run is limited to 90 metres, with 100 metres allowed once patch cords at
both ends are included. Specifications written for the American market often quote 300 feet,
which is not the same number. We check that before anything is ordered.
What determines the cost
We do not quote a price without having seen the situation, because without that we would
either overcharge you or promise something we cannot deliver. What we can tell you is what
drives the number: the number of outlets, the distance from each outlet to the cabinet,
whether existing routes can be reused or new ones have to be made, whether the ceiling is
accessible, whether power over the data cable is needed, and whether the building is in use
while we work. That last one is often the biggest single factor.
Talk to an engineer, not a call centre
Call 036 52 98 447 or send us a message and one of our own engineers
will get back to you. We are based in Almere and work across the Netherlands. Everything is
done by our own people; we do not subcontract the work and disappear.
