At the Interop (News - Alert) 2010 show in Las Vegas recently, TMC's Erik Linask interviewed Alan Ugolini from Corning (News - Alert) Cable Systems, about some of the things companies looking to deploy optical products in their data centers should think about.

Ugolini said it starts in the design phases. "You want to review the applicable standards," he said. "One of them out there now that is very good to review is the TIA (News - Alert) 942 standard. Not only does it talk about your cabling infrastructure, your physical layer, it also gives you great advice on facility planning and networking."

He mentioned other standards our there which companies might want to review as well. Doing so, he stressed, "gives you a good foundation and good understanding of baseline techniques and methods to employ inside your data center."

Linask then asked what impact the soon-to-be-ratified IEEE (News - Alert) standards for 40 and 100 gigabyte would have on the cabling industry. Ugolini replied that there is something he does think is going to catch some people - "copper UTP is not included in the standards."

And as far as advancements in optical that help data centers and networks improve their reliability and uptime, Ugolini mentioned that as data centers progress, they become key to business success. "It becomes more of a solid business decision to have that infrastructure in place, to maintain the 24-hour, seven days a week uptime."

In February TMC's (News - Alert) Shamila Janakiraman reported that Corning Cable announced the launch of the Multi FIBER version of its Established Preconnectorised OSP Solution.

The Multi Fiber Preconnectorised OSP Solution from Corning "enables outside plant fiber access networks that need more than a single fiber," she wrote, adding that "This offers benefits like enhanced design flexibility, rapid deployment speeds and less installation costs, said company sources."

Corning's patented OptiTip MT Connector technology enables fast connection of up to four fibers per customer without using expensive fusion splicers or installation skills. Company sources explained that this multi fiber plug-and-play solution offers advantages like using the preconnectorised outside plant in a multi fiber environment.