3M Optical Solutions Support 'Going Green'

What is a POLS?

POLS is a term which stands for Passive Optical LAN Solutions. Passive optical LAN's are widely regarded to be the future of FTTH (fiber to the home) and enterprise connectivity solutions. This is because passive optical LAN's use less energy, utilize less space, fewer components and raw materials as well as maintain a lower cost to deploy and operate in comparison to copper based systems. Being a cost-effective method to bring fiber to any end user, it is changing the fundamental way that we perceive networks and how they operate.

The 'passive' in POLS since there is no need for active electronics between the main equipment room and the work areas – only passive optical splitters to distribute services are required from the main switches to the terminals. Implementing a gigabit performance to typical LAN configurations with copper based infrastructure costs quite a bit more than POLS in a number of different ways, which also explains how upgrading to a POL solution can help push your company towards a green solution AND be better for your bottom line – a win-win that is hard to beat!

The Benefits To a Passive Optical LAN Solution

Overall infrastructure for passive optical LAN's is setup differently from ethernet LAN's, which accounts for the huge differences in CapEx, Opex and space savings. Operating distribution and workgroup switches is now a thing of the past, and by eliminating the need for active electronics between the main equipment room and work terminals, savings of up to 70% less CapEx can be realized. The Opex savings are even greater, up to 80% less, since when it comes to power consumption, fiber can eliminate thousands of kilowatt-hours used by power and cooling systems as well as transmission of data, being sent with light rather than electricity.

Upgrading to a POLS also frees up huge amounts of space related to data center needs and distribution closets. Traditionally, for an office building to accommodate 2,000 employees, a traditional LAN would need at least 18 equipment racks and 90 RMU's of space. What used to take entire closets can now be fulfilled with a fraction of the amount of equipment. A Passive Optical LAN using only 1 equipment rack and 9 RMU's can serve up to 7,000 employees. This streamlining of equipment, overhead costs and operating expenses also makes routine maintenance and troubleshooting for your data center IT managers incredibly simplified.

Fiber also has inherent advantages over copper based transmission's, namely the security of fiber – there are not electronic-magnetic signals being emitted over the fiber which could be intercepted. Bend-radius can cause quite a few problems in any installation too, but the fiber of today has an extremely sturdy build and can commonly support higher bend radii than copper cables.

POLS is a complete end-to-end fiber solution. From your data center to the work area, the high reliability and low cost of ownership makes POLS a very attractive solution to implement for almost any business or network. One industry leader in fiber and telecommunications, 3M, has developed a quality passive optical LAN solution which you can read more about in their POLS Brochure, here. Or, watch the video below to learn more:

For more information about 3M fiber and telecommunications solutions which might benefit your facility, contact you local Accu-Tech representative today!