Tel: 800-421-9616  |  Email: wtc@westerntel-com.com

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Serving the State of Michigan for Over 30 Years

Campus Backbone Network

The implementation of the High Bandwidth Fiber Optic Backbone Network, linking 79 buildings on the Wayne State University campus, began with the letter of intent, signed in January of 1997. The project culminated with the final network acceptance from Lucent Technologies on September 30th, 1999.

In all, WTC worked and collaborated with over 98 project team members. The experience and knowledge gained on the 2 1/2 year project will benefit our organization for years to come.

The construction ground breaking began in 1998. Over 4 miles of conduit were constructed with an additional 3.78 miles leased from Ameritech. While pulling in over 26 miles of cable footage the WTC team crossed many obstacles. In all, they installed, terminated, and tested 3,672 strands of Singlemode and 1,284 strands of Multimode cable. The glass footage totaled out at 2,291 miles. The Load-balanced and redundant Hub to Hub Backbone is capable of handling up to 1.2 Gigabits per pathway.

Fiber Optic Interchange Cabinet

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Advanced Communications Network Phase I

Each cabinet in the main network closet for Wayne State contains 864 terminated fiber strands, 144 per termination module. This network pathway design offers a compact distribution system with a great deal of capability. Working closely with University staff, WTC installed and tested miles of fiber optic cable under the watchful eye of Lucent Technologies Coordinators. It should be noted that this design utilized both MultiMode (LED transmitters) and SingleMode (monochromatic laser transmitters) fiber optic cables.

Fiber Termination Module

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Advanced Communications Network Phase I

In this picture you can see the exposed termination panels mounted in the Fiber Optic Shelf. Each strand is terminated with an SC connector and locked in place. Notice the exposed and coiled individual strands in the bottom of the module. As part of their training, WTC fiber technicians are taught to leave "managed slack" which allows for limited closet modification should the need arise. Forethought is one step that WTC takes to ensure a quality and cost-effective fiber optic installation.