Multi-pair fiber from equipment room to office through narrow conduit

[niekbergboer]

I'll be moving house, and I decided to do things "right", networking wise, for once.

I willhave an equipment room in which I will put my rack that contains servers, a workstation, switches, UPS, etc.
From there, 4 conduits already exist, in which (probable) Cat 5e cable is currently laid, with RJ45 face plates on either end. That will do fine for 1 Gbe connections between the rack and the other rooms, but I want a remote workstation in my office.

What I am thinking of needs at least three fiber pairs: one for networking, so that I can put a printer in my office along with other play-things. One for a DisplayPort-over-fiber connection (4k@60 Hz, full 4:4:4, these sell for ~$1000-1500 in Switzerland), and one for a USB3-over-fiber connection. Along with perhaps a KVM switch on the rack side, that means I can have a _silent_ office with complete access to a powerful workstation.

In terms of cabling, the first thing that comes to mind is to lay OM4 MPO/MTP type A with a keystone faceplate on either end. Together with a A and AF cassette pair, that means I could easily split out my 3 fiber pairs on either end. However, the conduits (tubes, through walls, and that means concrete walls in Switzerland) are narrow. I do not see an MTP plug fit through there.

What are the options? Does anyone have experience with fiber trunks with staggered LC connectors on either end (that _could_ fit), or does anyone know whether installers typically have MPO/MTP splicing equipment?

 

[Wolfcastle]

How small are we talking here for the conduit? MTP connectors are only about 1.5 cm wide even with a boot.

 

[klui]

You should be able to pull preterm MPO patch cords in 19 mm ID (3/4") conduit if there aren't too many bends and the run isn't too long. 25 mm (1") would be better. If your existing are not large enough your only option is to run new conduit or deploy armored.

In terms of connector size, I feel MPO is smaller than duplex LC. Are you looking at separating them?

Be careful when you purchase ones with pull sock/eye. Their excellent protection require larger conduit ID. I purchased some MPO clip-on pull eyes but haven't used them yet. There are also pull kits for fiber--the one I bought came with enough heatshrink tubing for 2-4 pulls. These parts are for my other rooms where I don't have multi trunks. I am leaning on using the clip ons because they don't require one-use items. For me the hardest part is running the conduits and I spent quite a few hours in the crawl space for my multi trunk runs. I needed a break from that and spent that time installing canned lights around the house.

 

[niekbergboer]

Thanks for your answers; I decided to get my hands on a short MTP cable to just try whether it fits, because indeed it is smaller than I thought. I'll let you know.