The Network of Networks
Overview
Situation
Elauwit Networks is a leading provider
of internet, telephone and video for
condominiums, student housing, medical
facilities, senior-living centers and other
multi-resident developments.
Situation
The Grandview, a luxury condominium
community in Seattle, hired Elauwit
to build a fiber network and deliver
high-speed triple-play services to its
residents. Elauwit typically uses a snapcover plastic raceway to run fiber cable
through the hallway. The company initially
planned to also use the raceway inside
Grandview living units, where stapling
was not possible due to concrete walls.
However, residents desired a less visually
intrusive solution. Elauwit also sought a
less expensive, easy-to-install connector
at the distribution panel and ONT.
3M Solution
• 3M™ One Pass Fiber Pathway
for the hallway.
• 3M™ One Pass Mini Fiber Pathway
for the living unit.
• 3M™ No Polish Connector at the
distribution panel and ONT.
Benefits
• Reduced installation time and cost.
• Minimal visual impact.
• Less disruption to residents.
Results
• Deployed fiber network to 27-floor
building in less than two weeks.
• Cut installation time by more than 50
percent.
• Residents/subscribers pleased with
the aesthetics and quick installation.
Total Package from 3M Cuts Fiber
Installation Costs in Half – Beautifully
The Grandview residential tower in Seattle is aptly named. The 27-story, luxury
condominium community commands gorgeous, sweeping views of the Space
Needle, Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountain Range. Inside the building, the
interior view rivals the exterior panorama. The Grandview’s sleek, modern design
and elegantly decorated common areas make it one of the most coveted addresses in
downtown Seattle.
When Grandview residents decided to
upgrade their telecommunications services,
they sought state-of-the-art technology at a
good value. The homeowners association
hired Elauwit Networks to build a new
network to replace the building’s existing
twisted copper wire and daisy-chain
coaxial systems. Elauwit designed a fiberto-the-home (FTTH) network to serve the
building’s 108 units and deliver high-speed,
triple-play service.
“When you hold a traditional
raceway and the One Pass
product against a wall, the
choice is obvious. The One
Pass Pathway is practically
invisible.”
–Taylor Jones, Elauwit Networks
However, when it came time to install the network, Elauwit reps realized that its goto method for running fiber cable through hallways in multi-dwelling units (MDUs)
might not work for the upscale building. Elauwit typically uses an adhesive-backed,
hard plastic snap-cover raceway. The raceway is about an inch wide and sticks out
about an inch from the wall. While an inch doesn’t seem like much, it stood out
enough to potentially visually mar the hallway decor.
“The residents’ number one concern was aesthetics,” said Taylor Jones, chief
technology officer, Elauwit Networks. “The Grandview is a high-end community, and
residents weren’t interested in having a bulky piece of raceway on the wall. They told
us, ‘Yes, we want you to run fiber to every unit, but we really don’t want to see it,’ so
visual impact became a chief concern for us.”
That’s when Elauwit called 3M.
The Solution
Jones had read about the 3M™ One Pass Fiber Pathway in a trade publication and thought
that it might be the right fit for the Grandview. He called 3M and ordered samples. At
a design meeting with the Grandview homeowners association board of directors, he
presented two options for the hallways: the snap-cover raceway and the 3M™ One Pass
Fiber Pathway.
The One Pass Fiber Pathway is an adhesive-backed, surface-mount, horizontal cable
pathway and drop-cable solution factory-populated with 900 µm fiber. The duct and fiber
are installed simultaneously in one pass around a hallway perimeter. The pathway adheres
to a variety of wall surfaces and easily bends around corners and beams. Low-profile and
paintable, it can blend with just about any décor.
3M™ One Pass Fiber Pathway installed
The board chose the 3M solution for the hallway without hesitation. “When you hold a
traditional raceway and the One Pass product against a wall, the choice is obvious,” Jones
said. “The One Pass Pathway is practically invisible.”
Within the individual living units, Elauwit had initially planned on using a traditional
raceway to run fiber from the hallway to the optical network terminal (ONT). (Stapling
cable was not an option because the building’s walls are concrete.) However, once
residents saw the nearly invisible hallway solution from 3M, they insisted on the same look
for their living spaces.
“Some of them were very adamant about it,” Jones said. “They really liked the One Pass
look.”
Elauwit called 3M and ordered samples of the 3M™ One Pass Mini Fiber Pathway, and
dozens of residents requested that it be installed in their units. An extension of the hallway
solution, the One Pass Mini is installed in the subscriber’s apartment from a point of
entry in the hallway to a location near the provider’s ONT. Even smaller and sleeker
than its hallway counterpart, it contains a single, ultra-bend-insensitive fiber capable
of maintaining a 5 mm bend radius, allowing it to turn around sharp corners without
affecting signal performance.
3M™ One Pass Mini Surface-Mount Wall Outlet
with 3M™ No Polish Connector installed
Like the hallway solution, the One Pass Mini is low-profile, paintable and creates minimal
visual impact. “After you paint it the color of the wall, you won’t even know the product is
there,” Jones says. “The residents were really sold on that.”
Elauwit chose the 3M™ No Polish Connector (NPC) to terminate fiber at the building’s
fiber distribution panel and at the ONT inside the living units. NPCs allow for easy field
termination using simple, low-cost hand tools. The connectors consist of a factorypolished ferrule assembly and a mechanical splice. Installation is fast – usually taking
two to three minutes – with comparable performance to traditional fusion splicing.
NPCs provide highly reliable connections along with low optical reflection and minimal
insertion loss. In addition, a power source is not needed to complete the termination. A
power outlet is often difficult to find in an apartment hallway.
2 3M Communication Markets Division
www.3M.com/Telecom
The Results
The 3M™ One Pass Fiber Pathways for the hallway and the living unit helped Elauwit meet
its client’s requirement for a low-impact, aesthetically pleasing fiber conduit. The One Pass
Pathways easily adhered to the building’s concrete walls and blended in seamlessly with
the interior décor.
3M also saved Elauwit money on installation. Using the One Pass Pathways and the
3M No Polish Connector, Elauwit installed all 27 floors in less than two weeks, cutting
installation time by more than 50 percent, Jones said.
“Normally installation would have taken us four to five weeks with traditional raceway,”
Jones said. “First you have to install the raceway; then you have to go back and run the
fiber through it. The One Pass’s one-step process saved us a lot of time.”
3M™ One Pass Fiber Pathway installed
Additionally, the NPC proved less expensive and easier to install than Elauwit’s incumbent
connector from a major fiber manufacturer, further speeding up installation and
decreasing costs.
To ensure fast and proper installation, 3M provided a technical service rep on the job site
to train Elauwit’s installation crew on the One Pass products and the NPC. “Within the
first day, crew members were installing the 3M products on their own,” Jones said. “The
simple tools and the hands-on training by 3M really made for easy installation.”
The quick, easy installation not only cut installation costs, it also minimized disruption to
Grandview residents. “The sooner we can get out of the building, the better,” Jones says.
“The more we’re in the way, the more we aggravate the residents – our customers.”
The Bottom Line
3M™ One Pass Mini Fiber Pathway installed
3 3M Communication Markets Division
The One Pass and One Pass Mini Fiber Pathways and No Polish Connectors from
3M helped Elauwit Networks deploy a high-speed fiber network with minimal visual
impact to residents and in half the usual time, leading to happy subscribers and reduced
installation costs. Learn more about the One Pass products and the No Polish Connector
at 3M.com/OnePass.
www.3M.com/Telecom
The Network of
Networks
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3
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