Designing optical distribution frames
CommScope is a multinational network infrastructure provide. It is an American company that is active in 130 countries and has more than 20000 employees worldwide. It produces, among other things, cables, cable management, connectors, antennas, cabinets and panels.
Our Verhaert Consulting consultant Klaas Haeverans is part of the Inside Plant Fiber team. This team focuses on the fiber connections for the inside of the network facilities, such as datacenter. He mainly assisted in the design and development of the Fact Frame project.
About Fact Frame
The Fact Frame is the new ODF – optical distribution fame – developed by CommScope. It is designed to fit a variety of fiber and copper cabling applications and emphasizes superior cable management and ease of use. The FACT ODF provides full front accessibility, toolless installation and ultra-high density connectivity in a highly modular, lightweight frame. This module ensures the compatibility with existing CommScope products and accessories and the possibility for future extensions.
Role of the Verhaert Consulting consultant
At CommScope, Klaas mainly focused on the design of the doors for the frame. A difficult task because the customer should be able to hinge open the door from the left side as well as from the right. An extra issue was that the hinging points were already defined in the design of the frame. He followed up on the first prototypes and further helped improving the following iterations as well.
In addition, he was also largely responsible for the technical drawings for the supplier of the Fact Frame itself. After inspecting the first production samples produced by the supplier, it became clear that there were some changes needed in some of the parts and that the tolerances on some drawings should be tighter. Something he assisted the CommScope team with, as well.
Currently, he is still working on a couple of accessories for the Fact Frame. He is designing transition pieces that will make it possible to integrate the Fact Frame in a setup of existing CommScope products. In the coming months, they will keep working on the Fact Frame, because developing a smaller version of the Fact Frame is the next action point on the schedule.