The majority of homes and apartments in Australia are already built. Paul Skelton looks at a new solution that is ideal for the retrofit installation of fibre in MDUs.

There is no doubt that optical fibre has changed the way we work within the cabling industry, and the National Broadband Network (NBN) will only further push the technology into Australian homes and offices.

But there is a problem.

When installing cabling systems into older buildings, you will often be faced with having to chase cable into older building materials, such as stone, brick or solid plaster. Often this means it simply can’t be done.

The solution for many installers in this situation would be to run exposed trunking or conduit wherever it’s needed, but in all honesty your client probably won’t be a fan of this approach.

Enter 3M.

“3M’s new One Pass Fibre Pathway has been specifically designed for brownfield applications, particularly MDUs,” says 3M business development manager Rex Buckley.

“To take fibre to and into an apartment has typically been a difficult job for network providers with traditional methods being messy and labour intensive. The new 3M One Pass system provides a most aesthetically pleasing outcome in a fraction of the time needed to install a traditional pathway system.”

The 3M One Pass Fibre Pathway is a horizontal cable pathway and drop cable solution installed simultaneously in one run around a hallway perimeter. It is designed for use in brownfield MDUs serviced by FTTH networks but is also suitable for hotels, hospitals, schools and small businesses.

It uses 3M adhesive technology to adhere a duct to a wall and is compatible with a variety of wall surfaces.

“The 3M One Pass Fibre Pathway doesn’t fit every situation. It’s not a solution for a new building being built, and if an existing building has raceways, pipes or ducts that are available then it’s not necessary, either.

“But in older buildings where existing pathways are crowded or even non existent, it makes a lot of sense. The significant advantages are the aesthetic look of the end product as well as the labour cost savings, so it should also result in the job cost coming in significantly less than a traditional job.

“The labour savings are very significant and are a result of eliminating separate steps, such as pathway creation and drop cable placement, common in traditional pathway solutions. These labour savings translate to a lower total cost to complete the job.”

Rex explains that 3M One Pass uses similar adhesive to that which holds windows into high-rise buildings, so you can be assured that once it is installed it will stay there.

“3M has been in the adhesive game for a heck of a long time, so we’ve got that part sorted out,” he says.

“You just need to ensure that you clean the walls to remove any dust and cobwebs. We’ve tested the product against most types of wall surfaces and it is a very high-bond adhesive – once it’s up it won’t come down.

“It’s a permanent adhesive with proven durability.”

Recently, communications contractor Universal Communications Group (UCG) completed a network upgrade to Pacific Park – a 162 unit apartment complex in Sydney. This apartment complex had a failing television cabling system that did not support pay TV and wasn’t compliant with digital television. UCG sold the concept of a future proof fibre system to the owners’ committee and settled on 3M One Pass as the “only system capable of meeting their aesthetic requirements”.

“Pacific Park is about 20 years old, so it’s not overly old, but the building was starting to get complaints of failing free-to-air TV signals. Secondly, they wanted to get Foxtel but couldn’t get a signal,” says UCG general manager Roger McArthur.

“This was primarily because the cabling ran through concrete and the consequence of that was the building’s infrastructure was corroding the copper. We looked at replacing it with a new coax network but everything we found needed additional conduit to be run. So after considering a number of ideas we came across One Pass.”

Pacific Park is the first installation of 3M One Pass in Australia and one of the first outside of the US, where it was launched in 2009.

Pacific Park, however, involved the first installation worldwide of the 3M One Pass Mini Fibre Pathway.

The One Pass Mini is designed for use in brownfield MDUs or single family units serviced by FTTH networks. It is a single fibre adhesive-backed, surface-mount cable pathway and drop cable solution installed in just one run and is used to connect to hallway distribution cables from a point of-entry location near an apartment door to a wall outlet in the living unit positioned near an ONT.

“This is a very new product. In fact we used prototype and development product in the Pacific Park installation,” Rex adds.

“This has allowed 3M to progress the development of the One Pass Mini by trying different things as different situations arose. So the product that has been released is a slight tweak on the original.”

Both 3M One Pass and 3M One Pass Mini are terminated using 3M No Polish Connectors (NPC). The 3M NPC is a field terminated mechanical connector which also helps shorten the time required to connect the final drop.

The greatest testament to a product’s usefulness is whether a contractor would be willing to use it again. For UCG, the answer is clearly yes.

“The benefits of One Pass and One Pass Mini Fibre Pathways have been significant – to us and our clients. The reduction in time of installation doesn’t just doesn’t help the contractor, the inconvenience to the resident is reduced as well,” Roger says.

“It’s also great for buildings that may have asbestos – so in that way it’s good for health and safety.”