Hybrid Cabling, Explained

(This blog post from Superior Essex describes hybrid cabling and illustrates how it can help your facility. -Teddi) 

When you hear the words “hybrid cabling,” what comes to mind? If it’s copper combined with fiber, you’d be exactly right. And if it’s power combined with data, well, you’d be right once again.

That’s because they are one in the same, as hybrid cables provide both DC power (via copper) and data (via optical fiber) to efficiently and simultaneously provide both. By combining metallic conductors and optical fibers under a single jacket, you get the best of both worlds – the ability to deliver power remotely while simultaneously carrying data across long distances.

One of the main benefits of choosing hybrid cabling is that it requires only a single cable pull (instead of one for power and another for data). This benefit comes coupled with savings on the amount of cable required, as well as the labor needed to install it. In addition, labor costs are further minimized because the cable can be pulled by a telecom installer, as opposed to a certified electrician.

And if you’re looking to take advantage of the numerous cost-saving perks of hybrid cabling, then look no further than Superior Essex. The company has a long legacy of being an industry leader in the manufacturing of communications solutions used to interconnect enterprises, campuses and communities Everywhere You Live and Work®. In line with this, the company’s hybrid product offerings span both Premises and Outside Plant (OSP) applications, and they even offer a solution – PowerWise® Indoor/Outdoor 2x2 Hybrid – that’s been designed to handle both.

For purely outdoor applications, Superior Essex PowerWise® Hybrid cable is the optimal choice for applications that require greater power over longer distances than can be accommodated by traditional Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) cable. And here’s the best part: its core is surrounded by water-blocking tape, a corrugated aluminum shield and a sunlight-resistant jacket, thereby creating a rugged and reliable OSP cable.

Superior Essex also offers a premium indoor hybrid cabling solution for Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), appropriately named DAS Hybrid. The cable’s optical fiber component contains 12 flexible, 900μm, tight-buffered, single-mode fibers perfect for voice and data communications (WiFi). And its non-shielded, copper cable component contains four 12 AWG conductors all covered by a flame-retardant jacket, making it ideal for carrying power, control signals and video (CCTV) nearly anywhere.

Given their wide breadth of products, Superior Essex cables are the unsurpassed solutions for simultaneously supplying both power and data – no matter the application. So choose Superior Essex hybrid cables and enjoy the benefits of not needing to buy and install double the cable where a single solution can simultaneously provide both. Contact your local Accu-Tech representative to learn more.