fred@compu.com (Fred Rump) (02/13/91)
Some time ago I heard a presentation on using fiber optic cable in a lightening prone enviroment. IE lots of electrical disturbances. I lost the name of the company that gave the talk and now need more information. This would be especially directed to folks who also do business in Florida where we are experiencing dramatic electrical problems when having lines either above or below ground from building to building. Many of our customers now unplug everything at night down there and have great trepidations about keeping their computers on during the slightest sign of thunderstorms. This is all very good for keeping the equipment working but not good for productivity and convenience of operation. Nightly communications have to be done during the day when things are more expensive than necessary. Remote buildings get disonnected because of the fear of failure via a heavy surge. We have protection on the outlets and a UPS with surgeprotection but nothing really seems to work reliably. So, the question is would fiber cable help? Do others use it? How much is it? Sources? Any information at all would be helpful. fred --- Fred Rump | Home of Brother John Software CompuData, Inc. | SCO Advanced Product Center 10501 Drummond Rd. | Bang: {uunet dsinc}!cdin-1!fred (800-223-DATA) Philadelphia, Pa. 19154| Internet: fred@COMPU.COM (215-824-3000) -- Fred Rump | Home of Brother John Software CompuData, Inc. | SCO Advanced Product Center 10501 Drummond Rd. | Bang: {uunet dsinc}!cdin-1!fred (800-223-DATA) Philadelphia, Pa. 19154| Internet: fred@COMPU.COM (215-824-3000)
king@suphys.physics.su.OZ.AU (Peter King) (02/14/91)
Here at the Plasma Physics Department we have a MicroVAX II that is subject to frequent power surges due to the tokamak discharging. The surge is such that when the tokamak fires, all the monitors in the Department jolt quite strongly. We have taken various precautions with the computer including mains filters, surge protectors and fibre optic isolation to our Ethernet network. All of our terminals are fibre optically isolated too. Recently we had a severe electrical storm which fried every computer in our Department except the MicroVAX II. We knew that the problem wasn't a power supply problem as the surge protectors were intact, so the problem was the Ethernet acting as a large antenna for the lightning strike on the building. Since everything works okay, I can recommend fibre optic isolation for the network connections. -- ******************************************************************************** Peter King ( king@alfven.physics.su.oz.au ) * voice: 612 692 3371 University of Sydney, Australia. 2006 * FAX: 612 660 2903 ********************************************************************************