What Others Are Doing*eHow You Can Help Insulated Data Cables Help ReduceFire Risk (NAPSA)—“Outof sight, out of mind”is often an adage of comfort, but when it comes to hidden fire hazards, it can be a curse. Unseen wiring in a building’s plenum area—the space above a suspended ceiling or under a raised floor, containing air ducts and communications cabling—can be a major fuel source in an office fire. The flame and smokeit propagates threaten human life and sensitive electronics equipment. “Until recently, many data centers used data cabling insulated with combustible polyethylene and jacketed with polyvinyl chloride,” says Rick Foster, director of Fusion Cable Services, Brookfield, Conn. “Bundle after bundle of such wiring exists in the plenum areas of most large office buildings, so it’s a real safety concern.” Hundreds of data center fires are reported annually in the United States, so the occurrence is not rare. “And even when the facilities and systems are cleaned and repaired after a fire, problems can creep up monthsor even years after the incident,” he adds. That’s because micro-sized smoke and carbon particles can spread throughout facility, contaminating and shorting out sensi- tive circuits, far from the initial fire site. “It can be very hard to track that kind of problem down,” Foster says. “A better solution is to minimize the smoke potential Where communications cabling is laid, there’s a risk for fire and other safety hazards. in thefirst place by installing limited combustible cable (LCC) in all new data centers as well as in retrofits.” Insulated and jacketed with DuPontTeflon fluoropolymer, LCC offers the electrical and bandwidth performance of standard cable, but significantly less potential for ignition, flame spread and smoke generation. The cable is lead-free and is available from major cable manufacturers such as Belden, Inc., CommScope, Krone and Mohawk/CDT. To learn more about how LCC made with Teflon can reducefire and smoke risk in your data center, school, healthcare fa- cility or office building, visit www.teflon.com/cablingmaterials.
