Category: application

Ranked as number one in Europe, Multimedia Solutions is a leading provider of professional broadcast and studio cables. Since 1958 these broadcast solutions have delivered levels of technical excellence that have proven themselves in practice under the most demanding of conditions.

Our cables are optimally tailored to an information and entertainment market, which is now spanning the analogue and digital world. Whether broadcasting a regional traffic report by a local radio station, or transmitting World Class soccer across the world – the success of broadcast production always depends on the reliability of the audio, video, camera and lighting control cables.

The demands on the studio technique are nearly unlimited. Sports events, politics, culture and news, camera teams have to deliver optimal pictures worldwide, and with our high-performance products, we are your reliable partner. Be it studio production or outside broadcasting, analogue or SDI, SDTI or HDTV, live or virtual – we have the right cable for you.

With our products we create the conditions for the reliable and safe transmission of signals. Our studio cables fulfil significant specifications like ARD- and BBC-Specification, AES/EBU, SMPTE, IEC, EN and VDE. Thus, we can guarantee optimal transmission characteristics and the very best electromagnetic compatibility.

Characteristic impedance
High data rates require a special cable design. Therefore, our audio cables grant a low ER (relative permittivity) and low-loss factor, thanks to a foam-skin insulation with narrow tolerances. Thus, our digital audio cables achieve a specified characteristic impedance of 110 and data rates of 3 Mbit/s (single channel) and 6 Mbit/s (two-channel).

Transmission quality
We produce audio cables for the high demands of studios and broadcasting vans designed to provide a perfect transmission quality. What characteri­zes our products, is a low fire load and a high aging and abrasion resistance.

Interference immunity
Perfectly adjusted twisting of the pairs and an excellent individual screening, guarantee interference transmission resistance, immunity to outer interferences and lowest cross-talk, even at high frequencies.

The right cable for every demand
Mobile application (e.g. outdoor live transmission of a concert) calls for high flexibility. Particularly suitable for this purpose are our products with the flexible spiraled copper wire screen. Fixed installations require high performances and best electromagnetic compatibility. This is guaranteed by an overall screening consisting of aluminium-laminated foil, and tight-tinned copper braid.

Leading trade fairs like the CeBIT in Hanover, make it abundantly clear: the “intelligent building” is the concept of the future. Not only will it offer new possibilities for using various media and devices interactively, but it will also make life safer, more comfortable, and will safe energy costs.

Hence, the demands on home cabling are very high. In order to ensure perfect quality data transmission, high-quality shielding of the cables is necessary. The future-oriented solution of Prysmian Group means: multi-platform indoor cables consisting of various combinations of coaxial cables, conventional data cables, and future-oriented fibre optic cables.

Advanced cabling solutions are also part of the portfolio: if you’re looking for a future proof universal network for LAN, TV and control, the proven UC MULTIMEDIA 1500 is an option too. This solution combines various services in one universal cable. The application determines what’s connected to it.

Television
In order to eliminate digital noise like pixelation on TV reception, the best possible physical shielding of the coaxial cable is of utmost importance. The patented Draka tri-shield coaxial cable design, consisting of dense braid shielding underlayered by two aluminium PET foils, serves this purpose. Compared to conventional cables, it shows a considerably better shielding attenuation, preventing interference from appliances in the immediate environment. Draka tri-shield cables help to meet the limiting values given by law.

Internet access
Already common applications like Triple Play – the transmission of internet, telephone and TV over one cable – can be optimally solved with shielded coaxial cables. Systems use the so-called ‘backward channel’ in the lower frequency range. The quality of the shielding in this frequency range is indicated by the so-called transfer impedance. The rule of thumb is: The lower the transfer impedance, the better the shielding effect for the backward channel. For these applications, Prysmian Group offers coaxial cables with an extra low transfer impedance, which exceed the requirements of screening class A and higher.

Multi platform
For example, hybrid cables consist of a coaxial cable for today’s services like TV or broadband interne – a high-quality data cable for IP-based services or networks, and bend insensitive optical fibres for next generation super high-speed networks and IP services. Thus, Prysmian Group offers a future-proof solution, independent from the respective network operator.

Benefits for housing societies, property managers and home owners – at a glance

• Hybrid solutions consisting of a coaxial cable, a data cable, and an optical fibre cable, ensure the future sustainability of cable solutions and the value retention of the building – independent from the network operator.
• Tri-shield coaxial cables exceed the requirements of screening class A, including the transfer impedance.
• High-quality halogen-free flame retardant cables ensure optimum fire protection.

Drop and Trunk cables – what makes the difference
Multimedia Solutions manufactures high-quality copper and fibre optic cables for all multimedia applications.

• Screening class A:Â To reduce egress and ingress to a tolerable level, our CATV cables are equipped with screening constructions which fulfil the latest EN 50117-2-n standard. Drop cables follow classes A, B or C, Trunk cables reach class A+ or A++ performance.
• Anti-aging and low reflections:Â The dielectrics consist of physically foamed cellular PE, thus no chemical additives are needed and no aging effects appear.
• Halogen-free and flame retardant:Â Each application requires the correct sheath material. You can choose between FRNC for indoor use, and PE for outdoor use. Also water resistant materials being both halogen-free and flame retardant are available.
• Connector compatibility: Draka branded CATV cables are compatible to all major connectors – we have this approved by leading connector manufacturers. Compatibility certificates and all relevant datasheets are available for download at www.prysmiangroup.com
• Approved by many network operators: Many users appreciate the quality and reliability of the Prysmian Group. Thus, our Drop and Trunk cables are approved, e.g. by Kabel Deutschland (KDG), TeleNet or UPC.

Ethernet, the classic office application, is now increasingly required in industrial automation. Ethernet makes it possible to manage communications effectively. By selectively accessing every single point in the network, making adjustments and modifications is easier, leading to a reduction in downtime, and an increase in productivity.

Fibre optic cables of the UCFIBRE series, are the first choice for Ethernet in a rough industrial environment. Here the cables prove their superiority in a mechanical, chemical and climatic capacity – and, of course, you don’t need to worry about electromagnetic interferences.

Relevant Ethernet standards:

1.  International Standards

• ISO/IEC 11801 (2002) Information technology
• Generic cabling for customer premises ISO/IEC 24702 (2006) Information technology
• Generic cabling – Industrial premises ISO/IEC 24764 (2010) Information technology – Generic cabling for data centres ISO/IEC 15018 (2004) Information technology
• Generic cabling for homes

2. Â Â European Standards

• EN 50173-1 (2007) Information technology – Generic cabling systems – Part 1: General requirements
• EN 50173-2 (2007) Information technology – Generic cabling systems – Part 2: – Office premises
• EN 50173-3 (2007) Information technology – Generic cabling systems – Part 3: – Industrial premises
• EN 50173-4 (2007) Information technology – Generic cabling systems – Part 4: – Homes
• EN 50173-5 (2007) Information technology – Generic cabling systems – Part 5: – Data centre

The need for high reliability and continued cost efficiency, has established a widely accepted cabling concept in recent years; well defined today in international standards like EN50173-5 or TIA942.

Data centres are split into four levels that help allocate the typical services and applications. The Client level contains devices like a server – be it desk top, rack format or even the modern blades – and all kinds of storage devices and systems like SAN or NAS, including tape-recording devices for backup purposes. Access switches are situated at the next level, made to couple and connect all devices from client level. The Core level in data centres forms the gate-way with firewall functionality, to the group of network service providers connecting the data centre to the outside world.

This scenario is closer to some data centre operators than many might think. ISPs are already facing bottlenecks in their data centre backbones, and desperately seeking a superior solution. Within the next 3 years, migrations will take place that the infrastructure design will need to cope with. Enterprise data centre operators recognized electronic mail as the key application to improving efficiency in their organization. The reported annual growth rate of email data traffic is around 25%. Data centre hosts see all these trends raised to a higher power. Hence upgrading is a relevant option to all data centre operators, it’s just a matter of time.

What’s needed to meet future data centre requirements in Copper cabling?

In highly concentrated data centre networks, at server level (Client), the key is to maximize utilization of available pathways, racks and spaces, rather than to go for maximum permissible channel length. The required channels of 20m to 60m average distances give room for optimized designs in cabling.

For this application, Draka has developed the new UCFuture program which contains slim cable designs based on existing work area cable standards, which are perfect for zone cabling in data centres because of these characteristics:

• Up to 100% higher packing density in cable trays
• Fully compliant with established cable standards
• PIMF design to eliminate any Alien-Xtalk interferences
• Full 10GBase-T performance over a channel distance of 70m

At Client level especially, bulky cabling forms a serious barrier to air ventilation, literally one of the hot topics in data centres due to growing packing density in server racks, and the need to offload the high amount of heat dissipated by all the electronics.

Slim designs at server level, like the blade technology, should be consequently transferred to slim cabling.

The advantages of this new cable design can be leveraged to most suitable slim-design connectivity products, which give new opportunities for extended customer-specific service concepts.

Minimum required transmission performance of cable and cabling is Cat6A and/or Class EA. The rationale is to ensure easy migration of services to 10GBase-T, for which cable standards based on various technologies were made. Using 10 Gigabit Ethernet in data centres puts the attention to additional aspects:

• Products have shorter life cycles than in enterprise networks
• The entire Infrastructure (building, electricity, access protection etc.) is much better defined than in office buildings
• The packing density of installations is by far higher

Each of these factors promote the choice for future proof PIMF cable design, users of which enjoy high transmission performance headroom, along with its immunity against Alien-Xtalk. It’s the perfect fit to all the other devices and systems in a data centre.

Fibre Infrastructure requirements
Data centre backbones are already equipped with optical fibre technology. Optical fibre technology offers lowest attenuation, highest bandwidth, and longer link lengths. Thus supporting the highest data rates – a prerequisite for backbone data links. Within data centres it forms one of the most critical components due to the highly aggregated data traffic there.

As soon as 10 Gigabit Ethernet is on the agenda at client level, a data centre backbone, capable of 10GbE to link access and distribution levels, turns into a real bottleneck. Despite the fact that copper data cables can cover a distance of up to 100m at 10Gbit/s, the preference in this place should be laser optimized multi-mode fibre, according to the OM4 specification.

Today’s recommendation is clearly to take this a future proof solution, which is the only short-link technology that’s also part of the 40 Gigabit Ethernet, and likewise 100GbE Ethernet. It is based on multi-lane structures of OM4 or OM3 channel links. A data centre backbone in OM4 can therefore be easily expanded to the Next Generation Ethernet and secures investments for a longer pack-off time.