Reducing Unseen Fire Hazards in Communications Cabling: New developments in fire-reducing technologies help keep plenum spaces out of sight and out of mind

摘要

Concerns are rising about the growing amount of voice, video, data, and security cables in commercial buildings required to service the ever-increasing demands of IT networks. More workstations, each with expanding capabilities and increasing bandwidth requirements, are taxing many buildings' communications infrastructure. And communications cabling, which carries important data packets to and from computer rooms, is now as common in building plenum spaces as ductwork. While most cable selections are based on electrical performance requirements, certain fire-rating factors that go beyond the minimum requirements are often overlooked. This fact places each building at a greater fire risk with each new installation of communications cabling. As a result, much discussion in the industry has been focused on the requirements in the 2002 NEC, which call for the removal of the accessible portion of abandoned communications cabling. These concerns are also the thrust behind the genesis of a new cable technology that significantly reduces these fire safety risks.