Measurement Data for Network Connectors from the Cloud

R&M, the globally active developer and provider of cabling systems for high-end, high-performance, high quality and high value network infrastructures based in Wetzikon, Switzerland, is digitizing the product data of optical network connectors and assemblies. This saves technicians and installers a lot of work when documenting the cabling of buildings, data centers and broadband networks.

To date, project managers have primarily documented the measurement data and specifications of connectors, assemblies and network products manually. Measurement protocols with transmission and attenuation values of each individual connector are printed out and filed to properly document a cabling project. Now the data can be processed digitally throughout. This is made possible by the R&M Measurement Data on Demand service.

Installers and technicians now only need a smartphone to register all the connectors on the construction site. Each connector carries its own DataMatrix code, which the smartphone scans. The code contains a link to the R&M measurement database in the cloud. The measured values of the individual connectors can be accessed immediately, processed digitally and copied into the project documentation. R&M creates the ‘personality profile’ of the connectors in a standardized format.

“The measurement data service marks the start of the next phase of digitalization,” explains R&M CMO Andreas Rüsseler. “We are using digitalization in all aspects of cabling and network technology to modernize project management for all partners. A smartphone, an app and our cloud service replace piles of paper. It is no longer necessary to spend days working on tables with measurement protocols,” he continues.

R&M estimates that the time required to document the cabling of a network cabinet is reduced by up to 80 %. At the same time, the documentation quality increases. Misunderstandings and sources of error are excluded. Project managers can provide their clients with a flawless report that forms the basis of long-term warranties.

Andreas Rüsseler: “The digitized measurement data service makes life much easier for data centers. Fiber to the Home and building networks can now also be documented more easily.”

R&M will also include products such as patch panels, racks and multi-fiber cables in the program. In the future, fiber optic measurement data on the interferometry and quality of fiber end faces will also be able to be retrieved using the code if required. Using the DataMatrix code, installers can also call up installation instructions locally to ensure that they are properly installed on the building site.

R&M is developing a comprehensive digitalization business model covering all aspects of cabling and network technology. It ranges from project planning and logistics to quality assurance. Within the framework of Building Information Modeling (BIM), planners will be able to copy construction drawings and 3D data in the future and integrate them into their designs. In the R&M webshop, you can store configurations or order lists and reuse them for future construction projects.