How expensive is fiber optic

[IT Manager]

We used to be very prone to lightning damage on some RS-232 lines that
we had running along the length of our plant.  There were probably 10
RS-232 ports sharing wires in two multi-wire cables.  Every summer, during
thunderstorm season, we would blow the 1488 and 1489 chips in the terminals
or computer serial boards about twice a month.

Last summer we installed a fiber optic line, which connects two Ethernet
repeaters, out to the plant.  In the plant, we have a 16-port terminal
server, and all the RS-232 cables (unshielded twisted-pair) are completely
inside the building.  Since installing this, we have no trouble at all
from lightning storms.

We also use fiber optic to connect our plant and R&D building, but we used
fiber there because of the distance, not because of lightning problems.
At first, we used a 16-port FO multiplexer at each end, but now the fiber
carries Ethernet like the other.

Wanna buy two used 16-port FO multiplexers?

--jim
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James B. O'Connor			jim at tiamat.fsc.com
Ahlstrom Filtration, Inc.		615/821-4022 x. 651