Introduction

As demand for data continues to increase, so does the penetration of optical fiber into the network. While fiber’s contribution to network performance is indisputable, fiber connectors are widely recognized as the physical network’s most problematic element. Troubleshooting statistics show fiber end-face contamination as the number one cause of poor network performance, and mated contaminated fibers as the primary cause of permanent optical component damage.

The increased reliance on fiber in next-generation networks coupled with its negative potential when contaminated make it critical that administrators and technicians unfamiliar with fiber quickly become proficient in the equipment and processes essential to proactive inspection and its systematic practice at every stage of fiber handling. Systematic proactive inspection is the cornerstone of fiber handling best practices, as it is the only way to ensure a contaminated fiber is never installed into the network.