BlogInfrastructure & networking
Fibre backbones in multi-building campuses
By Vicky Ogola, Senior ICT Consultant 1 min read
Linking buildings with fibre gives capacity, distance and immunity to electrical interference — with careful route and redundancy planning.
Universities, hospitals and industrial sites often have many buildings that must share one network.
Why fibre
Fibre carries data over long distances, at high speeds, without electrical interference or earthing problems between buildings.
Single-mode or multimode
Single-mode fibre supports longer distances and future upgrades; multimode suits shorter runs within buildings. Many campus designs use single-mode between buildings.
Plan routes
Use protected ducts, mark routes and keep records. Accidental cuts during construction are a common cause of outages.
Add redundancy
Critical buildings benefit from two fibre paths following different routes, forming a ring or dual-homed design.
Test and document
Test every fibre after installation and keep the results with route drawings.
See our campus networking services.
About the author
Vicky Ogola
Senior ICT Consultant
Vicky Ogola writes about network design, connectivity, data centres and the infrastructure that business systems depend on.