Building And Campus Networks For Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI)

The FDDI system archiiecture involves dual, counter-rotating token passing rings, operating presently on all fiber network at a line rate of 125 Mb/s. As long as these rings are confined to a small geographical area such as a data center, the fiber network can consist of two-fiber jumper cables interconnecting the network nodes, which is simple to install and administer. However, as distance reluirements expand to include multiple floors of a single building, or a campus of more than one building, the rules for the cable plant construction and maintenance can quinkly become unmanageable. The introduction of color-coded fields and specialized administration labels results in simple, consistent, engineering rules for constructing and administering networks of any size and configuration, which conform to the FDDI dual ring standard. This paper reviews the generic building and campus layouts and demonstrates the implementation of the logical rings within the standard physical star building wiring topology consistent with the EIA/TIA Commerciel Building Telecommunications Wiring Standard, currently out for public review.