Farmingdale, NY TiniFiber is seeing increasing demand for the solution stemming from the pandemic-driven office consolidation movement and subsequent relocations of many businesses.

According to TiniFiber vice president Barry Skolnick, “Many companies are ending their leases and opting to consolidate their office spaces as they gravitate toward a hybrid work environment with some staff continuing to work remotely. In their new office locations, they are finding congested cable conduits to be a challenge in accommodating the cable required for their operations’ data needs. Our product is the industry’s smallest and lightest fiber optic cable at 65% smaller and 75% lighter than traditional Aluminum Interlocking Armor (AIA). As such, it can be installed easily and quickly in congested areas where installing other cable is either impossible or considerably more difficult.”

Skolnick noted that TiniFiber Micro Armor Fiber Optic Cabling Solution’s size and weight also results in significantly lower labor, shipping, and warehousing costs.

The consolidation of office space trend is particularly pronounced in the tech sector. CNBC.com recently reported that Facebook, Twitter, Okta and Box had announced a “permanent shift to a hybrid approach.” CBRE’s projection of first quarter 2021 office vacancy rates to reach 14.9% also reflects this apparent trend. In CBRE Research’s “The Future of Office” client survey, it found that there is a change underway on organizations’ thoughts about giving employees a choice over where they work. In its September 2020 survey, it found that 49% of those surveyed will be having 25-75% of full-time remote employees.

Even before the pandemic, TiniFiber Micro Armor Fiber Optic Cabling Solution was addressing the congested pathway challenge. DVI Communications, a leading Information Technology, ICT consultancy and systems engineering firm, relied on the product when it faced a client situation involving a congested conduit that was unable to accept the larger AIA Armored Fiber. DVI’s client had made the decision to sell its existing business and relocate to a new building that enabled it to consolidate its operations in approximately four floors. The planning and design of its technological needs in the new office space, along with the space buildout, took a year.  What needed to be accommodated was the client’s datacenter, two intermediate IT rooms built on each floor, a series of new riser conduits through the building to facilitate the passage of communications cabling from the data center to the intermediate IT rooms and the roof, cooling requirements for the data center and the intermediate IT rooms, and the planning and implementation of new power redundant generators to address a potential power failure. Also planned was a custom audio-visual system for large meeting, conference, and breakout rooms, as well as a new building-wide security system integrated with other off-site facilities.

The riser conduit system supported an RF application connecting a rooftop antenna farm located on the building’s 32^nd floor rooftop to the digital radio equipment in the client’s space in the 4^th floor data center. The originally designed and installed conduits provided ample pathways for the client’s communications needs and also were projected to meet future needs. When the client contacted DVI two years later to add additional radio antennas and equipment to the building’s roof, the already congested conduit system proved a challenge that prevented the installation of the traditional aluminum interlocking armored optic fiber cable. TiniFiber Micro Armor Fiber Optic Cabling Solution’s size advantage and flexibility met the challenge. The 12-strand optical fiber cable easily fit the existing conduit from the 4^th floor to the 32^nd floor rooftop location. Further, the solution’s strength enabled it to be pulled through the congested area without damaging the existing cable.