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Invitation for Participation

NEW GR
Generic Requirements for Telecommunications Coaxial Cable Products Used Within Buildings and Telecommunications Facilities, Issue 1

Telcordia proposes that a new GR be designed to cover coaxial cable products used in broadband applications across the network with a primary distinction to be made between the following two applications:

1. Telecommunications Facilities Coaxial Cables - coaxial cable products used in Central Offices (COs) to interconnect communications equipment (currently covered under GR-139), as well as telecommunications data centers and closets in commercial buildings and multi-dwelling residences, and
2. Premises Coaxial Cables - coaxial cables used inside communications facilities and premises for serving broadband applications in Fiber to the Curb (FTTC) and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network architectures. The premises coaxial cable product sections will follow GR-1398 in broad outline, but will also include connection cables between communications antennas, set-to-boxes, residential gateways, and other devices within a local network. These cables will include the GR-1398-type service drop applications.

This new GR will be derived from, and supersede, the following documents:

• GR-139, Generic Requirements for Central Office Coaxial Cable
• GR-1398, Generic Requirements for Coaxial Drop Cable
• GR-2879, Generic Requirements for Hybrid Coaxial/Twisted Pair Aerial Drop Cable
• GR-2880, Generic Requirements for Plenum Coaxial Cable
• GR-2881, Generic Requirements for Indoor Coaxial Cable
• GR-2949, Generic Requirements for Buried Hybrid Coaxial/Twisted Pair Cable.

The intention is to cover all coaxial cable products used in indoor and outdoor environments that serve network applications, including wireless, Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), and broadband service networks. Where applicable and appropriate, cross-references will be used in the new GR to:

• Harmonize with industry standards, e.g., SCTE, ANSI, NEC, UL, and other recognized industry groups.
• Help ensure mechanical and hardware compatibility through reference to several of the other GR documents concerning connectors, termination ports, and interconnection devices.
• Help ensure electrical compatibility and protection coordination through reference to GR documents such as GR-2908, Generic Requirements for Surge Protectors on Coaxial Lines at Customer Premises; GR-2910, Generic Requirements for Bonding and Grounding Hardware on Coaxial Drop Cable; as well as other GR documents such as the latest issue of GR-1089, Electromagnetic Compatibility and Electrical Safety - Generic Criteria for Network Telecommunications Equipment.

This GR will be coordinated and harmonized with the recent revisions to the metallic twisted-pair cable products used in similar applications and environments (e.g., GR-421, Generic Requirements for Metallic Telecommunications Cables; GR-3163, Generic Requirements for Metallic Telecommunications Service and Distribution Drop Wires; and GR-3164, Generic Requirements for Metallic Telecommunications Premises Wires). GR-3163 and GR-3164 will be used to help define effective functional performance requirements for the cable applications in indoor/outdoor environments, as well as common jacket material requirements that both products share.

Planned technical items for this new GR include the following:

1. Consolidate numerous coaxial cable applications into a single GR.
2. Update material choices for cable jacket and insulation materials, and harmonize with recent work on GR-3164 (inside cables) and GR-421 (PIC cables).
3. Update the Quality Assurance sub-section in Section 2 to include the latest Quality Management System (QMS) philosophy, including ISO9000 and TL 9000 approaches to product quality and reliability issues.
4. Revise the packaging sub-sections in Section 3 to harmonize with GR-421 and GR-3164.
5. Update referenced procedures while bringing necessary technical information explicitly into the new GR. Where possible and appropriate, requirements shall be harmonized with relevant SCTE and UL industry standards.
6. Update jacket and dielectric materials requirements to create functional performance criteria and move away from implicit material-specific requirements.
7. The Telcordia Technical Forum (TTF) group for this GR will review application changes to ascertain the necessary electrical performance (attenuation, frequencies, etc.) to match the service demands for the current and future-planned networks, including DAS and Ethernet systems.

A more detailed section-by-section plan for the revisions to these coaxial-cable documents is available on request (SR-6004, Telcordia 2011 Plans for Metallic Telecommunications Wire and Cable GR Documents, Issue 2).

The Value of Participation

As a participating company in the development of this proposed new generic requirements document, you will have the opportunity to influence its content in the following specific ways:

• Determine the technical scope of the new document
• Decide how to best consolidate and update technical content from the GRs that will be replaced by the new GR, and incorporate that content into the new GR
• Raise, discuss, and define coaxial cable product-related issues via face-to-face and/or conference call meetings with your industry peers
• Influence the best practices and performance test procedures and overall technical content of this new GR.

Telcordia Invites Your Participation

Pursuant to provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, related to the development of industry-wide generic requirements, Telcordia invites all interested parties to participate in the development of this new issue of the GR. If your company is interested in participating in this activity, please contact Telcordia. An Enterprise License is included in the participation fee for this GR project.

To proceed with this GR, it is expected that Telcordia will need four industry participants. While the project can proceed with fewer participants, the scope of work may need to be scaled back accordingly. Participating industry members will be apprised regularly of project status and change in scope. A preliminary conference call for all interested participants in this GR development project will be scheduled during December 2011, at which time project details and status will be discussed.