In the context of retrofitting and renovation of apartment houses, multi-dwelling units, hotels or private homes the electrical installation will often be partly fixed. That means on/off switches, wall outlets will be renewed and changed.

This could be used for retrofitting the whole house or multi-dwelling unit with future proofed broadband technology and multimedia networking. In that case no additional time consuming conduiting and installation work with drilling is needed. For a optical in-house wiring with POF (Polymer optical fiber or plastic optical fiber) the existing electrical infrastrucutre can be used. The 2.2 mm POF cable will be deployed additionally or concurrently with the electric installation to the wall outlets. In case a network access is needed at the wall outlet the optical signal will be transformed into a standard interface (RJ45 plug).

This optical network interface can be configured with an in-wall plug socket, an on-wall plug socket or a wall-outlet media converter. The cables will be consolidated within the central electrical distribution rack and connected to an optical switch. For installation within the central electrial distribution rack Homefibre together with Rutenback have developed switches and media converters, which allow the implementation of an IP-based home network.

With this kind of installation a very flexible system architecture emerge. Different applications and devices can be integrated easily. The technology can be installed very simple and time effective. An electrician without being a network expert can perform such an installation very easily. The network installation is transparent for all Ethernet and IP-based devices and will be the basic infrastructure for future applications.

Examples

Using  IP-TV (or  aon.tv in Austria) this infrastructure allows to position your TV very flexible in each room.  You are not tied slavishly to any existing coax cable plugs nor you are forced to  leave any cables lying around in your flat, because the network interface is available at the wall outlet. The same is valid for gaming consoles, for PCs, for multi-room audio equipment, for internet radio, etc.

The main benefits of that technology are::

• secure and emission free data transfer.
  Because the signal will be transfered optical, there is no electromagnetic emission in contrast to „Wireless“ or „Powerline“ transfer. Additionally the optical cable is immun against electromagnetic interference and is strictly tap-proof.
• From electrotechnical point of view POF offers an optimal solution to solve grounding issues and problems with earth potential loops.
  This is an significant contribution to safety and reliability in data cabling. I our view the optical cable is the best lighting protection for data cabling.
• The optical network is consuming less power compared to wirless transfer, wich are using a lot of  power for removing interferences.
  The optical data transmission is absolut „lean“. This means usually a power reduction up to 80%!
• Data transmission using the optical POF cable is completely emission-free.
  Private uses are more and more sensitive for minimizing electro-magnetic emissions. The POF cable are insensitive for electro-magnetical interference and producing no electro-magnetic emission. A benefit which impacts performance and stability of the network. Other networking technologies like "Wireless" or "Powerline" producing relatively high electromagnetic fields and are very sensitive for increasing electromagnetic interferences of other devices.
• Last but not least scalability is a favourite aspect for retrofitting.
  The network can be extended in serval steps, according to the needs of the owner. A basis installation, where only the POF cable will be installed together with the electric wiring, only an investment for the optical cable and outlet boxes incurred. For an average household with ca. 15 optical connections and ca. 20m cable per connection this basis investment will be ca. 300 Euro. The installation costs are minimal, because the implementation can be executed within the retrofitting cycle of the electrical wiring.

For renovation the optical in-house cabling is offering a appealing, future proofed option for a comprehensive installation of home networking. If used as expansion to an existing network or used as new installed network instrastructure, the optical home network is an ideal candidate to retrofit the electrial installation of a flat or house in a future proofed way.