Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Southwire’s TelcoFlex® Telecom Power Wire and Cable product line was inspired by a fire that occurred in a Chicago data center. Over the last 30 years, Southwire has continued to develop and innovate the cable product line into the 5G era.
After the fire in 1988, inspectors realized that a majority of the damage in the data center fire was due to smoke generated by the cable installation, not the fire itself. Additionally, halogens had been released into the air from the cables during the fire, which infiltrated the circuit boards and corroded the network electronics. It became clear that future cables should be designed to prevent these issues in the case of a fire.
A year later, Southwire Company unveiled the TelcoFlex® cable, which provided a low-smoke, zero-halogen solution for powering and connecting equipment in both central office and remote telecommunications facilities. “The limited smoke, non-halogenated, TelcoHyde®-insulated power cable was developed in response to the need for wire and cable jacketing that was not only flame retardant but also would not generate dense, obscuring smoke and toxic or corrosive gasses,” said Jack Graves, Vice President, Strategic Verticals – Telecom at Southwire.
Today, TelcoFlex® cable is the standard for all the major wireline and wireless carriers across the U.S. and Canada. Additional products have been added to the line, such as the TelcoFlex® G L6 Telecom Grounding Cable, which is designed for outdoor cell tower applications and the List 2 TelcoFlex® cable which is even more flexible with a PVC rubber jacket and is used in remote terminal sites to power the radio head.
List 3 and List 4 TelcoFlex® cables are used primarily in environments where a cloth braid is needed to create an additional layer of protection for the cable whether it is pulled into or installed in the facilities. Those cables are required to self-extinguish 60 seconds after catching fire.
Most recently, Southwire has developed a hybrid TelcoFlex® cable, which is a combination of copper power conductors and fiber, providing power as well as data connectivity to radio heads at the top of 5G cell towers.
From drawing and extruding to jacketing and printing, TelcoFlex® cables are manufactured in the United States and have been tested and deployed in the field for more than 30 years. The vast majority of telecommunications companies, including the wireless carriers, use TelcoFlex® cables for all of their power needs, according to Southwire. “We’ve been a strong player in the telecom power market over the years and now we are moving into more cellular hybrid cables and other cables that support this industry,” Graves said.
Southwire uses its network of relationships with the carriers to sell its cables, and it provides the products both directly and through its distribution partners Wesco/Anixter, GCG/Electrowire, and Talley. “We depend on our distributors to keep up inventory levels, so that we can do what we do best, which is to manufacture a ton of cable,” Graves said. “They keep inventory and they service all the installation contractors across the U.S.”
TelcoFlex® cables are the product of Southwire’s extensive research and development, which has brought new innovations for transmission and distribution applications and beyond since 1950. It has a full third-party, UL-certified lab and the technical resources needed to support any issues that may arise with the TelcoFlex® cable product line.
Southwire is proud to meet demand through distribution, and to provide technical support for this product line. That is the reason behind the 30-year tenure of the TelcoFlex® cable product line as a trusted brand name of Southwire.
For more information, please visit https://www.southwire.com/industries/telecom or email: [email protected].
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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