Multi-dwelling unit (MDU) and multi-tenant unit (MTU) buildings vary greatly in design and number of units, making them a consistent challenge for both designers and installers. Getting fiber to each unit — whether residential or commercial — can become unnecessarily complex without the right planning and products.
Before beginning a deployment, designers and installers should work through three key considerations.
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Understand your building environment
MDU and MTU buildings fall into several categories, each with different deployment requirements:
- High-rise (10+ floors): Ample riser space is typically available, with equipment closets on every floor. This gives installers a convenient place to mount equipment and connection points on each floor before running fiber into individual suites.
- Mid-rise (3–10 floors): Usually includes some riser space, allowing fiber or microduct to be pulled through to a wiring closet and then routed to each suite.
- Low-rise or garden-style (up to 3 floors): Limited or no riser closets or equipment rooms. In these environments, fiber is typically brought to the unit from the outside.
Understanding what building type you’re working with will help you select the right solutions.
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Establish common run lengths
Taking measurements early — even rough ones — will save time later. Exact lengths are not required at this stage, but identifying common averages helps streamline the design process. Pay particular attention to unusually long runs, as these will need extra attention during both design and installation.
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Know local fire code requirements
Fire safety requirements vary by installation environment, so it’s essential to verify local codes before selecting products.
- Plenum-rated cable: Required in plenum spaces — the areas of a building used for air circulation in HVAC systems. Plenum-rated cable uses a fire-retardant coating that resists producing toxic gases in the event of a fire.
- Riser-rated cable: Used between floors in non-plenum areas. Fire requirements for riser cable are less stringent than for plenum cable, but compliance is still required.
Once those three questions are answered, the next step is selecting the right product. The unique project specs and constraints will play a major role in determining what’s right for the MDU or MTU. But let’s look at an example of how one ISP handled the challenge.
Application spotlight: MDU fiber deployment
A regional ISP in the Caribbean needed to deploy fiber to 58 units in a new, six-story apartment building. To meet the project timelines and simplify turn-up later, the network experts wanted to avoid fusion splicing.
Working closely with the team at Clearfield, this provider opted for a fully connectorized network architecture. The full plug-and-play solution featured a 1x64 split, starting with fiber entering the facility via a YOURx Flex Box with a 1x4 splitter cassette in the basement.
From there, fiber traveled to separate Flex Boxes on the first, second, third, and fifth floors, with drops to the fourth-floor units and sixth-floor penthouse. Mechanical SC/APC connectors simplified the handoff from the first box to the four distribution boxes.
Next, FieldShield StrongFiber Drop Wheel assemblies provided a 1x16 Drop Cradle inside each Flex Box. This offered the install team drop wheel spools with up to 200 feet of FieldShield StrongFiber cable, which they knew would work because they established common length runs. These cables ran through metal conduit to a wall plate in each unit.
The plug-and-play solution, with on-site instruction and support from Clearfield’s skilled training team, shortened deployment times and reduced labor costs for the MDU install. At the same time, it ensured the future tenants would have access to reliable, dedicated fiber service via the FieldShield cable, rather than slow copper or shared wireless in the building.
MDU and MTU deployments really can be this simple. By starting with the three main considerations and leveraging plug-and-play fiber optic solutions, you can speed time to revenue when deploying fiber in these environments.
Interested in streamlining MDU/MTU fiber deployments? Tell Clearfield how we can help.
By Tom Warren
For over 25 years, Tom Warren (CFHP, CFOT) has worked with Clearfield in the world of telecommunications. As a Regional Sales Manager, Tom works with customers in Florida. His expertise includes in-depth knowledge of WDMs, FTTx, Small Cell, and DAS fiber applications.