Network Communications News (NCN) August 2017 | Page 21

CABLE MANAGEMENT & LABELLING
The Marshall-Tufflex research
and development team at our
manufacturing base in Hastings,
East Sussex, has worked closely
with the industry to innovate
solutions to meet these changing
demands. Because the team is
in-house, we’ve been able to react
quickly to customer demands
and develop modern, fit-for-
purpose solutions that tick the
functionality, compliance and
aesthetics boxes.
Cable management now
comes in a wide array of styles,
sizes, colours, materials and
finishes. Marshall-Tufflex prides
itself on being able to offer the
largest choice of solutions in
the marketplace and the ability
to design and manufacture
bespoke solutions where
appropriate. Larger capacity
trunking has been developed
to handle the more advanced
data cabling requirements, with
many installations making use
of solutions with a 50/50 power/
data split in twin compartments.
Deeper containment can carry
higher category data cabling.
And because sharp bends can
‘pinch’ data cabling affecting its
performance, trunking systems
with radius controlled bends are
the per fect choice, such as our
recently modified Sterling Profile 1
Flat Angle and Flat Tee which have
bend radius control built in. Better
socket outlet access overcomes
the need to pass through internal
walls, minimising the risk of
creating sharp bends, and open-
backed data socket plates create
gentler access for cables to data
socket outlets.
In addition to delivering
containment systems to satisfy
the demands of greater cable
volumes and sophistication of
data cabling, there is demand
for trunking to do more than
just carry cables. Our BIO
solutions answered a need for
infection control in healthcare
environments and installations
with high traffic, for example
schools and other public areas.
Aesthetics have also driven
‘Cable
management
now comes in
a wide array
of styles,
sizes, colours,
materials and
finishes.’
innovation, a good example being
cur ved trunking which suppor ts
cleaning regimes and avoids the
trunking being used as a shelf – a
real bonus in design-led projects.
Our all-cur ved Odyssey profile
remains the only one of its kind
in the market and has proved
immensely popular in the BIO
version. We recently launched
Sterling Cur ve (an evolution of our
ever-popular Sterling range which
gives users a gently contoured
cable containment system that
looks great, is easy to clean and
impossible to clutter) and Sterling
Cur ve BIO. We’ve also worked
with clients who required hinged
PowerPoles that fed power and
data to island locations and
folded into the ceiling when not in
use; a university lab using laser
beams that specified matt black
trunking to safely ‘absorb’ rather
than reflect stray beams and a
leading high street retailer that
needed a specially designed wall
unit to simultaneously charge
large numbers of walkie talkies.
Without innovation – and quite
literally thinking outside the box
– none of these solutions would
have been possible.
Re g u l ato r y c h a n ges have
a l so h a d a n i mp a ct , for examp le
A m e n d m e nt s to B S 767 1 :2 008
of t h e W i r i n g Re g u l at i on s
( A m e n d m e nt 3 ) re q u i re cab li n g
a b ove e sc a p e ro u te s to b e
su p p o r te d b y f i re - re si s tant
August 2017 | 21