@SecureOwl

at one point, we were doing rack installs in 28 cities and we subcontracted to fujitsu.

they dressed and wax laced everything. they cut coax to custom lengths so that they all lined up perfectly. they dressed power cables. it was art.

cable management done right is a true thing of beauty.

@paul_ipv6 @SecureOwl

Wax lacing is the pinnacle of cable art.

Fuji did good work in that area, especially if you were west of the mississippi or New England ... They had lots of old Bell installers.

For the best of it, you really needed an old guy from Nortel, they'd pronounce router as rooter and go off on three day benders exploring the warmth that was a Texas winter -- but they could turn two miles of cat 5 cable into perfectly square stitched bricks with clean terminations at both ends, and a beautiful stacked coil of service loops at either end.

@johntimaeus @SecureOwl

i was lucky enough to hire a former ESS install certified tech as our computer room "czar". i tried to learn wax lacing but never got to that level. but i sure did love looking at it.

@paul_ipv6 @SecureOwl

Outdated certifications I actually have...as well as Nortel DMS 100/200/500 switch supervisor. All of those and five dollars won't buy you anything at Dollar Tree.

I learned lacing from the old Canadians, and some SW Bell wire dogs who ran the CO for an actual clicker-switch. Wirewrap terminations with solder on the MDF.

@johntimaeus @SecureOwl

wow. wire wrap. i was actually pretty decent at that. we had to get T3 as ABAM with wire wrap distribution panels. that's when i still had a 66 and 110 block punch tool. learned what grasshopper fuses were. it was quite a learning period for me.

@paul_ipv6 @johntimaeus @SecureOwl when I was doing backbone work at Sprint, our switch offices were still mostly staffed by The Old Guard. I learned so much from them. There was so much pride in the quality of work done, especially cabling.

Also, do not touch the shiny bus bar.

@petrillic @johntimaeus @SecureOwl

LOL. i learned much of this doing an install at the sprint hub behind the SJ airport. the telco guys watched us computer/router folks struggling and took pity. that and a nearby graybar to buy the tools i discovered i needed, and the journey started.

@paul_ipv6 @johntimaeus @SecureOwl I know that facility well :) I also spent far too many hours in Stockton. I still struggle to lace cables, but I try any chance I can get because I do believe it's The Correct Way.

But boy are those zip ties quick. At least I do make sure they're all lined up.

@petrillic @paul_ipv6 @SecureOwl

To this day I don't allow zip ties.

I've seen too many fibres & cables broken with an over-enthusiastic installer.

I've bled too much from badly cut ends.

Velcro or wax lacing.

@johntimaeus @petrillic @SecureOwl

i'm with you. velcro. lets you dress but doesn't damage the cables and you can add/delete cables semi-sanely.

@paul_ipv6 @petrillic @SecureOwl

Velcro is the right answer today.
Lacing was for another era. A time when you put cables in for decades, not months. Same reason you soldered wire wraps.

Having said that, I'm about to build some ICS/OT demo boards, and am going to lace some of the wires just to brainfuck the youngs.

@johntimaeus @petrillic @SecureOwl

yeah. they'd wire up a fill 42 space relay rack full of stuff, then not touch it for 5 years or more.

we were replacing all our gear every 2-3 years.

@paul_ipv6 @petrillic @SecureOwl

Some of the old Bell COs I worked in had 100U racks that hadn't been looked at since Carter was president...This was in the mid 1990s.