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From the Field Week 33 · Sep 2026 · 9 min read

PDU Types & Use Cases: Choosing the Right Power Distribution for the Rack

Pick the wrong PDU and you'll find out at the worst possible moment — mid-deployment, mid-audit, or mid-outage. Chaturanga breaks down the four PDU types, the six factors that actually decide the right one, and where PDU choice shows up in day-to-day operations.

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Chaturanga Gunarathna

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From the Field Week 32 · Aug 2026 · 13 min read

Structured Cabling Standards: Understanding Design, Installation, Testing and Certification

A cable that works is not necessarily a compliant cable installation. Manujaya walks through the full standards stack — TIA-568, ISO 11801, EN 50173 and TIA-942-C — and the install-test-document sequence that turns cable into infrastructure.

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Manujaya Weerasinghe

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From the Field Week 31 · Aug 2026 · 10 min read

MPO Polarity Methods (A, B, C) and DR4 vs. FR4 vs. LR4 vs. SR4

Get MPO polarity wrong on a trunk run and every link fails the same way. Sujeewa breaks down the three TIA polarity methods and how they map onto SR4, DR4, FR4 and LR4 transceivers.

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Sujeewa Vindika

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From the Field Week 30 · Aug 2026 · 7 min read

Optic Splicing in Data Centers: Fusion vs. Mechanical

Every splice on a high-density fiber backbone eats into the link budget. Kasun compares fusion and mechanical splicing head-to-head on insertion loss, return loss, long-term stability and cost.

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Kasun Madushanka

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From the Field Week 29 · Jul 2026 · 8 min read

Fiber Testing Basics: Tier 1 Certification vs. Tier 2 OTDR Diagnostics

Passing a link test and knowing why it passed are two different things. Janith breaks down Tier 1 (OLTS) certification vs Tier 2 OTDR diagnostics and the loss-budget numbers every technician should know.

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Janith Sandaruwan

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From the Field Week 28 · Jul 2026 · 8 min read

Liquid Cooling vs. Air Cooling in Data Centres

AI and HPC workloads are pushing rack density past what air can handle. Pasindu compares CRAC/CRAH air cooling against direct-to-chip, rear-door and immersion liquid cooling.

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Pasindu Dhanuka

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From the Field Week 27 · Jul 2026 · 9 min read

Data Center White Space vs. Grey Space

Same building, two entirely different worlds. Akhila breaks down what lives in each zone, how much floor area each really takes, and why mixing up who owns what gets access control and maintenance windows wrong.

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Akhila Haggalla

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From the Field Week 26 · Jul 2026 · 10 min read

Power Path Basics: A & B Feeds

Two independent power paths, one critical load. Asanka walks through ATS types, transfer sequences, generator start logic and the safety rules every technician must know before touching a dual-feed system.

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Asanka Kapugedara

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From the Field Week 25 · Jul 2026 · 9 min read

Cable Management: Overhead vs. Underfloor in Data Centers

Overhead trays or raised-floor routing? The choice shapes airflow, maintenance speed and scalability for the life of the facility. A head-to-head breakdown plus hybrid approach guidance.

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Avishka Nirmal

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From the Field Week 24 · Jul 2026 · 7 min read

Electrical Safety in Data Centers: Arc Flash and Shock Risk Reduction

Critical equipment often stays energized during maintenance — which keeps arc flash and shock hazards close by. Okanda breaks down the Hierarchy of Risk Control, engineering safeguards and the human factors that actually prevent incidents.

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Okanda Sandasiri

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From the Field Week 23 · Jul 2026 · 8 min read

Hot Aisle vs Cold Aisle Containment

Poor airflow creates hotspots that shorten equipment life. Shehan breaks down how CAC and HAC systems work, the tradeoffs, and the best-practice checklist our teams use on every data hall build.

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Shehan Kavinda

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From the Field Week 22 · Jun 2026 · 10 min read

Data Center Grounding & Earthing — Safety, Bonding and ESD Control

Grounding failures look like network faults — CRC errors, port resets and "random" link issues. Sanjaya breaks down the full earthing architecture and the ESD safety rules every technician needs on site.

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Sanjaya Bandara

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From the Field Week 21 · Jun 2025 · 8 min read

Transceiver Installation and Compatibility — SFP/QSFP

SFP, SFP+, QSFP — the adapter between your switch and your cable. How to read module labels, connector matching and the five-step installation checklist.

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Deshan Salinda

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From the Field Week 20 · May 2025 · 10 min read

Fiber Connector Types: Fundamentals, Applications, Selection & Best Practices

LC, SC, ST, FC, MPO — ferrule geometry, polish grades, insertion loss, and exactly which connector belongs in which application on a live data centre build.

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Kasun Thennakoon

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From the Field Week 19 · May 2025 · 9 min read

Single Mode vs Multimode Fiber in Data Center Networks

SMF or MMF? The physics, the OM1–OM5 standards, OM5 SWDM4, and the layer-by-layer selection logic used on live builds.

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Kasun Kaluarachchi

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From the Field Week 18 · May 2025 · 8 min read

Fiber vs. Copper in Data Centers: It's Not Just About Speed

Before data centers, communication relied entirely on copper. Today both coexist — Sajith breaks down what the "fiber = fast, copper = cheap" simplification really misses.

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Sajith Senevirathne

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From the Field Week 17 · Apr 2025 · 5 min read

Data Center Classifications & Infrastructure — A Field Guide

Knowing the tier, ownership model and scale classification of a facility directly shapes how you engineer, install and hand over every project. Manujaya breaks it down from the field.

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Manujaya Weerasinghe

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From the Field Week 16 · Apr 2025 · 4 min read

Confined Space Cable Routing: What They Don't Teach in the Classroom

4km of Cat6A through a 600mm sub-floor plenum, 150 metres long. Anders shares what actually worked — and what the textbooks leave out.

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Anders Holm

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From the Field Week 15 · Apr 2025 · 4 min read

Working at Height in Live Data Halls: Our Safety-First Approach

Installing cable trays at 4.5m above a live equipment floor requires more than a MEWP and a hard hat. Sara walks through the four-step workflow the Falun team uses on every lift.

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Sara Berg

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From the Field Week 14 · Mar 2025 · 5 min read

Reading OTDR Traces: The 5 Events You'll See on Every Long-Haul Run

22km of OS2 single-mode fibre on the Warsaw backbone. Piotr explains the five trace events every fibre technician will encounter — and exactly what each one means.

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Piotr Wróbel

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