NEBS is a testing suite comprised of safety, spatial and environmental design guidelines that are applied to telecommunications equipment within the United States. NEBS is made up of three different levels of operability, and in order to achieve NEBS certification it requires planning, purpose, and patience.

David Lorusso from Lorusso Technologies detailed what must occur prior to approving equipment as NEBS compliant.

The first step is planning. Being well-aware of what NEBS consists of is key to ensuring that your equipment will pass this strict testing. NEBS pertains to the environment of a typical ILEC or Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) Central Office. The main NEBS standard is GR-63-CORE, which includes physical protection requirements. An additional, and just as crucial, document is GR-1089-CORE, or “Electromagnetic Compatibility and Electrical Safety - Generic Criteria for Network Telecommunications Equipment.”

After becoming aware of the standards that need to be closely analyzed, the second step in the journey toward NEBS compliance involves the design elements, which include size, grounding, cooling, fire resistance, power entry, EMC (News - Alert) and Seismic. Size is very important, as equipment needs to be able to fit within existing Central Office space, while the best option for grounding consists of a two-hole crimp connector. Cooling and fire resistance are very important elements within testing as well, as they must both work sufficiently for a product to survive even under the most extreme conditions.

The third step, and a virtue as well, is patience. A NEBS testing program, according to Lorusso, can take anywhere from six weeks to three months to be completed. Multiple factors can affect the length of testing such as up-front compliance design work, pre-compliance testing and the amount of test equipment that is available.

With the right amount of planning, purpose, and patience you can easily make it through the NEBS process. However, it is highly important that procedure for designing to NEBS is adhered to from the very beginning and is continued throughout a product’s development.

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