I have a bunch of cat5 buried about 1 ft below the surface connecting multiple buildings on a campus (short runs) and lightning strikes nearby have caused surges along one or more of the cables and burnt out switch ports. I would like to protect the switch ports -- there seem to be lots of products on the market.
Anyone have recommendations (tested/practical is best :-)?
The APC Protectnet PNET1 and PRM24 seem quite nice and not too expensive -- if they work....pros? cons?
Adi, Is there a reason that your between-building runs aren't being done with Fibre? It being non-conductive is one immediate advantage.... Also if your grounding is inadequate you may like to take a squiz at the ISO or TIA Standards as they pertain to cabling. In NZ we have a variety of standards which all point back to ISO, the ANSI equivalents are TIA/EIA 568-B (Cabling), TIA/EIA-569-A (Pathways and Spaces) and TIA/EIA-607-A (Electrical Wiring, relevant as it pertains to Earthing etc). Even for short runs, If I need to run between buildings externally I won't even look at copper. Mark.