Behind the Scenes: A Look at trueCABLE’s New Advanced Testing & Content Studio in KC

Written by Ben Hamlitsch, trueCABLE Technical and Product Innovation Manager RCDD, FOI
and Dave Harris, trueCABLE Technical Specialist, Fluke Networks Copper/Fiber CCTT, BICSI INSTC

At trueCABLE, quality isn’t a slogan, it's a workflow. We built a state-of-the-art telecommunications testing center designed to replicate real-world installations so we can thoroughly evaluate copper and fiber cables, connectivity hardware, and full-channel behavior. Using standards-based best practices from TIA and BICSI, we installed enterprise-grade rack systems and a professional grounding and bonding system. Add that to our top-tier test gear and our training and experience. This facility powers our product development (R&D), quality control (QC), warranty validation, and educational content. We have one goal: to deliver products our customers can trust.

Why a Dedicated Test Facility Matters

You can test a cable on a bench or you can test it in the environment it'll actually live in. The difference matters. Bench tests are great for component checks, but real installs have connectors, patching, cable routing, grounding interactions, and human variables. A dedicated testing facility gives us the controlled realism to evaluate performance the way our customers install and use their systems.

From Bench Tests to Real-World Conditions

Bench tests isolate parts; a test center reproduces the whole ecosystem. That’s where intermittent faults, insertion loss from real patching, and interaction with grounding systems reveal themselves, before a product ever ships.

Standards-Based Assurance: TIA & BICSI Guidance

We designed the facility using TIA and BICSI best practices so that our tests align with industry expectations. That means testers and customers can compare results confidently. Testing to standards minimizes ambiguity and helps ensure interoperability across networks.

trueCABLE Test Facility: What We Built

The Physical Layout: Telecommunications Room (TR) Replica

We didn't just build a testing lab. We built a Telecommunications Room. This TR replica mirrors real-world rack layouts, cable pathways, and patching scenarios so our setup behaves like a working network closet. That makes our validation meaningful and reproducible.

Rack Systems and Cable Management (Chatsworth)

We selected Chatsworth rack and ladder racking systems for both functionality and aesthetics. These systems give us secure mounting, consistent cable management, and the look-and-feel of a professional installation. That’s not only great for testing, but also for the educational videos we produce.

Our TR contains more ladder rack than most rooms in the field ever will. That’s because we need to test certain lengths of cable to conform to the standards, which are stated for certain lengths. Once around the ladder rack track in our lab is 75 feet. Twice around gives 150 feet, which is the functional distance limit for the #22AWG sound and security cable we are currently evaluating. It is also close to the 50-meter distances that must sometimes be used when testing certain twisted-pair Categories.

That’s very convenient for relatively short distances, but most Categories of twisted-pair cable are standardized for permanent links of up to 90 meters, which is 295 feet. For that, the cable exits the room into a 210-foot basket tray loop that rings the outside of our office complex. Added to one loop around the room and the short distance down to the rack and— you guessed it (or calculated it) — 295 feet.

Grounding & Bonding: Safety and Signal Integrity

Our grounding and bonding installation follows industry best practices. Proper grounding is a safety requirement and also impacts signal integrity and noise performance. Testing within a properly bonded system ensures our results reflect real-world realities in the field.

Every piece of ladder rack, every equipment rack, the basket tray outside (in the warehouse; not outdoors), and even the floor beneath the equipment racks is bonded to ground.

Aesthetic + Functional Design for Content and Demonstrations

This center doubles as a studio for content creation: training videos, product demos, and technical explainers. Clean, professional visuals help our marketing team communicate complex technical details clearly to customers and installers.

As we mentioned earlier, in many cases our cable undergoing testing must exit the room and follow a pathway that is actually located out in our warehouse. However, since we also use this room for a video studio, the warehouse environment, including noise and climate, must be kept separate. For that we installed Smoke and Acoustical Pathways from STI. Although they don’t provide firestopping capability, they do a great job of sealing out sound, heat, and humidity.

Inside the Content Studio: Built for Teaching the Real World

Our goal with the updated content studio was to create an environment that feels authentic to our customers—networking professionals who aren’t sitting behind a desk in a polished studio, but out in the field getting projects done. While our previous filming setup served us well, the addition of our in-house trueCABLE testing center presented the perfect opportunity to enhance the studio and take our educational video content to the next level, including networking how-to videos and Ethernet installation guides.

From the initial design mockup created by our marketing creative specialist to the final real-life setup, our team played a key role in shaping this upgrade. We wanted a studio that looked clean, felt professional, and was fully functional for networking videos. The increased space created by the testing center also allowed us to design two distinct filming setups, giving us the flexibility to produce unique short-form content for platforms like TikTok—sharing quick tips and sparking conversations around networking. Our redesigned set now showcases our products, highlights the certifications of our incredible technical team, and includes a fully functional work environment to deliver detailed, hands-on demonstrations. Beyond the set itself, we upgraded behind-the-camera elements like video, audio, and close-up capabilities to ensure our how-to content is clearer, sharper, and even more helpful for networking projects.

We create our videos to educate, inform, and give our customers the tools and knowledge they need to tackle any networking project. We’re excited to showcase our new content studio in the videos we’ve created.

Why We Built It (Our Purpose & Vision)

We have always tested our products, but we wanted to go further. The goal was to deliver a facility where we could install, connect, and test products the exact way customers do in the field. So we got together and built a state of the art testing center. That meant specifying every part, installing all the infrastructure ourselves, including a complete grounding and bonding system from the ground up. It was all installed by our trueCABLE technical team.

Bridging Lab Results with Field Reality

Lab numbers are useful, but observation of real-world behavior is indispensable. By testing in a TR-like environment, we can find issues that surface only under real conditions and correct them before products reach our customers.

Investing in R&D, QC, and Customer Trust

This was a significant investment, and we made that investment because product excellence is worth it. The facility is an R&D engine, and a QC gatekeeper. It’s also a platform for marketing and education that collectively strengthens customer confidence.

How We Will Use this Facility

This test center will be used for a variety of applications and testing scenarios. Below are just a few of the common ones. You can bet that the technical team at trueCABLE will come up with a variety of additional testing ideas to include in our educational blogs and our videos, as well. Stay tuned for those in upcoming blogs and videos, for now we will list some of the more common use cases.

90m Permanent Link and 100m Channel Testing Workflow

We perform 90-meter permanent link tests and 100-meter channel testing to mirror standard installation topologies. This distinction is critical: permanent link testing validates the fixed infrastructure (consolidation points, backbone segments), while channel testing includes patch cords and is representative of end-to-end performance.

Warranty & Customer Support Testing Procedures

When customers have questions or claim failures, our team can recreate the exact topology in the lab, run tests, and objectively determine if an issue stems from a product or an installation factor. This accelerates RMA resolution and protects customers from unnecessary downtime.

Product Development & Validation Loops

Every new product goes through this facility. From initial samples to pre-production runs, we validate mechanical, electrical, and optical performance under real-world patching and grounding scenarios.

Content Creation and Educational Use

The facility is also a teaching tool: step-by-step installation guides, test-method demonstrations, and troubleshooting videos are filmed here to help customers and installers get the best out of trueCABLE products.

Types of Testing We Will Perform

Fiber Testing: OTDR and Connector Loss Analysis

We use OTDR and loss length power meter and source testing to characterize fiber loss across lengths and identify splice or connector issues. Our OTDR testing helps us measure attenuation, locate reflective events, and validate connector performance.  It also lets us analyze various types of fiber cable for performance and quality to ensure we provide only the best to our trueCABLE customers.

Copper Testing: Permanent Link vs Channel Testing

Copper has different test modes. Permanent link testing (90m) validates the installed fixed cabling, whereas channel testing (100m) includes patch cords and terminations. Testing to both ensures that both the infrastructure and the complete end-to-end path meet TIA specifications.

Application-Level Testing: NetAlly LinkRunner 10G & BERT

Beyond physical layer certs, we use application-level tools like the NetAlly LinkRunner 10G and BERT (Bit Error Rate Testing) to simulate traffic, check packet loss, latency, and throughput. That validates that a cable assembly won't merely pass a pin-to-pin continuity test but will carry actual production traffic reliably.

Environmental & Interoperability Checks (Simulated)

We simulate real-life environmental factors such as different patch cord combinations and mixed-vendor configurations. We even create severe electromagnetic interference environments to ensure interoperability and robust performance across multiple scenarios that are often encountered in the field.

Test Equipment We Use and Why It Matters

Fluke DSX-8000 / Fluke Versiv Family Overview

The Fluke DSX-8000 and Versiv testers are industry benchmarks for copper certification. They measure NEXT, Return Loss, FEXT, attenuation, and other parameters to the highest standards. Their repeatability and data reporting make them ideal for both QC and customer-facing documentation.

OTDR Options: OptiFiber Pro & CertiFiber Pro

For fiber certification and troubleshooting, OptiFiber Pro and CertiFiber Pro provide precise OTDR traces and connector loss measurements. These tools enable us to quantify loss and reflectance, and to locate defects across fiber runs.

NetAlly LinkRunner 10G: Application and BERT Testing

NetAlly’s LinkRunner 10G adds application-level validation, including throughput and BERT testing for packet-level verification. This is critical when testing high-speed links intended for 10G or aggregated services.

Multiple Testers = Comprehensive Coverage

Different testers emphasize different metrics: one excels at copper link certification, another at fiber trace resolution, and another at application-level throughput. Using a suite of tools ensures we don’t miss subtle issues that could impact performance in the field.

How the Facility Benefits Our Customers

Pre-shipment Confidence and Reduced Failures in the Field

Every product that ships from our warehouse has been through tests that mimic customer environments reducing surprises and call-backs. That means fewer installation headaches, fewer project delays, and a lower total cost of ownership for customers.

Faster RMA/Warranty Resolution with Empirical Data

When a customer raises a concern, we can reproduce the exact setup in our TR and run diagnostics. Empirical test reports speed decisions and lead to faster resolutions — whether that means a replacement, an installation fix, or a constructive troubleshooting guide.

Educational Resources that Empower Installers & Engineers

We don’t just test products; we teach. Video walk-throughs and lab demonstrations empower installer teams to understand best practices and reduce installation errors, which benefits everyone.

Our Commitment to Quality: Forever Warranty & Beyond

Warranty as a Promise — Validated by Testing

Our Forever Warranty (our long-term guarantee) is more than marketing copy — it’s backed by performance and integrity. The test facility supports that promise by ensuring products meet or exceed performance thresholds before they ship.

Continuous Improvement through R&D Feedback Loops

Failures and edge cases inform design improvements. The test center is a feedback engine: every anomaly becomes an R&D signal for better design, material choices, or process changes.

Conclusion

At trueCABLE, our Test Facility is more than a lab. It's a promise. A promise that every cable, every connector, and every assembly has been evaluated in conditions that match the real world. By combining industry-standard design, pro-grade equipment, rigorous processes, and a clear commitment to customer education, we ensure that the products you buy from us won’t just pass a test — they’ll perform where it matters. That’s how we earn trust: meter by meter, connection by connection.

HAPPY NETWORKING!

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