A communications backbone: The strengths of passive infrastructure

The 5 advantages of passive equipment

1. Energy efficiency: With no active components like amplifiers or electronics needing power, passive equipment offers a significant advantage over active alternatives. It does not add to the overall power consumption of a system. It does not produce heat, removing the need for system cooling. It requires fewer resources to perform. The result is significant energy savings, making passive devices environmentally friendly with the added advantage of reducing TCO.
2. Reliability: With no active elements, passive equipment has fewer points of failure, making it, in many cases, a more reliable option. Passive equipment also has a much longer life span, which allows us at RFS to design long-life equipment that performs, without degradation for decades. Customers using passive equipment can expect reliability over an extended period.
3. Lower maintenance costs: Building on the reliability of passive solutions, customers also benefit from lower maintenance costs. Passive solutions are designed to perform without the need for regular maintenance. This is particularly valuable in challenging environments like tunnels and mines where maintenance is challenging and results in unwanted downtime while equipment is serviced.  
4. Agnostic: The carrier-agnostic nature of passive infrastructure allows infrastructure to accommodate multiple service providers and carriers. As the industry looks to models such as tower sharing to improve profitability, carriers can share the load of infrastructure investment with passive systems and minimize duplication of resources.
5. Cost-effectiveness: Passive equipment generally has a lower upfront cost in comparison to its active counterpart. Selecting a passive solution, therefore, allows a lower CAPEX cost. Additionally, as we mentioned discussing the sustainability benefits, lower power, cooling, and maintenance costs allow for reduced OPEX.