Case Study: DESY achieves transparent, reliable cable infrastructure management for the European XFEL with FNT Software’s FNT Command

Secure management of cable infrastructure for microworld research

DESY, Germany’s electron-synchrotron center, faced a critical need for transparent, highly reliable cable management for the multi‑million‑euro European XFEL and its underground 3.4‑km tunnels. Limited maintenance windows, fragmented Excel documentation and a prior incident in which a severed line disrupted operations made planning, fault resolution and cross‑department coordination difficult. To address this, DESY selected FNT Software and its FNT Command solution.

FNT Software implemented FNT Command as a centralized infrastructure database and DCIM-capable planning/work‑order system, contracting an external provider to document several hundred kilometers of coaxial and fiber cabling and related assets. The platform now auto‑generates work orders, assigns ownership to every cable and cabinet, and enables cross‑departmental control of maintenance—delivering measurable transparency across hundreds of kilometers of cabling, faster fault resolution and significant time savings in expansion planning and maintenance at DESY.

DESY

Kay Wittenburg

Head of the Working Group on Signal Tracing