Doug, GR-78-CORE covers the design and manufacture of telecom products. To be compliant with the 880+ requirements in the standard, the design first of all must meet the 200+ design requirements for cables, PCB layout, materials, components, connectors, etc. The selection of 94 V-1 or better components is a major task alone. Obviously if you buy an off the shelf product that does not claim to comply with GR-78, it will not meet the requirements within its design or selection of materials. Also, the manufacture of the assemblies involves a few hundred requirements. The selection of solders, fluxes, cleaning processes, thermal controls in all processes, storage and handling of materials, ESD practices, repair practices, and we have only skimmed the surface. I've audited sites that claim to meet GR-78 that fail to meet major requirements, so an off the shelf will be even more of a compliance problem. The customer has the final say in deciding if they want your product because it is invaluable even with its missed marks. Being upfront about the makeup of your product is the best approach along with a plan to conform in the future.
Gary R. Tekelec Hardware Compliance Eng. Doug <dmck...@gte.net> on 08/04/2000 04:42:08 PM Please respond to nebs@world.std.com To: Nebs Discussion Group <nebs@world.std.com> cc: (bcc: Gary Raper/Raleigh/TEKELEC) Subject: GR-78 question ... I think I already know the answer to this, but I have to ask. A product has a mix of printed circuit boards. Some are made by the mfr, some are off the shelf boards. I suppose you could buy them at a place like Fry's (big electronic store out here). Not sure about that. To declare GR-78 compliance, would the mfr of said product require the mfrs of the boards they buy from vendors be compliant with GR-78 as well? Example - Say your company makes a PC that will go into a CO. The only thing your company actually makes of the product is the box, power supplies, and the motherboard. The product will NOT connect directly to any telephone lines. It will connect to the telephone line through a modem once installed in the CO. It's a plug and play device that accepts any type of PCI interface card you need. You can buy these interface cards almost anywhere. * Are you obligated to require ANY and ALL interface cards to be used in your product to be GR-78 compliant? - Doug
