What is the purpose of splice trays in a patch panel?

The purpose of splice trays in a patch panel is to organize fibers and manage splices. Splice trays are designed to provide a structured and secure environment for spliced fiber optic cables, ensuring that they are properly aligned and protected from damage. This organization is vital to maintaining the integrity of the fiber connections and facilitates easy access for future maintenance or modifications.

Each splice tray typically has designated areas for holding the splices and protecting the fibers from physical stress, bends, or movement that could lead to signal loss. By keeping the fibers organized, splice trays help prevent tangling and reduce the risk of accidental damage during installation or maintenance activities. This careful management of the splices also aids in troubleshooting and ensures easier identification of any issues within the fiber optic system.

The other choices highlight important aspects of fiber optic installations but do not accurately capture the specific role of splice trays. While securely holding cables and facilitating testing are important functions in a network setup, and enhancing network speed is a critical goal of fiber optics, they do not distinctly relate to the unique purpose of splice trays in terms of their function and design in a patch panel configuration.