Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)

Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) refers to the transfer of electrostatic charge between bodies at
varied voltages that is caused by direct contact or induced by an electrostatic field. When you
walk across a carpet and touch a metal door knob, you experience a slight shock on your fingers.
If the same ESD occurs in data networking equipment, the equipment can be damaged or
destroyed.

Best practices for ESD protection

The following are the most common devices and should be used during the installation of
ASR903 or any other networking equipment to prevent ESD damage:

Antistatic wrist strap Attach one end of the wrist strap to an earth ground, that is, the
ground pin of the chassis, and wrap the other end around your wrist as shown in Figure 6.
The wrist strap is connected to the ground through a coiled retractable cable and allows
high-voltage charges to leak through Hence protects the equipment from ESD

Figure 1 : ESD wrist strap

Antistatic bags - always use antistatic bags whenever storing or shipping network
equipment hardware because they keep the stray dust charges away from the equipment,
and protect them from ESD.