the larger conductors cable 500 includes a ruggedized ribbon unit 520 which may be a tight buffered fiber unit the cable 500 has a central strength element 510 with the ruggedized 12f ribbon unit 520 stranded with a plurality e g 2 pair of 16 awg power conductors 530 around the central strength element 510 fig4 shows cable 500 in accordance with yet other aspects of the present disclosure wherein the ribbon unit 520 is a rollable ribbon or similar structure that allows the ribbon unit to be formed into a relatively round profile in accordance with yet other aspects of the present invention the height of the ribbon unit may be formed to be as close to the conductor od as possible with the conductor unit preferably smaller in height than the od of a conductor this allows the unit to be better protected in crush and other mechanical tests for example the cable 500 shown in fig3 has 4 conductors in cables where there may be a limited number of conductors be it 1 or 2 pair mechanical performance may be impacted due to the ribbon flexing around a smaller central element to accommodate the ribbon matrix flexibility may be maximized even to the point where the matrix may strategically fail in that localized area when mechanical forces are applied while having enough integrity to remain together for fusion splicing at the cable ends another option in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure may be to use bend insensitive fibers to account for additional mechanical forces that may exist the bend insensitive fibers may be applied at the ribbon outside edges up to the entire.