The Harrison Daily Times in Harrison, AR reports that cabling installers working inside a school building during school hours escaped harm when a student grabbed a cable (presumably a twisted-pair construction) from the ceiling, stripped back the wires - with his teeth, evidently - and stuck the stripped cable into an electrical outlet.
The kid's in legal trouble because of what could have happened to an installer, or anyone else, who might have grabbed the other end of the cable.
Of other note, according to the newspaper report, the installation crew will go ahead and use the chewed cable as planned. Once installed and tested they'll determine whether or not the chewing-and-plugging incident adversely affected the cable's performance.
If the cable doesn't work, replacement will reportedly cost the district (and earn the contractor) $450.
Easy for me to say, I know, but it sounds like a good idea to avoid installing cabling inside a school when the students are also in the building.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
TIA-942 Data Center Cabling standard set for revision
In the second half of 2009, members of the Telecommunications Industry Association's TR-42.1 Commercial Building Cabling Subcommittee began working on a revision of the TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers. TIA-942 was published in 2005 and, according to ANSI guidelines, the standard must be revised, affirmed, or rescinded in five years. At its August 6, 2009 meeting, TR-42.1 unanimously approved the creation of a project to revise the standard. The revision will ultimately be published as TIA-942A.
Minutes from TR-42.1's final meeting of 2009, which took place November 5, indicate the TIA-942A standard will include a number of changes and additions, several of which will focus on energy efficiency.
The TR-42.1 Subcommittee meets next on Thursday, February 4. We will track the developments of the TIA-942A specification and keep you updated on specifics as they emerge.
Minutes from TR-42.1's final meeting of 2009, which took place November 5, indicate the TIA-942A standard will include a number of changes and additions, several of which will focus on energy efficiency.
The TR-42.1 Subcommittee meets next on Thursday, February 4. We will track the developments of the TIA-942A specification and keep you updated on specifics as they emerge.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Jew a worthy choice for achievement award
Congratulations to Jonathan Jew, winner of this year's Harry J. Pfister Award for Excellence in the Telecommunications Industry. That's essentially a 'lifetime achievement award' given annually by the industry's educational association, BICSI. The association honored Jew and several others with awards on Wednesday night, January 20 as part of its annual awards banquet in Orlando, FL.
Unfortunately for me I was on my way home, somewhere between Orlando and New Hampshire and most likely tens of thousands of feet in the air, at the time Jew received his award that night. I'm remiss that I didn't shake his hand and congratulate him personally.
Here's what BICSI had to say about him when it announced him as the award winner. "Jew has devoted countless hours of volunteer time, effort, and expertise that have resulted in immeasurable benefits to BICSI members and ITS professionals globally. He has been a subject matter expert contributor to numerous BICSI manuals and has acted as a co-chair, vice-chair, editor, and a project lead on many standards and working groups."
From a professional standpoint I can echo BICSI's praise of, and appreciation for, Jonathan Jew and his selfless efforts. Cabling Installation & Maintenance has benefitted from articles he has either written or been quoted in on such topics as the TIA-942 data center standard, The TIA/EIA-606 series of labeling and administration standards, and other data center issues such as humidity and electrostatic discharge.
From a personal standpoint, I can't overstate my appreciation for how willing Jew has been to contribute his time and expertise to these articles and other information products. Recently, he made a presentation during a webcast on TIA standards. He nonchalantly told me he would put his presentation together while he was on his way to an ISO standards meeting in China. I smacked my forehead in appreciative awe; Jonathan Jew went about his business as usual.
Jonathan Jew is one of many individuals who travel the country and the world constructing standards that govern the design, installation, and maintenance practices for structured cabling systems. But one thing that separates him from so many of his standards-making colleagues is that he is not employed by a manufacturer that sells products in the cabling market. He is a principal of J&M Consultants, a data center design firm based in San Francisco. As far as I can tell, he makes these efforts on his own time and his own dime. As he's helping to create North American and global standards, there are no long-term dollar signs for him in the form of thousands of his company's products being sold into the market as a result of the standard being published. He does the work because it will benefit the industry as a whole.
The world seems to have gone from "What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?" to "What-are-you-doing-for-me-right-now? (And-what's-taking-you-so-long?)" For anyone reading this blog, there's a chance that Jonathan Jew is doing something right now that will be to your benefit. Remember, if you're reading this in the middle of the night, a global standards meeting could be happening right now somewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. And even if Jonathan Jew isn't doing something right now, this very second, for you ... I can just about guarantee that he has done something lately - very recently - for you.
Just as I'm remiss not to have seen Jonathan receive his award from BICSI on January 20, I feel a little foolish not to have nominated him for that award in the first place. I just selfishly call or email him when I'm looking for information on a topic. (What can you do for me right now?) His response is almost always immediate, and is always insightful.
Congratulations to Jonathan Jew, a very worthy recipient of the 2010 Harry J. Pfister Award for Excellence in the Telecommunications Industry.
Unfortunately for me I was on my way home, somewhere between Orlando and New Hampshire and most likely tens of thousands of feet in the air, at the time Jew received his award that night. I'm remiss that I didn't shake his hand and congratulate him personally.
Here's what BICSI had to say about him when it announced him as the award winner. "Jew has devoted countless hours of volunteer time, effort, and expertise that have resulted in immeasurable benefits to BICSI members and ITS professionals globally. He has been a subject matter expert contributor to numerous BICSI manuals and has acted as a co-chair, vice-chair, editor, and a project lead on many standards and working groups."
From a professional standpoint I can echo BICSI's praise of, and appreciation for, Jonathan Jew and his selfless efforts. Cabling Installation & Maintenance has benefitted from articles he has either written or been quoted in on such topics as the TIA-942 data center standard, The TIA/EIA-606 series of labeling and administration standards, and other data center issues such as humidity and electrostatic discharge.
From a personal standpoint, I can't overstate my appreciation for how willing Jew has been to contribute his time and expertise to these articles and other information products. Recently, he made a presentation during a webcast on TIA standards. He nonchalantly told me he would put his presentation together while he was on his way to an ISO standards meeting in China. I smacked my forehead in appreciative awe; Jonathan Jew went about his business as usual.
Jonathan Jew is one of many individuals who travel the country and the world constructing standards that govern the design, installation, and maintenance practices for structured cabling systems. But one thing that separates him from so many of his standards-making colleagues is that he is not employed by a manufacturer that sells products in the cabling market. He is a principal of J&M Consultants, a data center design firm based in San Francisco. As far as I can tell, he makes these efforts on his own time and his own dime. As he's helping to create North American and global standards, there are no long-term dollar signs for him in the form of thousands of his company's products being sold into the market as a result of the standard being published. He does the work because it will benefit the industry as a whole.
The world seems to have gone from "What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?" to "What-are-you-doing-for-me-right-now? (And-what's-taking-you-so-long?)" For anyone reading this blog, there's a chance that Jonathan Jew is doing something right now that will be to your benefit. Remember, if you're reading this in the middle of the night, a global standards meeting could be happening right now somewhere in the Asia-Pacific region. And even if Jonathan Jew isn't doing something right now, this very second, for you ... I can just about guarantee that he has done something lately - very recently - for you.
Just as I'm remiss not to have seen Jonathan receive his award from BICSI on January 20, I feel a little foolish not to have nominated him for that award in the first place. I just selfishly call or email him when I'm looking for information on a topic. (What can you do for me right now?) His response is almost always immediate, and is always insightful.
Congratulations to Jonathan Jew, a very worthy recipient of the 2010 Harry J. Pfister Award for Excellence in the Telecommunications Industry.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Shielded-cabling discussion continues
The post a few weeks ago about tests comparing shielded and unshielded twisted-pair cabling systems' ability to handle 10-Gigabit Ethernet generated a bit of feedback in the way of emails and phone calls. One commenter pointed out that an article we published two-and-a-half years ago predicted that such tests would produce the results they did.
More recently, a quick trip around the internets revealed not one but two videos showing how quickly a shielded cable can be terminated - in each case less than a minute. Take a look at Tyco's video demonstration and/or Siemon's.
Meanwhile, my editorial in the December issue of Cabling Installation and Maintenance touched on the notion of running more than 10-Gbits/second on shielded twisted-pair cabling. First, some make-good housekeeping. In that editorial I neglected to mention that the in-the-works 40/100-Gbit Ethernet specifications within IEEE do indeed include a twinax copper-based solution. In one of the many instances in which my brain took a vacation while my body was working, I stated that the 40/100-G specs are fiber-only. D'Oh!
Moving ahead, if I possibly can, I promised more detail on the possibility of 40/100-G over shielded twisted-pair. This article from the January issue of our magazine provides some of that detail. As the article indicates, it looks like it could be a long road for proponents of an IEEE-produced 40/100-Gig-over-shielded-twisted-pair specification. From the looks of it, ensuring that a shielded cabling system can handle such throughput rates might be the lowest hurdle to overcome.
We'll continue to track what goes on with the possibility, and keep you informed.
More recently, a quick trip around the internets revealed not one but two videos showing how quickly a shielded cable can be terminated - in each case less than a minute. Take a look at Tyco's video demonstration and/or Siemon's.
Meanwhile, my editorial in the December issue of Cabling Installation and Maintenance touched on the notion of running more than 10-Gbits/second on shielded twisted-pair cabling. First, some make-good housekeeping. In that editorial I neglected to mention that the in-the-works 40/100-Gbit Ethernet specifications within IEEE do indeed include a twinax copper-based solution. In one of the many instances in which my brain took a vacation while my body was working, I stated that the 40/100-G specs are fiber-only. D'Oh!
Moving ahead, if I possibly can, I promised more detail on the possibility of 40/100-G over shielded twisted-pair. This article from the January issue of our magazine provides some of that detail. As the article indicates, it looks like it could be a long road for proponents of an IEEE-produced 40/100-Gig-over-shielded-twisted-pair specification. From the looks of it, ensuring that a shielded cabling system can handle such throughput rates might be the lowest hurdle to overcome.
We'll continue to track what goes on with the possibility, and keep you informed.
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