The Cabling Blog

CWA likes what it hears from President Obama during State of the Union

2012-01-27T15:25:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, January 24, as President Barack Obama wrapped up his State of the Union address, the Communications Workers of America issued a statement praising the president "for his focus on creating an America that is built to last with an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few."

The statement added that the CWA "strongly supports legislation that would end taxpayer subsidies for corporations that get tax breaks, then move call center jobs offshore, among other measures." It chastised a legislative process that "rewards corporate interests and abandons U.S. workers, when it comes to manufacturing and services."

The statement also is critical of the role corporations play in election processes. "That's why CWA supports measures to limit the outsized and harmful influence of corporate money in U.S. elections," it says.

You can read more about the CWA's political viewpoints, and some of the activities it is planning, here at their website.

FOA says, 'We have your standard right here ... on one page'

2012-01-20T16:33:00.000-05:00

In its January 2012 online newsletter, The Fiber Optic Association stated that it is starting a program "to make standards more accessible to the world of users, contractors, designers and installers." Specifically, the association is creating one-page standards, which it says will be "simple explanations of standards that you use all the time but don't need the originals; you just need to understand how to use them.

"We'll cut out all the fluff and give you the info you need," the FOA says. And, knowing FOA founder and president Jim Hayes, I can say with a high degree of confidence that the organization will live up to that promise.

Perhaps anticipating some of the potential backlash at the prospect of a one-page standard, the FOA asked itself: "Can the FOA create standards? And what is a standard anyway?" It then produced the following definition from ISO/IEC Guide 2: 1996 (definition 3.2), which defines a standard as follows:

A document established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.

The FOA then states, "FOA certification is now internationally accepted and our technical references the first choice for unbiased, technically correct information on fiber optics and premises cabling. It's certainly logical that we would next try to put some order in the chaos of current standards. FOA standards are developed by FOA members whose expertise in the technical areas covered by the standards and whose experience in the industry contributes to FOA standards being accurate, relevant and current."

The FOA didn't just announce its one-page standards in January; it offered one as well. FOA CPL1, which you can access as a PDF here, is (as promised) a one-page description of how to test installed fiber-optic cable plants. It is available for free, as the FOA's other one-page standards will be.

You can read the FOA's January 2012 newsletter here.

Video demonstrates how to test patch cords for standard compliance

2012-01-10T14:06:00.000-05:00

In a five-minute video posted to YouTube, Adrian Young, senior technical support engineer with Fluke Networks, demonstrates the procedures for using the company's Category 5e, 6 and 6A patch-cord adapters with the DTX-1800 CableAnalyzer.

In the video Young tests a Category 6A patch cord twice and gets significantly different results. First he runs a test using the channel adapters that come standard with the DTX-1800, plugging one end of the cord into the adapter on the main unit and the cord's other end into the adapter on the remote unit. When he runs a channel test, the tester produces a "pass" result with more than 18-dB near-end crosstalk margin. As the test is taking place, Young explains why it is inadequate - because a channel test ignores the RJ-45 connection between the cord and the test adapter, and also because the channel test allows for four connections and therefore has a lot of "leeway" for performance.

He then removes the cord from the adapaters and removes the adapters from the main and remote units, and replaces them with the patch-cord test adapters. After walking viewers through the steps of setting up the patch-cord-specific test, Young runs the test on the same patch cord. This time it passes, but with a NEXT margin of 3.3 dB - a difference of more than 14 dB from the test conducted with the channel adapter.

Fluke introduced its patch-cord test adapters in spring 2011.

You can watch the video here.

Video: Five tips for keeping patch fields neat in the data center

2011-12-19T13:51:00.000-05:00

A two-minute video posted to YouTube by Cisco Systems walks viewers through five steps they can take to reduce or eliminate patch-cord clutter in data centers. The video is narrated by Douglas Alger, an IT architect for Cisco. (See books on data center energy efficiency authored by Douglas Alger.)

Alger suggests the following steps for keeping cabling neat and tidy.

1. When designing a data center, plan for an appropriate amount of wire management.

2. Be sure to use correct lengths of patch cords when making connections. Alger advises: "Don't just allow hardware installers to grab a fistful of 8-foot cables and use them everywhere, leaving excess cable length to either hang free or be tucked away in wire management."

3. Stock multiple lengths of cable in the data center.

4. Prewire patch cords into data center networking rows, rather than waiting for those rows to be filled with hardware, "and cabling on a piecemeal basis later," Alger says.

5. Streamline patch cords in data center through hardware choices. Virtualization, for example, allows more computiner power with fewer physical servers and, therefore, less cabling.

Watch the full video below.

Cable technician finds 500-pound bear in basement

2011-12-15T17:10:00.000-05:00

A technician for Cablevision found a 500-pound bear asleep in a home in Hopatcong, New Jersey when the technician entered the home's basement to repair a cable line.

NBC's New York affiliate, Channel 4, reported that the bear escaped the home and was later tranquilized and captured. The cable technician was not injured.

You can see NBC 4's reporting, including a video of the captured bear being brought to a truck, here.

The downside of fully connected hospitals

2011-12-15T13:43:00.000-05:00

We have reported on several occasions, in multiple formats (articles, web seminars, guides), about the emergence and continued growth of cabling and other communications systems for healthcare facilities. Healthcare facilities, including hospitals, are becoming increasingly "connected" through the use of electronic health records, the need to send extremely large files across networks, etc. One consequence of such fully connected medical facilities is that caregivers - doctors and nurses - are carrying wireless devices with them everywhere, all the time.

Matt Richtel of The New York Times informs us that this situation may have some unintented, negative consequences for patients. In his article entitled "As Doctors Use More Devices, Potential for Distraction Grows," Richtel reports that "55 percent of technicians who monitor bypass machines acknowledged to researchers that they had talked on cellphones during heart surgery. Half said they texted while in surgery." Richtel also references incidents of "a neurosurgeon making personal calls during an operation," and "a nurse checking airfares during surgery."

The article even comes up with a name for the collection of portable devices that have the potential to distract medical providers - the "iPatient."

And I thought texting while driving was a significant offense.

You can read the complete article here.

Medical nightmare: Breast cancer patients miss surgery because of cable theft

2011-12-14T16:52:00.001-05:00

The UK-based Daily Mail has reported that nearly 100 medical patients, including two with breast cancer, were forced to miss their scheduled surgeries because thieves stole copper cabling from a hospital's backup generator. The theft from Llandough Hospital in Penarth, south Wales was discovered on Tuesday, December 13, The Daily Mail's Emily Allen reported.

The article quoted university health board chief executive Jan Williams as saying, "NHS staff work tirelessly to care for some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. It is depressing to note that, for these thieves, the monetary value of copper is of more consequence."

You can read the full report here.

Video shows fusion splicer crashing to floor then successfully splicing fiber

2011-12-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

A video posted to YouTube shows ILSINTECH's Swift S3 fusion splicer crashing to a hard floor then successfully fusing two optical fibers. In the 1:11 video, the splicer is picked up off a table and dropped from waist-height to the floor with a clanging thud. The splicer is then positioned upright on the floor, fibers are inserted and a fuse is completed. At the end of the video the splicer's screen shows a 0.04-dB loss reading for the successful splice.

This is obviously a self-promotional video made and posted by the folks at ILSINTECH. But it's fun to watch.

Judge deems cable thieves security risks, denies bail

2011-11-30T10:55:00.000-05:00

Samisoni Nabilivalu has reported in The Fiji Times that a judge denied bail for five Telecom Fiji workers accused of stealing cable, even though the prosecutor didn't oppose bail. The story explains that Magistrate Janaka Bandara "told the five it was not in national interest to grant them bail saying the group's case undermined the security of the general public."

The prosecutor alleges that on November 9, the five suspects stole 100 meters of cable valued at approximately $1,000.

You can read the full story here.

Polywater mourns passing of founder

2011-11-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

American Polywater Corporation, provider of cable-pulling lubricants, recently announced the passing of the company's founder Nelson Jonnes. The company issued the following statement.

Nelson Jonnes, the inventor of Polywater Cable Pulling Lubricants, has died at the age of 85 after a long series of illnesses. Born the son, grandson, and great-grandson of physicians in Circleville, Ohio, Nels served in the U.S. Navy (1944 to 1947) and then graduated from Antioch College where he developed a life-long passion for science and education. As a teacher and inventor Nels went on to create 22 patents and led several entrepreneurial adventures, including his most successful: 38-year-old American Polywater.

Antioch president and Massachusetts legislator Horace Mann famously said: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity." Nels took this message from his alma mater seriously, and devoted his life to making the world a better place for his having been there. As friends, family, and employees will attest, Nelson Jonnes would have made Horace Mann very proud. He will be missed.

Nels founded his fledgling company with lofty growth goals and based it on two simple principles: 1) Use superior chemistry to develop products that solve problems. 2) Treat people fairly, including employees, agents, distributors, and customers. Nels sold his interest in American Polywater to current management in 1988, but later rejoined the company in an R&D consulting role, finally retiring in 2008 at age 81. He created products and a reputation to be proud of. The result transformed the industry and advanced cable installation technology immeasurably. Now employee-owned, American Polywater evolved with this foundation and continues to thrive.

Nels was an extraordinary fellow. His life experience reads like that of a fictional superhero: entrepreneur, author, philanthropist, orator, chairman, science teacher, mutual fund salesman, big game hunter, chemist, world traveler, Navy sonarman, physicist, Ethiopian "ambassador," athlete, inventor, historian, geologist, musician, philosopher, certified scuba instructor, great grandfather, and more. His advancing age was rarely a barrier. Nels won a bronze medal in table tennis at the Senior Olympics--at age 80. He left American Polywater and the industry with a fine legacy and ideals worth striving for.

TIA sets objectives for 40G over twisted pair

2011-11-17T16:55:00.000-05:00

In a post on the Network Infrastructure Blog, Valerie Maguire of Siemon provides some detail on the work being done within the TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee to establish specifications for 40-Gbit/sec or higher transmission over twisted-pair copper cabling.

Maguire states that these next-generation cabling parameters are expected to be published in 2014, in addendum 1 to TIA-568-C.2. She further explains that four task groups have been formed to investigate these parameters. The subjects being investigated are Application Space, Capacity, Cables and Connectors.

The blog post also includes a table that lists a series of objectives and whether the TR-42.7 Subcommittee considers each objective "required," "highly desired," "nice to have" or "not required."

You can read Valerie Maguire's full blog post here.

Copper cable thieves suspected in electrocution death of six-month-old foal

2011-10-13T10:52:00.000-04:00

A story in The Daily Mail describes the guresome discovery of an electrocuted six-month-old foal following a copper-cable theft near Sittingbourne, Kent, UK. The story's author, Stephanie Darrall, speculates that, after removing a pylon and exposing live wires, thieves may have used the foal to test whether or not electricity was still moving through the wires.

The theft left approximately 3,000 homes without power. The story quotes a resident who lives close to the crime scene as saying, "Most of us believe the people responsible used the foal to test whether the wires were still live, either by putting it on the cable or tempting it over with food."

You can read the Daily Mail story here. Mercifully, it contains no photos of the deceased foal.

Copper prices fall, but what about cable prices?

2011-10-06T16:45:00.001-04:00

Are you familiar with our LinkedIn group? If you are not, please join. Approximately 1,700 cabling industry professionals from around the world are members.

For those of you who are members, you may be interested in one of the group's newest discussions. Alan Bullen, managing director of Lynx Networks plc in Milton Keynes, UK and a director of the FibreOptic Industry Association, wants to know: "Now that the price of copper has dropped 35 percent and is at its lowest price for two years, when will we see a corresponding drop in cable prices?" The price chart below is taken from metalprices.com and covers copper pricing over the past six months.

The price of copper has been pointed to frequently as one head of the three-headed monster that has sent the price of copper cable up over the past year-plus. The other two heads on that monster are the price of petroleum (a copper cable's jacket is petroleum-based) and, for plenum-rated cable at least, the price of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), which insulates the copper conductors of plenum-rated cables. But Alan Bullen is from the U.K., where they do not use plenum cable per se but rather use low-smoke zero-halogen cables. Still, the pricing of those cable types are subject to the costs of the materials used in their manufacture.

So what do you think? Is the price of copper cable on the way down? Is it just wishful thinking? Perhaps a criticism of copper technology from a prominent member of the FibreOptic Industry Association? Check out our LinkedIn group or comment here on The Cabling Blog to weigh in.

In 'Operation Alloy,' police raid scrapyards looking for copper-cable thieves

2011-09-23T16:39:00.000-04:00

Police in Stockport, UK, which is near Manchester (map), conducted raids at several scrap-metal yards aiming to catch thieves in the act of cashing in on their crimes. As Bethany English of the Manchester Evening News reports, "Operation Alloy" as it is called, comprised four teams of officers. English reported the officers "were particularly searching for stolen phone cabling and grids" and also were making spot-checks of vans on roads near the scrap yards.

She quoted Sergeant Carl Needham as saying that Operation Alloy will continue through the end of the year at least. In addition to local police officers, the operation includes the efforts of trading-standards and environmental officers, who ensure vehicles are licensed for waste transfer, English explained.

You can read the full report from the Manchester Evening News here.

Below is a video of one of the officers involved, who briefly explains the operation. (If you can understand what he's saying, please let me know. Being from New Hampshire rather than Hampshire, I couldn't even make out his name.)

2012 London Olympics: Is DAS calling? (Is anyone calling? Hello?)

2011-09-23T16:04:00.000-04:00

Jacquelin Magnay, covering the 2012 London Olympics for The Telegraph, recently reported that Mayor Boris Johnson admitted mobile-phone users in the city may be out of luck when the games are going on because of a capacity crunch.

"Johnson said he had been concerned about mobile phone capacity for more than two years but the increasing reliance on smartphones ... and the booming sales of tablets ... was making the task [of shifting mobile capacity to the Olympic Park from other parts of the city] increasingly difficult." The mayor is also quoted as saying, "We are looking to install enough masts and have enough physical infrastructure and coverage for the huge demands."

Magnay explained some recent challenges the city has faced concerning mobile-coverage during the games, including the implications of potential mobile blackouts, then added, "the latest problem simply relates to the expectation many of the spectators in the Olympic Park's nine venues will want to tweet, send pictures and text at rates not seen before."

I bet the DAS Forum would enjoy the opportunity to explain to organizers of the London games, the merits of using distributed antenna systems in venues such as theirs.

Researchers use nanotubes to create copper-cable replacement

2011-09-08T17:27:00.000-04:00

Researchers from Rice University have published results of their efforts to produce cables made of carbon nanotubes that can conduct electricity. The research's ultimate aim is to develop nanocables that can replace copper cables for conductivity.

In a media release, the university explained, "A Rice lab made such a cable from double-walled carbon nanotubes and powered a fluorescent light bulb at standard line voltage - a true test of the novel material's ability to stake a claim in energy systems of the future."

An abstract of the research has been published on Nature.com.

Enrique Barrera, a professor of mechanical engineering and mateials science at Rice, said that highly conductive nanotube-based cables could be just as efficient as traditional metals at one-sixth of the weight. He added that such cables may initially find use in applications where weight is a critical consideration, such as in airplanes and automobiles. In the future, he said, it could replace traditional wiring in homes.

The university's release continued, "The cables developed in the study are spun from pristine nanotubes and can be tied together without losing their conductivity. To increase conductivity of the cables, the team doped them with iodine and the cables remained stable. The conductivity-to-weight ratio beats metals, including copper and silver, and is second only to the metal with the highest specific conductivity, sodium."

Yao Zhao, one of the nanocables' developers, recently defended his dissertation toward his doctorate at the university and his the lead author of the new paper. He built the demonstration rig that allowed him to toggle through the nanocable and replace the conventional copper wire in the circuit.

This initial study used a few centimeters of cable; in that regard Barrera remarked that spinning billions of nanotubes into a cable at all is quite a feat. "The chemical processes used to grow and then align nanotubes will ultimately be part of a larger process that begins with raw materials and ends with a steady stream of nanocables," he said. The project's planned next stage will be to make longer, thicker cables taht carry higher current and still keep the cable lightweight. "We really want to go better than what copper or other metals can offer overall," Barrera said.

Tsinghua University partnered with Rice on the research and supplied the nanotubes for it.

Rice researchers Barrera and Zhao discuss their efforts in the video below.

Fluke Networks: Yes, preterminated systems do need testing

2011-09-01T13:48:00.000-04:00

Fluke Networks has launched a series of reports it has titled "Truths About Installing and Testing Preterminated Fiber." It will be an 8-part series, the company says, and Part 1 is currently available.

Entitled "What Factory Cable Testing Cannot Tell an Installer," Part 1 of the Truth series includes the following statements about preterminated fiber systems: "Once delivered to the end user, the installation process exposes the cable to stress and potential damage that is beyond the scope of any factory test. If installers and network owners take a few simple steps, they can avoid performance problems and ensure that the manufacturer's warranties are upheld."

The report points out three real-world factors that, as Fluke Networks describes it, "will intercede to turn a cable assembly that 'worked when we shipped it to you' into a weak link in the transmission chain."

Those three real-world factors are:
1. Pulling cable through a rack or down a tray can break the fiber. Says Fluke Networks, "When the maximum pulling force on a fiber can be as little as 100 pounds, it is quite possible for an average installer to exceed that maximum and shear one or more fibers in a preterminated trunk."

2. The installation process creates a risk to the cable through microbending and macrobending.

3. There is a high likelihood of connector contamination or damage. "It is very common for the fiber endfaces to become contaminated in the course of installation," the report states.

The report lists inspection, cleaning and testing procedures that are considered best practices for dealing with preterminated fiber systems.

You can view or download Part 1 of Fluke Networks' series "Truths About Installing and Testing Preterminated Fiber" here.

Fluke Networks also posted a 30-second YouTube video summarizing the rationale behind its "Truths Part 1" report. You can see the video below.

Just what's in that cabinet?

2011-08-18T10:10:00.000-04:00

As a professional in the cabling industry who has spent countless hours in telecommunications rooms and the enclosures/cabinets within those rooms, you may very well believe that you have seen it all.

The clever marketing folks at Automated Outlet are betting you have not seen it all. They have posted on YouTube a video showing a cabinet for structured wiring that houses ... no, not cabling. Liquor. The "Cool Home Automation Liquor Cabinet Using Structured Wiring" is made up of parts available from Automated Outlet. Although I bet the liquor is sold separately.

It's a simple concept and the video tour is only 30 seconds in duration. You can check it out below.

First the cable was fake, now the conference is

2011-08-12T10:48:00.000-04:00

For some time we've been reporting on incidents of bogus cable, typically twisted-pair copper cable, popping up around the world and usually originating in Asia. At this point, that's not really brand-new news anymore. But over the past week I became aware of something that is new: A fake conference about wire and cable.

From what I can tell, the purported "China Wire & Cable Industry Summit 2011" looks like an effort to obtain credit-card information. A flyer has been circulated for a conference with that aforementioned title, supposedly being held in Shanghai November 25 and 26 of this year. The flyer includes a full two-day agenda with realistic-sounding session titles and descriptions. And, the agenda includes the names of actual companies and people, claiming they will participate in the conference. Except, from all I can tell, these people and companies don't know a thing about the conference they're supposedly a part of.

The last page of the brochure is a registration form seeking credit card and passport information.

Adding to the confusion for some who have been contacted about this apparently non-existent event is the fact that there is a real event taking place October 26-28 in Shanghai. That event is called the China International Wire and Cable Industry Exhibition and is legitimate.

I feel like Charlie Brown because all I can think to say is: Good grief.

Modified U.S. Army drone spies on WiFi users

2011-08-05T09:10:00.001-04:00

Several news outlets, including this report from CNET, told the story this week about the security engineers who showed off an unmanned aerial vehicle that can spy on WiFi users. The demonstration took place at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas.

The engineers, Mike Tassey and Rich Perkins, did not conduct a live demonstration of the drone's capabilities. But they did bring it out on stage and told some frightening stories about what they had been able to accomplish by adding their own touches to it. Among those "touches" are "a payload of wireless sniffers and network-cracking tools," CNET's Declan McCullagh reported. McCullagh also quoted Perkins as saying, "We can identify a target by his cell phone and follow him home to where enterprise security doesn't reach. We can reverse engineer someone's life."

Perkins and Tassey call the drone WASP - Wireless Aerial Surveillance Platform. A test flight has been posted on YouTube.

House explosions blamed on copper-cable theft

2011-07-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

According to this report from The Daily Mail, a row of houses in Castleton, West Yorkshire, UK exploded literally seconds after firefighters evacuated the residents. The causes of the string of blasts, firefighters told The Daily Mail, was the theft of copper electrical cable overhead. That theft "affected the earthing of the area's electrical network," the report says.

Astonishing footage of the explosions was captured by a camera mounted to one of the firefighting vehicles. The footage was posted to YouTube.

You can see it below. The video includes multiple explosions and is slightly more than one minute in duration.

More tips for detecting counterfeit cables

2011-07-15T11:02:00.001-04:00

Since the Fiber Optic Association published an item in its July 2011 newsletter about weighing copper cable to help determine if its conductors are copper or aluminum, the association has gotten a number of suggestions from professionals in the industry about that and other methods of counterfeit detection.

UPDATE (7/27): I have learned that most of the comments/tips provided to the FOA, and summarized here, came from James Mitchell, who operates a website called helpmecableguy.

Among the comments are the following.

1) Some cable brands include a plastic spool in the box, which adds 2 to 4 pounds to the box. And some generic cable brands can weigh as much as 25 to 30 pounds for bulk Cat 5e UTP. These differences may make it more difficult to detect a counterfeit, because even if lighter aluminum conductors are used the overall weight of the box could be close to that of a legit, copper-conductor cable.

2) Look for the holographic UL sticker (although it's also noted that holographic stickers are sometimes found on counterfeit CDs and DVDs).

3) From a street vendor in China (no kidding): Cut the wires into small sections and try picking them up with a magnet.

4) The newsletter update also expresses the importance of flammability ratings being genuine, in addition to the cable's performance characteristics.

You can read the updated FOA July 2011 newsletter here; it includes more detailed comments than those summarized in this post.

Cable-theft attempt kills 16-year-old boy

2011-07-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

BBC has reported that a 16-year-old boy was killed in Stourton, UK on Sunday, July 3 while apparently attempting to steal copper cable and components from a power station.

The news agency identified the electrocution victim as Ryan Woolams.

The power station is owned and operated by CE Electric UK. That company told BBC it had dealt with 279 incidents of metal theft within the past year.

CE Electric UK's head of safety Geoff Earl made a plea for would-be thieves to consider the potentially tragic consequences of their actions.

You can read BBC's coverage here.

Talk about an underground crime operation

2011-06-29T13:17:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if the attempted theft of copper cable is more prevalent in the United Kingdom than it is in the United States, or if the U.K. news media pays more attention to the crime than does the news media in this country. Either way, I never go too long without hearing about such a theft, or attempted theft, somewhere in the U.K.

Not long ago we told you about the young man who was nearly electrocuted while trying to steal copper cable from an electrical substation. The permanently scarred culprit spoke remorsefully at his sentencing.

Now I hear about the enterprising 33-year-old from Glasgow who made it look like he was supposed to be working in manholes while he was trying to make off with some of BT's copper cable.

According to reporting by The Courier (which takes you to the heart of Tayside and Fife), Dean Monaghan put on reflective clothing, erected a worker's tent, and put up signs and cones around manhole covers in his attempt to "hide in plain sight" last fall.

The attempt failed. I won't steal the entire story from The Courier. Enter the heart of Tayside and Fife yourself. Read all about it here.

The perils of patch cords

2011-06-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

In a blog post, CommScope's director of channel development and training James Donovan outlines the potential risks that users take on when they complete their cabling channels by adding "just any" patch cords to installed permanent links. According to Donovan, even checking a patch cord's jacket for a stamp of standard-compliance does not ensure a top-notch cabling channel. As he notes, "standards specify minimum requirements only, and do not cover all the coupling and reflection effects that may occur within or between components."

Add to that Fluke Networks' recent assertion that most patch cords are only tested for wiremap, regardless of what is inkjetted on the jacket, and the perilous patch cord becomes a system component that deserves closer attention than it gets, in the opinion of many.

Donovan describes some of the measures CommScope takes to ensure its patch cords perform at the highest possible levels, and also gives an earful of what users might be in for if they are laissez faire (or, dare I say it, cheap) when it comes to patch-cord selection. Among the possible outcomes is intermittent continuity, which Donovan describes as "a network manager's worst nightmare."

You can read Donovan's complete blog post here.

FOA president chronicles training trip through Africa

2011-06-10T09:50:00.000-04:00

Jim Hayes, president of The Fiber Optic Association, posted on the FOA website a summary of his recent trip to three African countries during which he, other FOA personnel, and professionals based in Africa provided fiber-optic training.

The training sessions took place May 9 in Johannesburg, South Africa; May 17 in Nairobi, Kenya; and May 20 in Lusaka, Zambia. In his journal-style summary of the trip, Hayes noted, "As one of the fastest growing markets for telecommunications, Africa is planning the installation of more fiber-optic infrastructure and needs trained technicians to perform the design, installation and maintenance work necessary ... Our visits to South Africa, Kenya and Zambia gave us a view into the variations in developments in Africa, with SA being on a par with the U.S., Europe or the Asian rim countries, Kenya rapidly building infrastructure and Zambia in an earlier stage of development."

He noted that many submarine cables reach African shores, and the current need is to build infrastructure within the continent and distribute it for general use.

Rather than copy or paraphrase Hayes's writing, I'll encourage you to read it for yourself here on the FOA website. Doing so will also give you an opportunity to see all the photos from the FOA's trip to Africa as well as to find other items and resources on that site. The "report from Africa" is part of the FOA's June online newsletter, which also includes an article that asks if telecom is dead, information about the new FOA iPad app, news about Corning running out of fiber and more.

Wall calendar takes comic look at data centers

2011-06-09T13:26:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit late on the draw with this one but there's still plenty of time to enjoy and get use out of the March 2011-March 2012 wall calendar available from Communications Supply Corporation.

The calendar includes comic-strip-style artistry from CSC sales rep Diane Alber and focuses on data center environments. CSC put quotes around the word "educational" when describing the calendar's running comic strip called Kip and Gary. To me that means it's more fun than learning. On the slightly-more-serious side, the calendar also includes products that can be used in data centers.

The calendar is free to anyone who signs up to receive it. You can do that here.

Disclaimer: I ordered my calendar from CSC immediately before writing this, so I have not yet received it and can't tell you firsthand how humorous the comics are. But I'm eager to find out.

Nearly-electrocuted copper-cable thief speaks remorsefully

2011-06-08T11:54:00.000-04:00

Several UK-based news sources have reported on the fate of 22-year-old James Sorby, who was nearly electrocuted by 22,000 volts of electricity while trying to steal copper cable from an electrical substation.

One of those sources, The Daily Mail, ran a story that includes graphic photos of Sorby shortly after his ill-fated theft attempt. The story also includes an image of Sorby's scarred hands. You can see the story here, but please be aware that you may find the images disturbing.

In remorseful comments, Sorby told legal magistrates, "My message is, 'Don't do it.' Before I did this, it was just an idea and there was no danger to it. Everyone thinks it's so easy and they have no idea how stupid they're being. When you think of getting involved in something like this, you don't think of the danger."

Sorby's plight was in the news because he was due to be sentenced for his crime. The Yorkshire Evening Post reports his sentence was a 12-month supervision order.

Encircled flux: A practical view

2011-06-03T11:56:00.000-04:00

by Eric Pearson, CFOS

I have been following the encircled flux (EF) standard from the sidelines. From this position I do not have the entire picture. With that understanding, I offer the following information.

Any measurement method has three objectives. First, the measured loss should indicate that the link will or will not work. Second, a subtle objective, the measured loss should indicate proper installation of the link components. Third, the measured loss should be the same with test equipment from different manufacturers.

Let's look at the first objective: The measured loss should indicate that the link will or will not work. The EF method of defining launch power distribution is a compromise of the distribution for the two types of multimode light sources: LEDs and VCSELs. In this characteristic, compromise, the EF method is no different from the coupled power ratio (CPR) method required by TIA/EIA-568-B. However, the EF method is a compromise that is different from that of the CPR method of TIA/EIA-568-B.

There are two consequences of this compromise. The first consequence is that the measured loss will be less than the loss experienced with an LED transmitter (100Base-F or 100Base-SX). The risk with testing for loss from LED transmitters is that an acceptable measured loss may not result in proper operation. Thus, troubleshooting and installation costs can increase.

The second consequence is that the measured loss will be greater than the loss experienced with a VCSEL transmitter (1000Base-SX or 10GBase-SX). The risk with testing for loss from VCSEL transmitters is that an unacceptable measured loss may not result in improper operation. Thus, installation or rework costs can increase unnecessarily.

Of course, if the link components (cable, connectors and splices) are properly installed, the measured loss is likely to indicate proper operation for either type of light source. But it is this objective -- determination of proper installation -- that is the second objective of any test method.

Let's look at the second objective: The measured loss should indicate proper installation of the link components. Both the EF and CPR methods have the same difficulty with indicating proper installation. This difficulty results not from the test method, but from the TIA/EIA-568 standard. The TIA/EIA-568 standard recommends a method of calculation of the loss acceptance value. This method uses the maximum attenuation rate and connector loss values. This method conflicts with the reality of proper product installation. Properly installed cables, connectors and splices will have actual losses that are closer to the typical losses than they are to the maximum losses. Thus, neither EF nor CPR test methods can fulfill the second objective of a test method.

Such fulfillment requires the designer and installer to establish their own method. In our fiber-optic installation and design training programs and texts, including Successful Fiber Optic Installation - The Essentials, we at Pearson Technologies recommend a method to resolve this difficulty.

For now, let's look at the third objective: The measured loss should be the same with test sources from different manufacturers. While writing about encircled flux recently you stated, "In the meantime, there was poor correlation among labs when international round-robin testing was initially conducted. Another round-robin test is now underway." Obviously, the EF method does not yet meet this objective.

What are the network designer and installer to do? Because, apparently, losses measured with test equipment from different manufacturers do not yet agree, designers and installers should reference the TIA/EIA-568-B test method (CPR). When the EF test method is shown to create no problems for the installer and tester, the designer and installer can reference the TIA/EIA-568-C test method (EF). Of course, doing so may require purchase of new test sources and/or equipment.

We justify this recommendation with two facts. First, the CPR method of TIA/EIA-568-B does result in the same measured losses with test sources from different manufacturers. Our testing indicates that losses are with 0.05 dB of one another. this value is less than the repeatability value of 0.2 dB stated on many connector data sheets. Second, the CPR method results in the same measured loss with test sources that have a CPR ratio that is slightly outside of that defined in TIA/EIA-568-B. In 2003, testing conducted by Pearson Technologies demonstrated these two facts.

Eric R. Pearson, CFOS is president of Pearson Technologies Inc. You can reach him via email at fiberguru@ptnowire.com.

Cisco's PoE Passthrough switch powers itself

2011-06-01T14:33:00.000-04:00

Cisco Systems has developed a Power over Ethernet Passthrough switch, which powers itself. In a video Narayanan Krishnamoorthy, a technical marketing engineer with Cisco, explains that the concept of PoE Passthrough is power coming into the switch from uplink ports that are PoE and PoE-Plus-capable. The switch uses that power to power itself, and if excess power is available, the switch allocates that power on the downlink ports.

The switch has no power supply and is cooled by convection, as is pointed out in the video. As a result, the switch is fanless and therefore quiet. Krishnamoorthy says Cisco put its best engineers on the project of developing the PoE Passthrough. A key technological breakthrough was the development of a chip to accept PoE coming through the uplink.

The in-house Cisco video, as we might expect, gushes over the switch's capability.

Take a look.

Reader lambastes shielded-cabling coverage

2011-05-27T13:33:00.000-04:00

In a guest-commentary article that will be published in Cabling Installation & Maintenance's June issue, magazine reader Gautier Humbert takes the magazine's editor to task for authoring an article that Humbert believes tells only one side of a technical story. Humbert is a business development manager for Legrand in East and Central Europe. The article with which Humbert takes issue is The technical realities of twisted-pair beyond 10G, published in the magazine's April 2011 issue. That article, authored by magazine editor Patrick McLaughlin (OK, I'll admit it, that's me), was derived in large part from a Web-delivered seminar that took place in January. That seminar was entitled Twisted-Pair Cabling and Higher-Than-10G Transmission, and can be seen and heard here. During the seminar, presenters told of the then-current state of affairs within standards bodies to establish bona fide cabling and/or networking standards through which twisted-pair cabling systems would support Ethernet transmission at 40 Gbits/sec. The seminar also included discussion of the reasons such standards efforts are being proposed -- or, said differently, the seminar included advocacy for such standards proposals.

In his commentary article, Humbert makes the argument that foiled/unshielded twisted-pair (F/UTP) cabling, not shielded/foiled twisted-pair (S/FTP) cabling, is likely to be the medium of the future. The article and corresponding seminar included significant information about the characteristics of S/FTP cabling. In addition to making an argument based on a combination of technical and market factors, Humbert chastises McLaughlin (me) for penning an article that told just a single side of the story. He says, "The fact that some manufacturers use tools like one-viewpoint white papers to push their solutions is not new. If any company wants to do this, I think they have the right to. But for this magazine to support it, I believe, is a mistake."

Cabling Installation & Maintenance's June issue will be mailed to subscribers in the middle of the month and will be available online at approximately the same time.

Rather than take a defensive posture and develop creative ways to challenge Gautier Humbert's stance, I'll recall one of the more famous lines from U.S. Senator Scott Brown's campaign, in which he won the Senate seat that had been vacated with the passing of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. During one of Brown's debates with Massachusetts's Attorney General Martha Coakley, Brown stated (and I'm paraphrasing here but you can watch it on YouTube), "It's not Kennedy's seat. It's the people's seat." In a similar vein, Cabling Installation & Maintenance is not my magazine. I'm privileged to serve as its editor and I hope that in doing so, I'm actually serving you. My own inherently biased opinion about the value of that article in our April issue is not what matters. Your opinion is what matters.

Young cabling professionals compete at WorldSkills

2011-05-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

The profession we know and love, cabling, is part of the annual WorldSkills Competition. Described by WikiPedia as a competition for youth from 17 to 22 years of age to demonstrate their excellence in skilled professions, WorldSkills is held every two years in a member country. The 2009 competition took place in Calgary, Canada and this year's event will be held in London in October.

WorldSkillsTV has posted a few cabling-specific videos from Calgary on YouTube. In the 90-second video embedded here, competitor Rounnachai Ampaipoka of Thailand reflects on his first day of participation in the event.

In a separate video from 2009, which you can see here, Fluke Networks' David Coffin discusses his company's participation as a sponsor of the 2009 competition.

You can visit the WorldSkills website here.

Oh, flux. There's more to the story.

2011-05-04T17:41:00.000-04:00

Recently in some online postings as well as an article that appeared in the April issue of Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine, we have brought you information about the recently adopted TIA-526-14-B standard that specifies encircled flux as the launch condition for installed multimode fiber cable. The TIA TR-42 Committee approved TIA-526-14-B in October 2010.

After seeing the article in our April issue, Jim Hayes, founder of The Fiber Optic Association and VDV Works, wrote to me. Within his letter, Hayes noted that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which first standardized the encircled-flux launch condition, did so based on research conducted by a single individual. Additionally, the research "only looked at multimode loss up to 2 dB." Hayes added that based on tests he (Hayes) conducted with another individual, at loss values higher than 2 dB, the technology used to achieve the EF launch condition "failed to even make two OTDRs agree, and the results were vastly different depending on the configurations of the cable plant."

Hayes also said that much of the EF analysis conducted when the TIA was considering adopting the EF specifications, was done using simulations of cable plants. "Real world data was scarce," he said. In the meantime, there was poor correlation among labs when international round-robin testing was initially conducted. Another round-robin test is now underway.

In his letter, Hayes noted CI&M's recent coverage of bend-insensitive fiber (pro and con), commending the magazine for "noting that there was still controversy in the marketplace." He added, "I think you should have treated encircled flux with the same skepticism."

The Fiber Optic Association has published and maintains a Reference Guide to Fiber Optics. The guide's section on Modal Effects on Multimode Fiber Loss Measurements includes information on encircled flux and its adoption by the TIA. That section describes EF as "a more precise method of defining mode fill," and "a more sensitive way of defining power." That section of the guide later explains that EF has been incorporated into several multimode testing standards, adding, "It is intended to create a more reproducible modal condition for testing that is similar to the CPR/mandrel wrap method ... Since EF is new (as of 2/2011), testing sources for EF [have] not been demonstrated to be well correlated between labs or manufacturers, so using it is not yet widely accepted. It will probably not be a widely used method before 2012."

You can read that section of the Reference Guide to Fiber Optics here.

This take on encircled flux differs from information we have published in the past, including this article from a year ago. Despite the questions that Hayes raises about the validity of EF across a range of loss values, it remains the specified launch condition in TIA-526-14-B as well as IEC 61280-4-1 edition 2, from which the TIA adopted it. We intend to follow the practical application of encircled flux, and describe its real-world use for testing installed multimode fiber plants.

Fiber installers, splicers needed in U.S. Southeast

2011-05-02T09:21:00.000-04:00

Eric Pearson of Pearson Technologies Inc. is recruiting professionals experienced in fiber-optic installation and splicing to help restore the many telephone lines that were damaged by the storms that recently ravaged the U.S. Southeast region.

Pearson is looking for experienced outside-plant contractors and installers for a project that will begin promptly and is expected to take approximately 90 days. Applicants are expected to have their own equipment.

Pearson can be reached by telephone at 770-490-9991 or by email at fiberguru@ptnowire.com.

Video looks inside Google data center

2011-04-25T17:21:00.000-04:00

A seven-minute video posted on YouTube leads viewers through the security measures that Google takes within its data centers. In addition to information about how the company controls access to its data center facilities, the video provides some entertaining views of the destruction of hard drives that have reached the end of their useful lives. Google's point is to emphasize the measures it takes to protect the customer data on those drives.

About 3:45 into the video is a demonstration of a machine dubbed "the crusher," which pushes a steel piston through the drive. Next for the unfortunate former piece of computing equipment is the drive shredder, which does exactly what you would expect a drive shredder to do. The shredded drives are recycled.

Cabling also makes its way into the conversation. About 5:30 into the video, the narrator states, "Google data centers are connected to the Internet via high-speed fiber-optic cabling. In each data center there are multiple redundant connections to protect against the possibility of a failure from a single connection."

Rebels hacked, rewired Libya's cell network for their own use

2011-04-15T12:23:00.001-04:00

A compelling story from Wall Street Journal reporters Margaret Coker and Charles Levinson details how Libyan rebels - with help from individuals and governments supportive of their cause and without help from some equipment suppliers - rewired a portion of Libya's cellular-communications network to allow the rebels to communicate with each other.

The WSJ article states, "engineers hived off part of the Libyan cellphone network ... and rewired it to run independently of the regime's control." The article explains that the country's telcommunications infrastructure is built in a star topology, the center of which is Tripoli, allowing Colonel Moammar Gadhafi's government to control phone and Internet access. Libyan rebels had been without telecommunications access of any kind and were resorting to flag-waving during battles with government forces, the article says, before help from outside of Libya aided them.

The story details the efforts of Libyan-born, American-raised telecom executive Ousama Abushagur, who currently resides in Abu Dhabi. It reads a little like a work of international-espionage fiction, describing telecom-equipment provide Huawei's contract with the nation of Libya and refusal to supply equipment to the rebels as well as the roles of neighboring countries and their telecommunications companies in the hacking effort.

The story states that once they obtained the needed equipment and were on the ground - or perhaps more appropriately on the towers - in Libya, the system-installation crew "fused the new equipment into the existing cellphone network, creating an independent data and routing system free from Tripoli's command."

You can read the entire Wall Street Journal story by Coker and Levison here.

Elderly woman, digging for scrap, knocks out Internet in Eastern Europe

2011-04-08T10:05:00.000-04:00

CNET Asia has reported that a 75-year-old woman cut off Internet access to thousands in the Eastern European countries of Georgia and Armenia when she dug up a fiber-optic line, thinking the cable was copper and aiming to scrap the metal for cash.

The enterprising senior citizen was arrested for her efforts. Local media outlets have begun calling her the "spade hacker" and report that she faces up to three years' imprisonment if convicted.

According to reports, officials at Georgian Railway Telecom, which owns the fiber-optic line, were surprised at the amount of damage done. CNET quoted the company's top marketing executive as saying, "I cannot understand how this lady managed to find and damage the cable. It has robust protection and such incidents are extremely rare."

One news outlet is reporting that the accused is claiming innocence and has been distraught since her arrest. ABSCBN News identified the woman as Hayastan Shakarian and said she "tearfully insisted she was innocent and she had never heard of the web."

Their story quoted her as follows: "I did not cut this cable. Physically, I could not do it. I have no idea what the Internet is." A Georgian interior minister, however, claimed that Shakarian had already confessed.

County forgets to include cabling when building new jail

2011-03-30T11:20:00.000-04:00

A new justice center is being built in Houston County, Minnesota without the cabling necessary for in-building wireless communication. According to reporting from the Spring Grove Herald, county commissioners railed against the consultant who apparently forgot to include an in-building distributed antenna system (DAS) in the construction plan. In a plight that is too familiar to many in the cabling industry, the system was tacked onto the contract at the last minute but rejected.

The $101,247 bid from Cellular Specialties Inc. was met with scorn from some of the commissioners. As The Herald's writer Craig Moorhead noted, Houston County Commission Chairman Jack Miller said, "We seem to be spending money on every whim and want, and enough is enough. There is a cheaper way to communicate when you're in that building." Smith suggested the use of handheld walkie-talkie style communication.

It sounds like Miller's biggest beef is with the consultant who overlooked the DAS: "We're paying half a million dollars, practically, to a consultant, and at the last minute we come up with this ..." he is quoted as saying.

Another commissioner's comments make me think that someday we'll hear about the $350,000 brownfield DAS installation at the Houston County, Minnesota Justice Center. "It wasn't budgeted," said commissioner Tom Bjerke. "If we delay this, we could always put it in later."

Or maybe not. After all, there are far more economical options than an in-building distributed antenna system.

Not to say I told you so, but ...

2011-03-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

Remember that rant I went on about how a "just-for-fun" contest, looking for the biggest cabling mess around, could really be a setup for a movement to rid the world of as many cables as possible? If you don't remember it, or just can't wait to read it again, here it is.

Well, today I found a blog post from Cisco Systems' J Metz, a product manager for FCoE. The post's title: FCoE Cabling - Before and After. Take a look.

Crazy Cabling Contest more than it appears?

2011-03-02T13:54:00.000-05:00

First Black Box launched a makeover contest for messy racks and telecommunications rooms, the winner of which will receive $20k in equipment and installation services. That contest appears to be going well. Last I heard there were 100 or so entries. Black Box has determined the five finalists and anyone can vote to decide the winner.

Today I learned about another, similar contest sponsored by none other than Cisco Systems. It's called the Crazy Cabling Contest (go ahead and click to find out all about it). Like Black Box, Cisco is looking for photos of the worst abominations of telecom rooms. "Send us a photo of your data center in all its crazy, twisty and windy glory and you could win big!" they say. The top three photos, as judged by popular vote, each will win a Flip Mino HD 120 camera. The top winner will also receive a $200 Amazon gift card with second- and third-place entries receiving $100 and $50 Amazon gift cards, respectively.

So if you've already missed out on Black Box's $20,000 prize package, you still have a chance to win something.

In its promotion of the Crazy Cabling Contest, Cisco says it doesn't plan to disclose the name of anyone submitting a photo, nor the location at which the photo was taken. "This is strictly for fun," they say. OK but, well ... it's not that I don't completely believe them when they say it's only for fun. It's just that, I maybe kind of don't completely believe them. I read the contest's official rules. OK, maybe not all five pages of them, but I read until I found what I was looking for. Basically, once you submit a photo for this contest, they can do anything they want with it. Here's how they officially say that.

By Submitting Photo(s), Participant irrevocably grants Sponsor and its affiliates, legal representatives, assigns, agents and licensees, the unconditional, irrevocable and perpetual right and permission, royalty-free, to reproduce, encode, store, copy, transmit, publish, post, broadcast, display, publicly perform, adapt, exhibit and/or otherwise use or reuse (without limitation as to when or to the number of times used), for any purpose, the Participant's Photo(s) and ideas and materials contained therein ...

It goes on much longer than that. And it all sounds like pretty run-of-the-mill legal stuff. I'm sure it is. But am I the only one who will not be surprised if and when a Cisco campaign disparages cables as cumbersome and a necessary evil, using one or more of these contest photos as evidence? Further, I suspect that such a campaign would only be created to promote a technology solution that allows you to rid your network of those dreaded cables, making them an unnecessary evil.

Remember IBM's "Out With Cables, In With Blades" advertising campaign, which essentially depicted the essence of our industry as a menace to data networking? When I would see that commercial during a National Football League game, for example, I'd wonder what kind of an impression it made on the millions of NFL fans who don't know anything about cabling.

And remember the word "adapt" from that legal disclaimer? Photos of cabling messes could be altered to look even worse than they really are. Imagine such a commercial from Cisco airing during a Green Bay-Chicago game in the fall.

Almost makes me want the lockout to happen. Almost.

Taking on a myth about IP convergence and cabling

2011-02-25T14:29:00.000-05:00

In his latest blog post, CommScope Enterprise Solutions' director of channel development and training James Donovan addresses what he calls "a myth in the infrastucture market" concerning IP convergence and structured cabling.

The myth, he says, is that one of IP convergence's prime benefits is the need for less cabling. The post encourages network managers to focus on convergence's other benefits because the "fewer cables" mantra could leave them short of the infrastructure support their networks will need.

"IP applications mean a 'single type of cable,' but not necessarily a 'single cable,'" Donovan advises.

You can read his entire blog post here.

Social Security is more messed up than you think

2011-02-24T14:49:00.000-05:00

As a Generation Xer who cynically believes that each year I get farther away from retirement rather than closer to it, I long ago gave up on the notion that I will ever receive a Social Security payment from the United States government. In that vein, recently I began watching the Frontline episode entitled Can You Afford to Retire? Even though it was produced before the global economic meltdown of 2008, the program seemed to do a prescient job of offering gloom-and-doom to Baby Boomers and the generations that follow them.

I say "seemed to do" because I was unable to stay awake for the show's entirety. I'm thankful that my three children exhaust me to the point of collapse on a regular basis because, had I mustered the energy to watch the rest of that Frontline episode, I bet I would have been unable to sleep afterward.

Before this turns into a political rant, which is not what you came here for, I told the above story because even if I did have a high level of confidence in our country's Social Security Administration (SSA), that optimism would have been dashed after reading some of the testimony recently given to a joint Congressional subcommittee concerning the state of the SSA's data center.

In early February the SSA's deputy commissioner of systems Kelly Croft described the unsightly scene beneath the raised floor of the administration's National Computer Center (NCC).

After explaining that it may soon be impossible to find replacement parts for the NCC's custom-made uninterruptible power supply, Croft said, "We face even more fundamental problems at the NCC, such as tangled and overcrowded telecommunications and electrical cables beneath the data center floor. Tangled cables can block the underfloor airflow that cools our servers, and we cannot work on the cables safely without shutting down the affected systems.

"Similarly," he noted, "troubleshooting problems is difficult when we cannot isolate cable pairs easily to determine whether the problems exist in the cables or in the IT equipment. There is also an elevated risk of data corruption, because electromagnetic interference from the electrical wires that are located too close to the telecommunications wires can distort data transmission."

Plans for the SSA's new data center apparently are already pretty far behind schedule. Even though I'm not expecting a Social Security payment anytime in the future, I'm concerned for those receiving payments today and the state of the information systems that, if they crashed, I have to believe would put those payments in peril at least temporarily.

I think it'd be worthwhile to alert my Congressional representatives to the sad condition of the SSA's data center, as well as the potential ramifications of an outage of any duration. Maybe you'll consider doing the same.

Dissing fiber? Me?

2011-02-01T15:27:00.000-05:00

Recently I had the opportunity to break bread with a handful of professionals who are fully immersed in the business of fiber-optic cabling systems for local area networks. (Read: A vendor that sells fiber systems took me out to lunch.) As the conversation wound down and we were all about to be late for our next appointments, a member of the group offered me an, "Oh, by the way ..." message. It was from another member of the organization who was unable to be present at the meeting, although I now wonder if it was one of those thinly veiled questions asked on behalf of "a friend." Regardless, the message was that this friend was taken aback by the scant few mentions of fiber-optic technologies I included when I assessed the 10 most compelling cabling stories of last year.

At that moment, I was taken aback by the observation. What? I'm being accused of dissing fiber? Couldn't be. But then I mentally scanned through the stories I chose as the biggest of 2010, and the focuses of those stories. Price of copper? Check. 10GBase-T? Check. Increasing the density of the RJ-45? Check? Wireless? Check!

I guess maybe there was some justification for the feeling of disrespect among those who advocate the use of fiber-optic systems, and do so because of their genuine faith in the medium's superiority over other options.

In all fairness, fiber did make its way onto the list in a couple ways. The OM4 standard was mentioned, as were the fiber-rich outside-plant cabling projects taking place with funding from the Broadband Stimulus Act.

But it was the final item on that top-10 list where I apparently did a good job of hiding fiber-optic cabling. I rolled up a number of items under the heading "continuous improvement." The reason I chose that theme as one of last year's top stories is that virtually anytime we posted on our Web site information about a practical resource relating to fiber optics, it was eagerly consumed. By "resource," I mean a reference to a fiber-optic text book or training. The single-page poster on fiber safety produced by The Fiber Optic Association was a particularly big hit. In that sense, fiber was among the most popular topics of 2010.

My hypothesis is that fiber-optic cable as a medium is a stable technology. Its users don't have to "plug and pray" that it will work. So you don't see dozens of articles along the lines of "How to make sure your fiber-optic cabling system will successfully transmit 10-Gbit Ethernet." Looking at the hands-on installation of fiber is where it gets more interesting. I believe many installers are paying more attention to fiber than they had before. For some, perhaps for the first time. Based not on scientific polling but rather on a "finger-in-the-air" approach, I believe that many contracting firms used to have one or more fiber-optic installation specialists on staff. Many of these specialist positions were cut once the economic collapse of 2008 took hold. And now the situation is an example of the jobless recovery we're experiencing. Professionals with fiber-optic installation expertise are not being hired back, and now that - dare I say it? - demand for fiber systems is picking up, installers and technicians with lots of experience in copper cabling but little if any in fiber cabling are looking for all the information they can get.

What I'd really like to hear is your experience from the real world. How close to reality is my assessment?

Guest Blog: Good start to BIMMF debate, but it may be prudent to wait

2011-01-21T09:02:00.001-05:00

by Eric Leichter, manager of training and technology, CommScope

I appreciate the balanced view that an industry publication like Cabling Installation & Maintenance offers by providing two sides of the bend-insensitive multimode fiber (BIMMF) story. In its January issue, the magazine published two articles that provide opposing viewpoints on this topic. The first article, Compatibility issues with bend-insensitive and standard multimode, warned that a higher connection loss could be seen when matching legacy and BIMMF. The second article, The facts about BIMMF, did not disagree with this claim, stating, "... differences in designs in BIMMF result in differnces in performance." The article went on to describe the deficiencies in some of these designs. After reading and digesting both, a key takeaway for me was that there is no standard that can make a user of these technologies certain of what performance to expect.

Both TIA and IEC have formed working groups to further investigate this new technology; however, it may take some time for the industry to properly define the performance characteristics of a "standard" BIMMF and to develp the new test procedures that will likely be required. Today's test procedures were developed for a traditional graded-index profile fiber and may not be relevant for fibers with a trench profile. "Testing" can include factory testing by the manufacturer (i.e. core diamter, numerical aperture or bandwidth) or testing in the field by an installer (i.e. source, type of patch cord fiber and mandrel to use). Beyond the unknown timing of BIMMF standards, it is also not possible to say now which, if any, of the available BIMMFs will be compliant to a new standard.

It may be best simply to continue to focus on system performance, as high bandwidth and low bit error rates are the keys to high data throughput. For this, we already have standards-based OM3 and OM4 fibers that provide 100G performance. Today, there's no real need to look any further.

CommScope has authored two white papers that explore the issue in further depth. You can access one white paper here and the other one here.

Eric Leichter, CommScope's manager of training and technology, also blogs on CommScope's website. You can see his CommScope blog here.

While TE was buying, TI was selling

2011-01-13T17:33:00.000-05:00

At the same time Tyco Electronics (soon to be known as TE Connectivity) was finalizing its purchase of ADC, Tyco International (which I'll call TI here just because I'm calling the other one TE) was finalizing the sale a majority interest in its electrical and metal products busines to a private-equity firm.

TE and TI are separate entities.

In late December TI sold a 51% stake in that business to Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC. The agreement was announced in November. TI will receive total cash proceeds of approximately $720 million, the VC firm said in an announcement that the deal was completed.

The business will operate as a standalone entity under the name Atkore International. It designs, manufactures and sells galvanized steel tubes and pipes, electrical conduit, armored wire and cable, metal framing systems and building components. Products are sold under brand names including Allied Tube & Conduit, AFC Cable Systems, Eastern Wire and Conduit, Unistrut and Cope.

One person's resolution for 2011: Steal cable

2011-01-06T15:09:00.000-05:00

Perhaps trying to keep up with the one entity that is rumored to have possession of half the world's copper, another entity in Richmond, Kentucky took advantage of the quiet New Year's weekend to make off with 3,100 feet of copper cable from an AT&T facility there.

WKYT in Richmond reports that the thief cut through a chain-link fence then broke through locks on the racks that secured the cable. The cable was valued at approximately $7,600.

One particularly compassionate commenter to the WKYT story regretted that the fence was not electrified. "THEN THE UNDERTAKER COULD MAKE SOME MONEY," the commenter wrote (in all caps, of course). "IF IT DON'T BELONG TO YOU, LEAVE IT WHERE YOU FIND IT."

Hear, hear.

CommScope shareholders overwhelmingly approve Carlyle merger

2011-01-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

CommScope has reported that 99 percent of the shares voting at a special stockholder meeting held December 30 voted in favor of the adoption of the company's merger with The Carlyle Group.

That overwhelming majority represented 74 percent of CommScope's total outstanding shares of common stock as of the December 3 record date.

CommScope's prediction that its Carlyle Group merger would take place in Q1 2011 looks to be right on track.

Single trader holds half of world's copper

2010-12-27T13:04:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that a single trader, rumored to be J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., holds approximately half of the world's exchange-registered copper stockpile. This single trader's copper holdings are said to be worth about $3 billion.

The WSJ said the price of copper is up 28 percent in 2010. It quoted Barclays Capital as saying that copper demand will outstrip supply this year by about 455,000 metric tons. Of J.P. Morgan, the report said the company "recently had a large position in copper, though it is unclear whether the U.S. bank increased its holdings or whether a new player has taken a dominant position."

As we reported earlier this year, a rise in copper prices is one of several drivers pushing up the price of cable.

For initial Light Peak, copper may be better than a sharp stick in the optics

2010-12-13T17:15:00.001-05:00

CNET's Brooke Crothers is reporting that for its initial version of the much-ballyhooed Light Peak, Intel will use electrical- rather than photonic-based circuitry. To you and me, that means copper rather than fiber.

Light Peak will be a 10-Gbit/sec technology connecting electronic devices, and threatens to supplant USB as the connection-technology of choice. Sony and Apple have supported the Intel technology, which should still roll out as anticipated in the first half of 2011.

I was particularly interested in Crothers's notation that despite the use of copper rather than fiber, Light Peak will still achieve its stated 10-Gbit/sec transmission rate. What do you know about that?

With no other bidders, CommScope-Carlyle deal moves ahead

2010-12-06T09:37:00.000-05:00

CommScope announced it had not received any alternative acquisition proposals during the 40-day "go-shop" period that followed the company's agreement to be acquired by equity firm The Carlyle Group.

Under the merger agreement struck by the two companies, CommScope had 40 calendar days to solicit better acquisition proposals than the $31.50/share agreement it struck with Carlyle. That period ended December 5.

In its announcement of the "go-shop" period expiration, CommScope said it expects to file soon with the SEC proxy materials related to a special stockholder meeting to approve the deal, which CommScope explains is technically a merger with an affiliate of Carlyle. It expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2011.

Battle brewing over bend-insensitive multimode fiber

2010-12-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

A battle is brewing among makers of optical fiber and fiber-optic cable concerning bend-tolerant or bend-insensitive multimode fiber. Over the past year or so several providers of multimode fiber-optic cable have introduced bend-tolerant/bend-insensitive offerings. The main benefit of this type of fiber-optic cable is that it can withstand tight bends, or even kinks, without suffering significant loss - or any loss in a lot of cases.

Corning Cable Systems was the first to bring this type of cable to market. Corning Optical Fiber - a separate operating unit of Corning Incorporated and a "sister" company of Corning Cable Systems - developed the bend-insensitive fiber that is used in Corning Cable Systems' products. Notably, Corning Optical Fiber also supplies fiber to other cable manufacturers, so its fiber is found in cables from cable suppliers other than Corning Cable Systems.

OFS also manufactures multimode optical fiber, and supplies that fiber to cable manufacturers, including CommScope. Recently, through a white paper, a blog post on its website and other outlets, CommScope has called into question the real value of bend-tolerant/bend-insensitive multimode fiber. In a blog post, Eric Leichter, manager for training and technology with CommScope's enterprise division, openly wonders why bend-insensitive multimode has seen a recent market push. In the post he also raises the issue of compatibility between bend-insensitive and traditional multimode fibers, saying "there are concerns" about such compatibility. He concludes his post by saying, "It might be best to wait for this technology to mature before jumping in."

Speaking of sister organizations, our sister publication Lightwave recently published commentary from fiber-maker OFS that also raised questions about bend-insensitive multimode's compatibility with traditional multimode. (Page 5 of this Lightwave issue.)

In the January issue of Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine, we're going to publish two sides of this topic. (I'd say "both sides," but for all I know there could be more than two. I'm currently aware of two sides, I guess I'll put it that way.) One article, contributed by researchers from Panduit, will discuss results of an intermateability study conducted by Panduit. The results, the article says, show potentially significant losses when a signal travels from a bend-tolerant multimode fiber into a standard multimode fiber. Panduit's study yielded different degrees of bend-loss improvement among the various manufacturers whose products were tested.

In that vein (and likely in that vein alone) the information from Panduit and that which will be presented by Corning Optical Fiber coincide. Two engineering managers and a product manager from Corning Optical Fiber will contribute a separate article to our January issue. Within that article they say, "Not all bend-insensitive multimode fibers are created equal. Differences in designs of bend-insensitive multimode fiber result in differences in performance." The technical detail in the article boils down to the notion that a well-designed bend-insensitive multimode fiber will not have compatibility or loss-performance issues.

It kind of sounds like they're both saying the same thing, but I don't think that's the case. The organizations I've named here have gone toe-to-toe in the past over issues related to multimode fiber. Most recently, they sparred about the most effective way to measure multimode's bandwidth while the OM4 fiber specifications were under development. Corning Cable Systems and Corning Optical Fiber favored the EMB(c) method while OFS and Panduit favored the DMD mask. Ultimately, the standard recognized both measurement methods as valid.

The current wrangling over bend-insensitive multimode fiber is the latest in a history of companies lining up on opposite sides of technical issues surrounding optical-fiber transmission. Frankly, I see this current spat to be more relevant to fiber-cabling system users than the one over EMB(c)-vs.-DMD mask, because that one was waged primarily in the figurative smoke-filled rooms of standards-making committees. This one focuses squarely on users who are making decisions today about what type of fiber-cabling plant to install. As always in these debates, each side makes a convincing case. If I heard just one side's compelling story, I'd feel well-informed and confident in what the right choice would be. But then I hear the other side's compelling story and am left with a tough choice. That's just hypothetical for me, because I won't have to choose which type of multimode fiber-optic cabling system to install anytime soon. You very well may have to.

My real hope is that providing two sides of the situation in our January issue will do a service, rather than a disservice, to anyone who uses Cabling Installation & Maintenance to help them make decisions about cabling. I'm sure there are more charts, graphs, simulations and the like - on each side - than we could put into the magazine, and these cabling-system providers would be happy to show them to you. In all sincerity, I hope that bringing this topic to your attention equips you with the knowledge that it exists, and helps you prepare to ask the questions you need answered when you are making these important decisions.

What I'm thankful for

2010-11-21T22:57:00.001-05:00

As we approach Thanksgiving, here's a list of things for which I'm thankful. Appropriately, the list is kind of all over the place because there are reasons everywhere, within and outside of the cabling trade, to give thanks. The list is therefore incomplete as well. I'd sincerely appreciate the opportunity to add your thoughts to the list. You can share them by commenting on this post.

For now, here's my (partial) list.

1. Volunteerism. This is one of the intentionally "all-over-the-place" items. Whether it's at the soup kitchen in your hometown or in a standards-creation meeting in some farflung location, our culture is filled with people who enthusiastically give their own time and energy for the benefit of others.

2. Individual freedom. I voted on November 2. For whom I voted is quite irrelevant. That I live in a society in which I can vote is what really matters. Nine days after election day we observed Veterans Day here in the U.S. I'm eternally grateful to everyone who, at any time in history, stood up and demanded and/or defended freedom, thereby giving me the opportunity to live in a society in which we all are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

3. Contributors to Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine and cablinginstall.com. It's a tall order to author an article or create a webcast presentation. Yet so many cabling-industry professionals with technical expertise put their business agendas aside (or at least, in the background) and produce content that is meant to help you do your jobs better, faster or more-efficiently. There are stories behind every one of those contributions, like the one resulting from a miscommunication to a webcast presenter who believed they were supposed to deliver a fifty-minute presentation rather than a fifteen-minute presentation. They found out the real story about 20 minutes before their scheduled presentation time. Go ahead and watch all the webcasts we've done over the past six months. I bet you won't be able to tell which one I'm talking about. And that's exactly the point, because this individual changed some plans on the fly and the presentation went off without a hitch. The professionals I'm fortunate to work with make serving you, our audience, both a pleasure and a thrill. I'm thankful for the opportunity.

4. Medical professionals. Maybe it's because Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine is in the midst of putting together a special report on cabling healthcare environments that will be published in December and January. Maybe it's because I have seen firsthand the miracles that take place in hospitals or have been eased through more than one nerve-racking trip to the doctor's office. Maybe it's because I'm the son of an emergency medical services first-responder. Whatever the reason, I give thanks for those who are professionally trained to help, and in many cases save, lives. Many of them will be working this Thanksgiving Day, just in case any of us need them.

5 (and 6 and 7 and 8). My wife and three children. Despite the fact that I'm barely awake to write this blog entry because it took all my energy (and a few Jedi mind tricks) to get my three kids to bed ... I can't imagine any different a lifestyle. I've learned that it's an economic system of extreme proportions with kids. They take more of your energy and give you more joy than you ever would have thought possible. My wife, of course, has given our kids the greatest gift of all--life. But I also see it this way: She gave us all to each other. The multiplicity of that level of giving is truly overwhelming.

9. People who include the word "Thanksgiving" when talking about the parade. One of my pet peeves is hearing people call it "The Macy's Day Parade." Has the holiday been renamed? It's not Thanksgiving Day anymore, it's Macy's Day? It's a little bit like when people say "NIC card," "VIN number" or "ATM machine." Oh, sorry. I was becoming cranky there for a minute and this is supposed to be about giving thanks. So I'll circle back around to being thankful for all five or six people who DO, correctly, call it the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

10 through 25,309. You. That number's based on how many people subscribe to Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine. So I know it's an approximation. Not everyone who reads the magazine looks at this blog; some who look at this blog don't get the magazine. I know all that. But this is a numbered list, after all. And I think it's appropriate that such a list reaches a number like 25,309 rather than 5 or 9 or 10. Everyone who read this, or anything else put forth by the Cabling Installation & Maintenance franchise, is my customer. You've invested time in reading or hearing what we have to offer. I'm grateful you've done so, and hope that we've made it time well spent.

Fishermen cry foul over undersea cable

2010-11-02T17:11:00.000-04:00

European news agency Panorama is reporting that there's trouble brewing in Spain between fishermen and telco Telefonica. Undersea cables are at the center of the disagreement.

According to this Panorama story, when Telefonica began replacing some submarine fiber-optic cables four years ago, fishermen who used the area in which the cables were laid had been promised payment of 6,000 euros as compensation for their inability to fish in those waters at that time.

Apparently the project took more time and was more expensive than originally anticipated. (Who ever heard of such a thing?) And not only did the fishermen not get paid the promised 6,000 euros, but Telefonica has been pointing the finger at the fishermen as the reason the cables needed replacing in the first place. The telco claims it was the fishing vessels that initially damged the cables.

Check back in with Panorama occasionally, as I bet they'll follow the story. We'll do the same.

Speculation about another bidder for CommScope

2010-10-29T14:00:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, October 28 after the U.S. markets closed, the Wall Street Journal found it curious that CommScope's closing share price was $31.64, which is 14 cents higher than the price that equity firm Carlyle Group agreed to pay to take the company private.

That the closing price was more than the agreed-upon acquisition price made WSJ reporter Shira Ovide wonder if there is another bidder for CommScope. Ovide pointed out that the agreement between Carlyle and CommScope permits the cabling-systems market-share leader to hear offers from other bidders until December 5. If CommScope accepts such a bid it will owe Carlyle a $43.3 million fee, Ovide reports.

CommScope in talks for $3B buyout to go private

2010-10-25T09:34:00.000-04:00

Several media sources including RTT News are reporting that CommScope has confirmed speculation that it is in discussion with private equity firm The Carlyle Group, concerning a deal to take the company private for approximately $3 billion. The deal being discussed is for $31.50 per share.

CommScope had sales of $3.02 billion in fiscal 2009 and is set to announce third-quarter 2010 results on November 1.

While confirming that the discussions are being held, CommScope said there is no guarantee that any deal will take place and it plans to offer no further comment until such commentary is appropriate.

Guest Blog: Converging, colliding and collapsing IO standards and interconnect

2010-10-21T14:25:00.002-04:00

by Ed Cady
Strategic marketing director
Siemon Interconnect Solutions

As with organic life forms, the nodes and links of the worldwide web seem to have a varying rhythmic process of differentiation and then integration. At certain inflection points in the process, one can see an intended integration of effort cause some differential effects, which in turn meld together after another natural cycle. More than any other IO interface, Ethernet has expanded well beyond the original LAN section of the web that it has dominated for many years since it overcame the rival Token Ring and VG AnyLAN interfaces.

Responding to Ethernet's expansion and absorption of rivals, champions and evangelists of other IO interfaces like Fibre Channel have created newer standard interface versions using a convergent tunneling method that preserves the native protocol but uses Ethernet physical transport system. Think of protocols tunneling through any other faster physical transport layer as a packet spaceship traveling through wormholes in space, from one data center galaxy to another.

Recently the Ethernet community has evolved its technology to converge LAN with SAN into one physical network. This was partially accomplished with the implementation of the recent Ethernet standard 10GBaseCR. This two-pair, serial single-lane link was expedited without a detailed connector IEEE standard specification clause, but achieved compliance and interoperability through an Ethernet Alliance Plugfest process.

This has caused the Fibre Channel community to create a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) specification that helps to preserve the native protocol and its installed base. The InfiniBand community has similarly created its RoCE, or RDMA over Converged Ethernet, standard specification. RDMA is Remote Direct Memory Access, a low-latency and low-power technology used with InfiniBand architecture. So now these four interface, 10GBaseCR, 10GFCoE, 10GFC and 10GRoCE are implemented using the same SFP+ single-lane passive copper cabling. 10G SFP+ usage has grown dramatically because active copper and active optical SFP+ have enabled increased market segments and longer-length applications like digital signage and AV systems.

Besides Fibre Channel, other storage interfaces like NAS, iSCSI, iSATA and ATAoE are tunneled over Ethernet 10GBaseCR. These other storage interfaces are also tunneled over Ethernet 10GBaseT using Category 6a and Category 7a cabling. There are open and closed Consortia de facto standards using these multi-protocols on so-called collapsed architectural fabrics like the Unified Computing System, which also use the SFP+ cabling.

Besides UCS, there are several other de facto standard unified style networks, which also use the SFP+ but with different encryption in memory mapping of the embedded plug EPROMs. One wonders if all of these IO interfaces will expand and use the newly developing 25/26/28Gbit/sec QSFP++ module and cabling system, which is being standardized through the SFF-8661/2/3 specification. See www.sffcommittee.org, www.t11.org and www.fibrechannel.org to learn more, or contact me.

Ethernet 40GBaseCR4, 40GFCoE and InfiniBand 40G QDR standards are using the same four-lane QSFP+ SFF-8436 connector, module and cabling. the SAS storage interface uses QSFP+ AOC (active optical cables) for longer-reach applications as does the CameraLink-2 video networking standard. Will these various interface communities stay converged using the new SFF-8661 QSFP++ connector system for next-generation 100GBaseCR4, 100GFCoE, 100GFC SAN and InfiniBand 100G EDR?

There are many other convergent IO interfaces like FCoIB Fibre Channel over InfiniBand, UAS USB attached SCSI, UoSATA USB over SATA, and of course SoU SATA over USB, which is 3G SATA over 4.8G USB implementation. Watching Ethernet, the other very high volume IO standard, HDMI, has recently released its new revision-1.4 spec. This spec has 1G Ethernet running through the new microHDMI cabling system. However HDMI and DVI video IO signaling is run through Ethernet category cabling systems, as does the HDBaseT signaling and HomePlug Alliance's cabling adapters. So one could say that the shielded Cat 6a, Cat 7a, SFP+ and QSFP+ are the three primary multi-protocol interconnects for now and several years.

Lo, looming ahead is a potential round of interface collisions, convergence and collapsed interconnect. It is starting at the desktop level with DisplayPort, USB, SATA, HDMI and PCI-E converged and transformed to the new multi-protocol LightPeak optical-only single fiber interface. It is rumored that LightPeak would replace short-reach SAS as well. It seems that there is a 10G and 28G version of LightPeak.

At the 25/26/28/40G-per-lane data rate, electrical signaling has very limited copper-cable length reach, like 1 to 3 meters. Active optical cabling seems at this range to have an equal portion of the forecasted TAM volume versus copper. So it is no wonder that there is also looming another generation beyond, a new optical interface that can be supported by developing chips that currently work in labs at 50G per lane and supporting up to 2-km distances. Its next generation of 100G per lane is being co-developed. This optical technology interface is beyond the LightPeak interface and could supplant even Ethernet, InfiniBand, Fibre Channel and other IO interfaces within new data centers within five years.

Coinciding with this new optical interface's emergence is a very new generation of internal active optical cables that connect from either printed circuit boards or nascent fiber circuit boards to other boards/modules and to optical backplanes. These internal AOCs also are being driven by the continual port densification evolution as the internal AOCs connect to the bulkhead with MPO-type connectors and achieved double port density versus either SFP+ or QSFP+ AOC connector/cabling ports. But there will be a large part of the market and systems that stay longer using the various small form-factor pluggable media types, causing the use of many different hybrid cables like QSFP+ SFF-8436 to QSFP++ SFF-8661, and hydra cables like three SFP++ SFF-xxxx (number to be assigned) cable legs going into one QSFP++ SFF-8661. See www.sffcommittee.org.

These internal AOCs and other new CMOS photonic chips may evolve beyond using the QuickPath, HyperTransport and other chip-to-chip IO interfaces. As the highest performance and largest size data center system end-users look at using many thousands of mobile phone processor chips like Intel's Atom, the ARM chip or SmoothStone's new chip to save on power consumption and cooling needs, they are considering a further collapsed optical interface and interconnect that absorbs the LightPeak interface.

You can have fun trying to overlay all these IO roadmaps into one chart. In a parallel universe, voice communication interfaces are melding into Ethernet. Consider that telephony IO interfaces like SS7, TDMS, Utopia, Frame Relay, ATM, PBT and MPLS are merging into a VoIP and Ethernet network. Even IB-WAN, EoS Ethernet over SONET, SONET and SDN are being replaced by enhanced Carrier Ethernet. The same is true for all the old 6-8 Industrial IO interfaces converging into Industrial Ethernet cabling. Within commercial infrastructures various IO interfaces are also quickly melding into a ConvergeIT interconnect network.

Just think if these dozens of interfaces converged into one optical interface in the fuzzy future, we will have many fewer acronyms to keep track of! But will this nascent Camelot interface be called something cryptic like the existing IPoDWDM (Internet Protocol over Dense Wave Division Multilexing) interface?

In the past ten years, the SFF-8470, a primarily dedicated twinaxial copper cabling system was selected and/or implemented in many industry and de facto standards like InfiniBand, Ethernet, SAS, RapidIO, Myrinet and in the very many separate NICs and homogenous switch boxes. Then heterogeneous switches and NICs appeared with the common SFF-8470 cabling handling the different interfaces in one box or rack. Then there were high-port-count multi-protocol chips. Now the protocols run through one slimmer QSFP+ or SFP+ cable assembly using one transport layer. In some SSD (solid state drive) devices the FC and SAS or SATA and USB interfaces are integrated into one chip. I have heard the many wireless interface people are working on their Camelot next-generation convergent interface as well.

How fast will the new data center power and cooling requirements as well as disruptive CMOS photonic technologies impact further convergence and wide market acceptance? So what is your convergence view or vision of interfaces and interconnects over this coming decade?

Ed Cady is senior marketing director with Siemon Interconnect Solutions (Siemon, Siemon Interconnect Solutions). You can reach him at Ed_Cady@siemon.com or 503-359-4556.

Tiger Woods and Intelligent Decisions

2010-10-12T17:25:00.000-04:00

When was the last time someone could use the phrases "Tiger Woods" and "Intelligent Decisions" in the same sentence, and keep a straight face doing it?

Perhaps for the first time since last Thanksgiving, it's possible. The website thenewinternet is reporting that the IT solutions firm named Intelligent Decisions has donated equipment, including network cabling, to the Tiger Woods Foundation. According to thenewinternet, the equipment will be used to open two learning centers for underprivileged youth in Washington D.C.

Headquartered in Ashburnham, VA, Intelligent Decisions provides systems, products and solutions to government and civilian organizations.

So now "Tiger Woods" and "Intelligent Decisions" can be used together. Who knows what's next? Maybe the company will donate to the Brett Favre Fourward Foundation.

568-C standard simplified in reference poster

2010-09-30T13:37:00.000-04:00

A technical reference poster created by Fluke Networks provides a simplified overview of TIA-568-C Generic Telecommunications Cabling for Customer Premises. The poster includes information on the standard and the new testing requirements that come along with it.

The wall poster measures 24x36 inches. Anyone can order the poster from Fluke Networks by providing their contact information.

Order the TIA-568-C technical reference poster.

Would-be cable thief gets shock of a lifetime

2010-09-07T14:49:00.000-04:00

Not long ago I told you about the UK Chainsaw Cabling Massacre, when thieves cut down utility poles and stole the copper cables attached to them. Electrical cables contain significantly more copper than communications cables, so they are a more-frequent target of theft than are the twisted-pair cables we know and love.

In the chainsaw case, the thieves somehow were clever enough to get away with using the high-decibel saws and steal the cable undetected. More recently, a would-be thief was neither as clever nor as lucky.

Just a couple days ago in Gloucestershire, UK, an attempted copper-cable thief got the shock of his life when he tried to hacksaw through live electrical wires. According to the This Is Gloucestershire web site, the man "was hurled 30 feet into the air ... The injured man staggered from the site to a nearby house ... to ask for help. Paramedics arrived at 11pm to treat the man, whose arm was reported to have turned black."

Few commenters on the This is Gloucestershire site sympathized with the thief/victim. One commenter, Alan, chose not to take sides on whether to feel bad for the thief or cast ill toward him. Rather, Alan said, "This sort of thing will continue to occur until some sort of control is introduced on scrap metal merchants. Anyone selling scrap should provide photo ID and have their photo taken. If the scrap metal dealer cannot prove where his scrap came from he should be charged with receiving stolen goods."

Efforts along those lines have been tried in the U.S., reportedly with limited success.

Every day is Labor Day for technology professionals

2010-09-06T02:00:00.002-04:00

Today, September 6, is Labor Day in the United States, a holiday observance whose beginnings harken back to days of bitter and sometimes even deadly disputes between employers and employees. Things have changed quite a bit in the 128 years since the first observance of Labor Day here in the U.S. Right?

Just in time for the holiday this year, PC World recently reported on the most dangerous jobs in technology. The article lists seven such occupations. Among them are fixing undersea cables, which the PC World article reminds us is dangerous because "in a worst-case scenario a cable operating with 10,000 volts could become energized. And looking straight into the lasers of a sliced cable can burn out your retinas in a matter of seconds."

Then there's the nearly 11,000 people who make a living installing and fixing communications towers. "In 2006, 18 of them died on the job," PC World says. "The head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2008 called cell-phone-tower climbing the most dangerous work in America."

Lest we forget, as the U.S. ends its official combat operation in Iraq, about the brave individuals who build network infrastructure within war zones. In what might be the article's most sobering passage, we're informed: "It's unclear exactly how many people doing IT-related work have lost their lives among the 4734 Coalition military deaths in Iraq since 2003, and the 2061 dead in Operation Enduring Freedom since 2001 so far, as counted on the independent iCasualties Website.

"According to a count conducted in September 2009, at least three telecommunications engineers are among the 533 foreign private contractors who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the conflict there. Two telecom engineers are among the 146 private foreign contractors who have perished in Afghanistan."

As I enjoy a day of rest and relaxation with my family this Labor Day, I'm immensely grateful to those who put their safety on the line so that citizens of the world can be united - at least in terms of their ability to communicate.

Another materials supplier raises prices for cable manufacturers

2010-08-26T15:41:00.000-04:00

Today Dow Wire and Cable announced price increases on several cable-manufacturing compounds. The increases will take effect October 1 and affect Dow's customers in North and South America.

Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) based specialty compounds, including flame-retardant and low-smoke/zero-halogen products will increase by 19 cents per pound.

LDPE jacketing and elastomeric insulation grades will increase by 12 cents per pound.

Select general-purpose grades will increase by 7 cents per pound.

Dow has made available to its customers this complete list of products within those three grades.

I have an inquiry into Dow asking what these cent-per-pound figures equate to for percentage-increases. Once I have that info I'll post it here as well.

As we reported, the three major suppliers of fluorinated ethylene propylene - FEP - have raised prices to cable makers and have either limited or allocated the supply of FEP they're providing. One of the three is leaving the FEP market next year. Everyone I've spoken to has been quick to point out that there is not an FEP shortage and that they are still able to produce cable in enough quantity to meet demand.

The FEP situation coupled with the increasing price of copper make cable price increases a near certainty.

In a previous blog post I rationalized why the FEP supply situation, like seemingly everything else in the world, ties back to China's production, consumption and export policies.

FEP supply situation - Let's blame China

2010-08-20T11:49:00.000-04:00

For several years China's ravenous consumption rate of just about everything has made an impact on supply-and-demand levels of, well, just about everything. In the past we have reported about the price of copper being affected by China's consumption of the metal for its infrastructure builds.

Today we reported on the double-whammy that we expect will increase the price of twisted-pair copper cable soon. In addition to the steadily rising price of copper over the past couple years as well as recent news of its expected further price jump, the supply of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) has become an issue within the cable manufacturing industry. FEP is commonly called Teflon, the way facial tissues are commonly called Kleenex and the things we stick too far into our ears are commonly called Q-Tips. Teflon is Dupont's trade name for FEP, but cable manufacturers get FEP from two other suppliers as well - Daikin and Dyneon. At least, for now. Dyneon is exiting the FEP market early next year.

One of the three FEP suppliers packing up its gear to leave the market comes at a time when the production of a key raw material used to make FEP has fallen off. Fluorspar production is reported to have contracted 16 percent last year.

(This is the part where I start to blame China.)

A report from the United States Geological Survey indicates that China dwarfed all other countries in its mine production of fluorspar in 2008 and 2009. The report says that in June 2009 "the United States had requested World Trade Organization dispute settlement consultations with China regarding China's export constraints on numerous important raw materials. The dispute concerned China's policy that provides substantial competitive advantages for the Chinese industries using these raw materials inputs, including fluorspar."

For comparison's sake, China produced 3.25 million metric tons of fluorspar in 2008 and 3 million in 2009. United States production for those years, combined, totaled a big fat zero. The report also indicates that China has 21 million metric tons of fluorspar in reserve. The U.S.'s reserve is equal to its 2008 and 2009 output. What was that number again? Oh, right. Zero.

That may change, however, as about a week ago WKMS in Kentucky reported on the opening of what it says is the first fluorspar mine to go online in the U.S. in 20 years. In the story Michael Miller of the USGS, who authored the aforementioned report, explained that China exported approximately 200,000 of the 3 million tons it produced last year. He told WKMS, "It basically boils down to they're not exporting it because they're consuming most of it domestically in China."

China consumes like a teenager with an overactive pituitary gland. Don't those teenagers usually enter some kind of rebellion period that can wreak havoc on a household?

Is a TIA Cat 7 standard on the horizon?

2010-08-12T17:20:00.000-04:00

A source with connections to the Telecommunications Industry Association's TR-42 Engineering Committee says that sometime next year, the group may take up an issue it has long tabled - the development of specifications for Category 7 twisted-pair cabling systems.

Category 7 and Category 7A specs have been part of the ISO 11801 cabling specs, which are recognized as an international cabling standard whereas the TIA-568 series of standards serves North America. Apparently an effort by some members of TIA TR-42 would - and maybe will - have that organization adopt the ISO Cat 7 specs just about verbatim.

There are a few practical reasons why supporters of the effort would want the TIA to take on a Cat 7 standard. Several cabling manufacturers have been vocal in their support of using shielded twisted-pair cabling systems for high-speed applications such as 10GBase-T. Some of those same companies have begun to drum up interest in a "Base-T" version of 40-Gbit Ethernet. A Cat 7 spec would help that cause.

But also, a TIA Cat 7 spec will indicate to North American users of structured cabling systems that Category 6A is not the end of the line for twisted-pair cabling capabilities. That may increase users' willingness to purchase Cat 6A, knowing that twisted-pair cabling has a future beyond it. When the Cat 6A spec was finalized, cable suppliers saw a boost in their Cat 6 sales. The aforementioned suggestion that users were more willing to buy Cat 6 knowing their migration path could eventually continue to Cat 6A is one point to consider. Another is that with Cat 6A ratified and therefore viewed as a real standard by many, there likely was some hesitancy on the part of consultants to specify Cat 5e cable, which was then two generations behind the best-available twisted-pair technology. Likewise, if a Cat 7 spec comes to fruition, then Cat 6 cabling will be two steps rather than one step behind the best-available twisted-pair technology. With that in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a decent level of support for Cat 7 within TIA sometime soon.

In terms of how or when such a proposal is made to TIA TR-42, I have to confess I could use a refresher on the procedural maneuvers. But from what I understand, if a proposal is made before there's adequate support and it gets squashed, supporters will have blown their one shot at the project. So right now, much like we hear about in Congress with bills under debate, there's some campaigning going on within TIA TR-42 to build support for a set of Category 7 specifications.

When anything official happens we'll be sure to let you know. And hopefully, we'll also be able to keep you up to date on what's unofficially happening, like we have here.

Who cares what the CCCA thinks?

2010-08-06T13:29:00.000-04:00

The Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA) is in the news again because of some recent actions taken by Underwriters Laboratories. As we have reported, UL issued an alert letting consumers know that Category 5e cable from Vertical Cable is not authorized to bear the UL mark, but does in fact bear the mark on its jacket. Soon after the report was issued, the CCCA applauded UL's actions to identify the cable in question; the association even explained it played a role in UL tightening up its quality-assurance procedures.

Every time I choose to publicize a CCCA action or statement, I hear about it. Not from members of the group or its executive director, but from people who firmly believe that the CCCA is an organization founded for the sole (or at least primary) purpose of furthering the cause of chemical manufacturers doing business in the cabling industry. Indeed, the CCCA counts among its members AlphaGary, Daikin America, Dupont, Dyneon, PolyOne and Solvay Solexis. Six of the twenty members listed on CCCA's Web site produce chemicals and materials that are used in the manufacture of cable and/or cabling components.

As I tell my children when they're trying to pull one over on me: I was born at night, but not last night. Do I think these companies joined the CCCA to figure out how they could get less of their products sold into the cable industry? Ummm, no. While the group itself is a "dot-org" meaning it is established as a not-for-profit organization, its members are in business for the same reason we all are: to make a profit.

Having been born not-as-recently-as-last-night, I also realize that companies' membership in any professional group or association is aimed at advancing their dollars-and-cents business. When I visit a company's home page and see one or more industry-association logos prominently displayed, I don't pretend the logo's presence is meant to bring the company's CEO a round of applause when she or he walks down the street. Nor is it there to improve a member of management's chances with St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. In most cases, such display of a logo has a twofold purpose, the elements of which are inextricable - to claim a measure of professional competence and to leverage that competence in the quest for new business opportunities.

Just in case I haven't already beaten this dead horse, let me summarize by saying that instances of altruism in situations like these are few and far between. If you know of some, please - I mean it - share them with me. For now, I'll charge on with this soliloquy.

Now that we (or at least I) accept that the CCCA is like other organizations and associations in that its members have business interests in mind, let's look at the rest of its membership. Two of the three major distributors serving the North American cabling market are CCCA members. Other members make up a pretty noteworthy pack of market-share front runners for cabling products. In short, CCCA membership represents a not-insignificant percentage of the cabling products and systems that are sold into the marketplace. For that reason, what the group says and what it does are newsworthy. When this collection of companies, representing the market share that it does, sets and carries out an agenda, its actions will affect the consultants, contractors, end users and all the other professionals who specify, recommend, purchase, install, and/or ultimately use cabling products. That the CCCA has an agenda is not a secret. The organization is nearly three years old and when I interviewed some of its founders in early 2008, they made it clear to me what they intended to do. And I tried to make the group's agenda clear to anyone who read about it in this article from an issue of Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine published in 2008.

Here is an excerpt from that article.

Product-quality problems are not exclusively limited to counterfeiting, in which a rogue company uses the name and branding of a legitimate manufacturer. Anixter's [vice president of emerging technologies Pete] Lockhart describes another similarly vexing challenge that CCCA is taking on. "We're calling the project 'product certification,'" he says. "We want to separate the sub-par product that's being sold from that which is being sold for the good of the industry. The product is not counterfeit, but it is unethical."

Both Lockhart and [CommScope's executive vice president Randy] Crenshaw cited patch cords as an example of some substandard products entering the market with the same markings and packaging as legitimately performing products, leaving purchasers with little if any means of differentiating good from bad. Crenshaw adds, "The issue is trying to get a common set of expectations so the customer can reliably buy product and know it is what it should be."

CCCA executive director Frank Peri explains that the product-certification initiative seeks to weed out products that, "do not counterfeit a brand, but rather counterfeit quality." There is an intent to deceive, he says, and often the products carry the mark of an independent-verification house, even though the manufacturer knowingly puts into the product a material that would not meet the performance levels required to achieve that verification.

The actions the CCCA has taken, including and notably its influence over UL's recent enforcement actions, are in line with those intentions and I, for one, was not surprised to see the news.

Now I know what happens next. I'll once again be characterized as carrying the CCCA's water. (No one's ever used that phrase with me actually. They've instead used more colorful language that describes the social hierarchy of maximum-security prisons.) And I know how defensive this sounds because I've tried many different ways to articulate it and they all sound the same. So I'll just say it like it is. I try to let professionals in the cabling industry know about the actions of the CCCA not because I'm in it to advance their cause. Rather, I believe the association can and does exert influence that can affect the purchase and use of cabling products and systems. That's a very practical concern for the aforementioned professionals who design, install and use cabling systems on a daily basis. They (You) should at least have the opportunity to know the direction in which the industry's market-share leaders are pushing the marketplace.

The U.K. chainsaw cabling massacre

2010-08-03T14:27:00.000-04:00

Bloomberg is reporting that over the course of a week, thieves in England used chainsaws to cut down as many as 14 utility poles, then stole the copper-based electrical wiring that the poles supported.

In the neighborhood of 7,000 customers lost power in the period between July 24 and July 31 because of the destruction.

Without witnesses, there's no saying whether or not the pole destruction went anything like this.

In its story, Bloomberg reported that copper prices climbed to a three-month high on August 2 after figures were released showing that U.S. construction spending experienced an unexpected 0.1-percent jump in June.

Guest Blog: Master Format 2010 - What's new?

2010-07-28T14:14:00.000-04:00

by Felix Zayas
July 28, 2010

In the telecommunications field the term "MasterFormat" can be somewhat of a convoluted term. For the next 350 words or so I will go through the finer details of MasterFormat and how it relates to telecommunications.

MasterFormat is a publication from the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) and Construction Specifications Canada (CSC). It is a living document and is continuously updated and expanded upon. The purpose of MasterFormat is to provide classification structure to organize project manuals used in construction. MasterFormat was introduced in 1963 and has had multiple revisions along the way.

MasterFormat 2010 Update is the latest, released in May of 2010. you can download a PDF of the Numbers and Titles at csinet.org. You can also purchase a copy of MasterFormat at csinet.org where you will get the same document as previously described plus a PDF of all the Numbers and Files including additional descriptive information about titles and a keyword index. You also get an Excel spreadsheet giving transition information from the 2004 and 1995 editions to the 2010 Update.

Some of the changes involve removing 27 05 28 Pathways for Communications Systems and moving the four numbers previously indented below it, up a level (Hangers and Supports for Communications Systems, Conduits and Backboxes for Communications Systems, Cable Trays for Communications Systems and Surface Raceways for Communications Systems).

The following three numbers were added.

27 41 16.52 Integrated Audio-Video Systems and Equipment for Religious Facilities
27 41 43 Audio-Video Conferencing
27 53 13.13 Wireless Clock Systems

In a follow-up to this entry later in the year, I will discuss how specification writers use this MasterFormat to develop master specifications and the process that entails.

Felix Zayas is a technology designer for BVH Integrated Services Inc., a multi-disciplined engineering firm based in Bloomfield, CT that provides MEP, civil, structural, sustainable design, commissioning and technology services to clients in the educational, health-care, corporate, governmental and research markets.

With more than seven years of telecommunications engineering experience, Felix has earned the Registered Communications Distribution Designer and Network Transport Systems designations from BICSI. He is a Certified Technology Specialist as designated by InfoComm and is licensed in the State of Connecticut as a Telecommunications Layout Technician. He is also a LEED Green Associated as designated by the Green Building Certification Institute. He can be reached at felixz@bvhis.com or 860-286-9171.

Tweet this: New data center for Twitter is overdue

2010-07-23T11:04:00.000-04:00

Twitter announced on its Engineering Blog that later this year it will open its own dedicated data center in the Salt Lake City area. The microblogger's Jean Paul Cozzatti said in his post that the dedicated data center will allow Twitter to "have full control over network and systems configuration, with a much larger footprint in a building designed specifically around our unique power and cooling needs." He said the facility will house a mixed-vendor environment for servers running open source operating systems and applications.

Twitter has faced some serious reliability issues. Not just lately, but consistently. The World Cup situation may have brought things to a head, but as a Tweeter myself I can't tell you how many times I've been frustrated by Fail Whale - the cute little image of the birds trying to carry the whale with the accompanying message that Twitter is overcapacity.

I don't work in the changing industry of media (formerly known as publishing); I work in the changed industry of media (no longer known as publishing). Social media is as fundamental to what I do on a daily basis as web offset used to be. Remember the old expression "Stop the presses!" that would be used when an event of tremendous significance happened? It referred to the newspaper business, specifically to the production of the daily newspaper grinding to a halt so that the front-page story could be changed. Well, in 2010 a platform like Twitter is "the press." And it stops involuntarily far too often.

Cozzatti says the new data center "is built for high availability and redundancy in our network and systems infrastructure. The first Twitter-managed data center is being designed with a multi-homed network solution for greater reliability and capacity."

Wikipedia found out earlier this year that an overheated data center plus an imperfect backup system is a bad combination. Now it's also building a data center for itself. Twitter reports that it is averaging 300,000 new accounts a day. I look forward to its new Salt Lake City data center proving to be up to the task.

Otherwise, I'm going to withhold my Twitter user fee in protest. Oh, wait a minute ...

Legal investigation underway in Tyco's ADC acquisition

2010-07-13T17:07:00.000-04:00

Several law firms are taking a look at the Tyco Electronics acquisition of ADC for approximately $1.25 billion to determine whether or not ADC's board accepted an offer from Tyco that represents the best value for shareholders. Such investigations are not uncommon when acquisitions are announced.

A release issued by ADC and appearing on the company's Web site stated that Kendall Law Group is undertaking an investigation. (Presumably this is not the same law firm that helped ADC settle a patent-infringement suit against Tyco last fall. I'm just saying ...) Other firms issued releases announcing similar investigations.

A story by Jeffry Bartash of MarketWatch points out that the $12.75 share price accepted by ADC's board is a 44 percent premium over the stock's closing price on July 12. Bartash's article focuses on the fact that the announced deal buoyed equipment-vendor stocks on July 13.

You can track what's going on with the stocks of players in the cabling industry through our Cabling Market Index.

Microsemi, Cisco mum on PoE patent agreement

2010-07-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

Power over Ethernet giant Microsemi signed a patent transfer and licensing agreement with Cisco Systems and remains mum on the agreement's details.

In a statement announcing the agreement, Microsemi president and CEO James Peterson said he believes it "will facilitate proliferation of PoE technology by eliminating uncertainties that exist with respect to IP positioning." In this case, IP means intellectual property, not Internet Protocol.

I found no statement from Cisco addressing the agreement.

When PoE was in its initial stages of development, Cisco offered a proprietary solution that ultimately did not comply with the IEEE 802.3af specifications for PoE. Today the company offers a suite of standard-compliant products.

In the press release that contained Peterson's quote, Microsemi also stated its agreement with Cisco covers patents that are essential to the "af" and "at" (PoE and PoE Plus) specifications. A typographical error in the release incorrectly identifies the specs as IEEE 802.11af and 802.11at; they're actually IEEE 802.3af and 802.3at. But that's just me, living in a glass house and throwing stones.

My take on this announcement from Microsemi is simple. Perhaps incorrect, but simple: We won't be seeing a patent-infringement lawsuit between the two companies anytime soon.

In-flight broadband: Do you have the power?

2010-07-01T17:37:00.000-04:00

Research and analyst firm In-Stat says that by the end of this year, 2,000 airliners will be outfitted with the technology to offer passengers in-flight broadband services. Their report is something of a cautious tale, explaining that despite a revenue increase of 1,357% from last year's $7 million to this year's expected $95 million, eroding connect fees leave the technology still unproven as a business model.

We'll see what happens with those connection fees, and I'm sure the report In-Stat just published dissects the business angles keenly. But my first thought when I heard about this service becoming available to passengers was entirely self-centered (big surprise there). Because I'm just about the cheapest person you'll ever find (a colleague once used the term "tighter than two coats of paint"), it's going to take a solid value proposition to get me to pay for wireless connectivity on an airplane. Then once I get over that hurdle and realize it's worth it to be able to conduct business while on a five-hour flight across four time zones, I have to ask the dreaded question: How long will my laptop battery last?

Seriously, if I shell out somewhere between 10 and 20 bucks in order to share wireless bandwidth with dozens of other passengers in an airline cabin ... I don't want my battery to croak a half-hour into the flight.

Plus (going back to the whole two-coats-of-paint thing), what's going to happen when I change planes in Philadelphia or Atlanta? Or, shudder to think, change airlines before getting to my destination? Is my purchase of in-flight broadband good for 24 hours on any airplane? I'm sure there's a simple answer to this question that I'd know already if I wasn't too lazy and cranky to look it up. But I'm just saying ...

It'll probably be a couple months before I take my next long flight across the country. I just got outfitted with a new laptop and the maker says the battery lasts about 6 hours. Can't wait to see how this works out. In the meantime, if you've had any experiences with this technology, please chime in.

Data center expert researching, blogging about optical components

2010-06-29T13:17:00.000-04:00

A technical expert in the field of data center technologies has launched the Optical Components blog. Lisa Huff, whose name you may recognize as a speaker at some of our webcast seminars over the past couple years, started the Optical Components blog in late June; her first entry discussed the real-world implications of the 40/100Gbit Ethernet standard ratification.

Huff also conducts market analysis and has written research reports for CIR. In a report published earlier this year, Huff concluded that fiber-based 10GBase-SR, not twisted-pair copper-based 10GBase-T, is the most economical flavor of 10Gbit Ethernet for the end user.

The Optical Components blog is worth watching. Lisa Huff is a veteran of data center technologies, and her insights can save data center and network managers countless headaches. I'll likely be referring you to her posts frequently.

Guest Blog: Which Category cable? They all do Gigabit

2010-06-21T10:55:00.000-04:00

by Felix Zayas
June 21, 2010

Once upon a time there was a technology called 10Base2. Alright, we won't start that far back. However, we will start by talking about bandwidth. Bandwidth is measured in either digital bits per second (bps) or analog hertz (Hz). 1000BaseT, IEEE 802.3ab - or Gigabit Ethernet as most call it - requires Category 5e or Category 6 cabling. Gigabit Ethernet has a maximum network segment of 100 meters (328 feet) and can operate at speeds of 1000 Mbps, or 1 Gbps.

The differences between Category 5e and Category 6 occur in the analog measurements. Category 5e must pass a number of tests at 100 MHz, such as return loss, insertion loss, PSNEXT loss, ACRF, PSACRF, propagation delay skew, PSANEXT loss, average PSANEXT loss, PSAACRF, average PSAACRF loss and NEXT. The results, being analog, are measured in decibels (dB). Category 6 cabling must pass the same tests at 250 MHz. For example, the requirements for ACRF using Category 5e cabling is 17.4 dB at 100 MHz and 15.3 dB with Category 6 at 250 MHz.

Cabling systems on the high end of Category 6 performance do not have a standard they can reference. Rather, their results will usually be in documentation showing how far above and beyond the current standards they perform. These analog, frequency-based performance requirements are set by the standard from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) called ANSI/TIA-568-C.2.

The main argument is that the high-end Category 6 cabling has more "headroom" than lower-grade cabling, referring to the more stringent certification tests that must be passed. Now let's talk digital bandwidth. With all three types of cable run, terminated and tested in the same exact manner, sure, the higher-end Category 6 cable will outperform the others with the analog, frequency-based testers. If they outperform the lower-end cable in the digital world, does that mean there will be what is called a high bit error rate (BER) with the low-end cabling?

There are application-based testers you can run independently, or programs you can download, to test out actual digital bandwidth. You will find that there will be times when a high-end Category 6 cable performs similar to a Category 5e cable, and other times when the higher-end Category 6 cable outperforms all. The higher-end cables are engineered to deliver higher performance. The manufacturer takes steps such as putting a separator between the pairs, using a different style jacket, using a tighter twist rate, or incorporating any of the many other considerations that go into cable construction.

There are many obstacles and third-party items, over which we may not have complete control in the real world, that could degrade our cable's performance. These high-end cables may be our answer to keeping a low BER and maintaining an actual throughput worthy of Gigabit Ethernet.

Felix Zayas is a technology designer for BVH Integrated Services Inc., a multi-disciplined engineering firm based in Bloomfield, CT. BVH provides MEP, civil, structural, sustainable design, commissioning, and technology services to clients in the educational, health care, corporate, governmental and research markets. With more than seven years of telecommunications engineering experience, Felix designs voice/data systems, structured cabling, fiber, as well as A/V, paging, security, nurse-call, physiological monitoring, CATV and wireless systems.

He achieved his Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD) and Network Transport Systems (NTS) designations from BICSI and is a Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) as designated by InfoComm as well as a licensed Telecommunications Layout Technician (TLT) in the state of Connecticut. Felix is also a LEED Green Associate as designated by the Green Building Certification Institute. He blogged about the process of achieving that designation as well. He can be reached at felixz@bvhis.com or 860-286-9171.

Editor disses copper, praises fiber, makes me mad*

2010-06-09T10:53:00.000-04:00

First let me say this: I have a high degree of respect for my colleague Stephen Hardy, editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Lightwave. Now that those pleasantries are out of the way, please allow me to launch into a tirade of disgust and anger over some comments he recently made at a corporate meeting held here at the offices of PennWell in Nashua, NH.

Actually you can hear, and see, the comments for yourself by watching this video of Stephen's presentation to our co-workers.

As you may know, the Lightwave franchise includes a Web site, magazine, newsletters, live and virtual events - all focused on fiber-optic technology. The video clip is Stephen's explanation to a "lay" audience what Lightwave is and what it does. To no one's surprise, he focused on the capabilities of fiber-optic technologies. But much to my surprise, he did so by ridiculing copper-based cabling technology. Check out what he says and does between 0:57 and 1:07 of the video. In 10 brief seconds, Stephen Hardy manages to completely and utterly dis copper cabling.

You may say, "So what? Everything he said is true." Perhaps. But here's my major gripe: That cable he holds up, and then trashes, between 0:57 and 1:07 is an armored fiber-optic cable that I loaned him to use in his presentation. That's right, I 1) have fiber-optic cables hanging around my desk and offer them to anyone who asks (or doesn't ask, but that's another issue); and 2) saw my colleague Stephen Hardy take the prop I had given him in good faith, and use it to misrepresent the copper/fiber dynamic.

I don't know how I'm going to get even with him, but I will. If you have any suggestions, please pass them along.

*I'm not really mad. Just having a little fun at Stephen's expense. And I thought you might enjoy his "Sham-Wow"-style presentation. We here at the office sure did.

Cow manure a sustainable energy source for data centers? It's not B.S.

2010-05-28T09:57:00.000-04:00

Researchers from HP Labs recently presented to the ASME International Conference on Energy Sustainability their paper stating that the manure output of cows and the heat output of data centers can combine to create an economically and environmentally sustainable operation.

The 8-page paper authored by Ratnesh Sharma, Tom Christian, Martin Arlitt, Cullen Bash and Chandrakant Patel describes how a 10,000-cow dairy farm could fulfill the power requirements of a 1-MW data center, with power left over to support other needs on the farm.

"In this process," HP Labs said when making the paper public, "the heat generated by the data center can be used to increase the efficiency of the anaerobic digestion of animal waste. This results in the production of methane, which can be used to generate power for the data center. This symbiotic relationship allows the waste problems faced by dairy farms and the energy demands of the modern data center to be addressed in a sustainable manner."

Patel, director of the Sustainable IT Ecosystem Lab at HP Labs, explains the concept in this YouTube video.

Christian, who is principal research scientist in the Sustainable IT Ecosystem Lab, adds, "The idea of using animal waste to generate energy has been around for centuries, with manure being used every day in remote villages to generate heat for cooking. The new idea that we are presenting in this research is to create a symbiotic relationship between farms and the IT ecosystem that can benefit the farm, the data center and the environment."

Some other notable quotes taken directly from the paper:
-The average dairy cow produces 54.7 kilograms of manure per day, approximately 20 metric tons per year.
-The manure produced by one dairy cow in one day can generate 3.0 kWh of electrical energy.

FBI points to VoIP as element in online financial scheme

2010-05-21T09:42:00.000-04:00

The Federal Burea of Investigation has pointed to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as an eabling tool that has allowed perpetrators to steal money from unsuspecting victims' online accounts. Citing one case in particular, that of a Florida dentist who lost about $400,000 to thieves, the FBI explained the role that VoIP played in the scheme.

"The scheme is known as telephony denial-of-service (TDOS) and according to several telecommunications companies working with the FBI, there has been a recent surge in these attacks in the past few weeks," the FBI said in a statement earlier this month. "The perpetrators are suspected of using automated dialing programs and multiple accounts to overwhelm the land and cell phone lines of their victims with thousands of calls.

"The FBI has determined that these calls serve as a diversionary technique. During these TDOS attacks, online trading and other money management accounts are being accessed by the perpetrators who are transferring funds out of those accounts ... The purpose of the malicious phone calls is to occupy the victim phone numbers on record with the financial institutions managing the accounts so that when the institutions contact the vicim to verify the changes and transactions, the institution is unable to reach the victim. Consequently, the victim has no idea what has really transpired until it's too late."

In the case of the Florida dentist, law enforcement officials uncovered VoIP accounts created by a single user that paired the accounts with automatic dialing tools to dial a large volume of computer-generated calls per minute, all directed toward the business, home and mobile telephone numbers of the dentist.

The VoIP accounts used in the scheme were terminated but the perpetrators were not identified. As the supplier of the VoIP lines, AT&T got the FBI's Cybercrime resources involved.

While that incident in Florida began last November, AT&T's associate director of global fraud management Adam Panaiga said he's more recently seen an increase in the same type of activity targeting potential victims across the country.

Robert Moore, chief information officer at business communications firm PAETEC commented, "With the advent of Voice over IP and the newest technologies in phone service, criminal attacks on businesses using those platforms have become increasingly sophisticated."

Read the full statement the FBI issued on May 11.

Guest Blog: The Road to LEED Green Associate

2010-05-14T12:17:00.001-04:00

by Felix Zayas
May 14, 2010

There aren't too many conversations in my industry these days that don't at some point make mention of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), green design, or some other LEED-related topic. I recently completed my LEED Green Associate exam and would like to give you a brief overview of what went into the preparation for it.

First let me give you a little history. The USGBC is a non-profit organization, committed to building a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation. The Green Building Certification Institute manages the professional credentialing programs, including the LEED Green Associate and LEED AP BD+C credentials, which assess one's knowledge of green building design and the LEED rating systems for new construction and building renovations.

The latest version of the LEED AP examination (version 3.0) requires you to pass two exams. The first exam is the LEED Green Associate, followed by a specialty exam. If you are reading this blog post, most likely your specialty exam will be Building Design and Construction. After successfully passing the building design and construction exam you would be considered a LEED AP BD+C.

When studying for the LEED Green Associate, you should go to the GBCI website and download the LEED Green Associate Candidate Handbook. This PDF is roughly 30 pages in length and is the perfect tool to help you along the way. The document is updated frequently, so always be sure to download it directly from the website. The handbook covers such things as how to register, what to study and things you should know about the exam. The "preparing for your exam" section includes a list of primary and ancillary references with direct links to study material on the Internet, most of which is free.

In addition to the primary and ancillary references you can study from, many third-party companies have put together comprehensive study packages, ranging in price from $35 to $80. Some offer audio study guides in MP3 format, flash cards and even practice test questions.

It is important to be up on the latest trends in green building and green design. In 2008 BICSI created an alliance called the Green Building Technology Alliance. Members from BICSI, TIA, InfoComm and CABA are part of the alliance. Theya re working toward creating technology-related credits for the next version of LEED.

Felix Zayas is a technology designer for BVH Integrated Services Inc., a multi-disciplined engineering firm based in Blooomfield, CT that provides MEP, civil, structural, sustainable design, commissioning and technology services to clients in the educational, health-care, corporate, governmental and research markets.

With more than seven years of telecommunications engineering experience, Felix has earned the Registered Communications Distribution Designer and Network Transport Systems designations from BICSI. He is a Certified Technology Specialist as designated by InfoComm and is licensed in the State of Connecticut as a Telecommunications Layout Technician. As he indicates in this blog post, he is also a LEED Green Associate as designated by the Green Building Certification Institute. He can be reached at felixz@bvhis.com or 860-286-9171.

Rather than waiting around for Brett Favre to have ankle surgery ...

2010-05-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

... or even watching the next Twins game, cabling design and installation contractors in Minnesota may want to know that their state's Department of Natural Resources has posted a solicitation for the installation of wire, cable and connecting devices.

US Fed News reports that the project is described as "installation and testing for wiring systems to be used as signal pathways for high-speed data transmission for 17 office workstations. Project location is Lake Bemidji State Park Former Residence, Near Bemidji, Beltrami County, MN." Go to this page on the state's Materials Management Division site, and find the solicitation number 2010-69-01 on the page.

Printed copies of the solicitation can be obtained from Paulette Kassa, tel: 218-308-2658; fax: 218-755-4075. Technical information on the project is available from Barry Lyons, tel: 218-308-2657.

Responses to the solicitation are due May 20 and the project completion date is June 20.

More iPad Wi-Fi woes as Israel seizes devices

2010-04-16T10:59:00.000-04:00

The Christian Science Monitor is reporting that incompatibility issues with the iPad's Wi-Fi connectivity are the reason Israeli officials are seizing iPads from anyone trying to enter the country with them.

The Monitor published the following statement from the Israeli government:

The iPad device sold exclusively today in the United States operates at broadcast power levels [over its WiFi modem] compatible with American standards. As the Israeli regulations in the area of WiFi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel.

On April 15, the Christian Science Monitor reported that 10 iPads had been confiscated, and at least one iPad owner was told he had to petition the Israeli government to get his device back.

We reported earlier that some of the first iPad owners had difficulty connecting to Wi-Fi networks.

Guest Blog: Wireless LANs and distributed antenna systems

2010-04-09T10:34:00.001-04:00

by Scott Thompson
April 9, 2010

Recently I attended a national tradeshow, in a very large exhibit hall, in the nation's capital. There were several thousand people in the hall. Within that hall there were popular, actively sought locales where peoople were dipping and turning, sometimes holding their heads sideways, looking upward, rotating, stooping, and thrusting upwards. Then, inevitably, looking in frustration at a device in their hands.

And those were the few people in the hall who actually had a cellular signal!

Most people have had the experience of poor cellular service inside buildings, often large public buildings. In addition to the user inconvenience caused by the poor connection, the carriers lose minutes, and the building's utility - whether as a mall, public hall, or other venue - is compromised. Everybody loses.

Fortunately there is a reasonable solution for an in-building wireless solution called a distributed antenna system, or DAS. DAS is a method for recreating the coverage of primarily out door cellular services, indoors. The purpose of the DAS is to overcome the severe attenuation caused by the walls and structure of a building. Even the newly auctioned 700-MHz band, with its preferred propagation characteristics, will be callenged to provide the high signal-to-noise ratio required for high-speed data services envisioned for the 4G network.

Clearly, as people become more dependent on mobile voice and data services, there is a growing expectation for network connectivity everywhere, indoors and outdoors. DAS and related in-building wireless systems provide a means to match this expectation, even in the most challenging indoor environmnents.

The DAS system may be as simple as an outdoor pickup antenna with bidirectional amplifiers and indoor antennas, or a much more sophisticated base-station with fiber-optic distribution to remote access RF converters and antennas. In any case, as the name implies, the antennas are distributed throughout the facility, and the equipment, whether a micro-base station, repeater, or other cellular equipment, is safely locked in the telecommunications room.

This, of course, is a different architecture than the standard 802.11 LAN architecture, which comprises distributed access points (with connected antennas), versus distributed antennas.

In the past, this difference in architecture has not been important. The wireless LAN is a private network, designed, built, and maintained by the premises network administrators, whereas DAS systems may have multiple stakeholders including building owners/operators, carriers, third-party integrators, and premises network administrators.

As DAS solutions emerge, one of their compelling features is to include private wireless LAN traffic over the DAS. The argument for doing so is, "Why build two wireless infrastructures?" The easy answer is that most vendors' 802.11 wireless networking products are designed for a distributed access point approach, and not a distributed antenna (DAS) approach. Generally speaking, when you use something in a way for which it was not intended, you don't get the results you want.

Cisco recently released a positioning statement indicating that "Cisco does not certify, endorse, or provide RF support for Wi-Fi deployments over ANY distributed antenna system."

Although not specifically precluding the use of Cisco wireless LAN products in a DAS, the statement recommends special consideration of signal coverage, client-to-AP density, client roaming, location-based services, and the impact on the 802.11n (MIMO) antennas used by 802.11n access points. Cisco's positioning statement goes on to recommend an appropriate design and deployment if a DAS approach is used, because the "DAS vendor and/or systems integrator is solely responsible for the support of the DAS products and for providing adequate RF coverage and supporting any RF-related issues."

Why would you operate the wireless LAN over the DAS in the first place? If the answer is "physical security" of the wireless LAN access points (and that's the only security at stake with modern APs), then you should plan to secure the APs in locking ceiling or wall enclosures. These enclosures provide a degree of physical security cmmensurate with the value of the AP. Sometimes the concern is not so much malicious theft or vandalism of the APs, but just accidental displacement, disconnection, or blockage from the desired location. Again, the locking ceiling or wall-mount enclosure is the answer.

If the answer is to reduce installation and labor cost by combining DAS and wireless LAN networks, then consider coordinated design and installation of conventional, but distinct, wireless LAN and DAS infrastructures, including shared infrastructure, pathways, and spaces where appropriate. This is an overlay design; it can include shared workspace telecommunications enclosures for access points, remote acces units, bidirectional amplifiers, converters, repeaters, and antennas.

Another emerging technology may truly converge public cellular service onto private wireless LANs, but this is a topic for a future blog post, and is not likely to be the best solution in every case.

In the meantime, the wireless LAn and DAS designer should consider vendor recommendations, risk, and cost-saving potential when deploying wireless LA over DAS, versus an overlay design comprising distinct wireless LAN and DAS components.

Scott Thompson is the engineering director and co-founder of Oberon Inc. Since 1997 he has designed, specified, and installed IEEE 802.3 and 802.11 standard-compliant networking solutions. We've invited Scott to blog for us periodically, and welcome your comments on this post.

Wi-Fi troubles are iPad users' early gripe

2010-04-06T09:25:00.000-04:00

Intermittent or weak Wi-Fi connections have been bothering early users of Apple's iPad - at least according to the level of activity in Apple's iPad support forum. As of early Tuesday, the discussion thread titled Weak wifi included 161 replies and had been viewed more than 18,000 times.

Apple has released at least two support documents specifically for iPad WiFi access, one entitled Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections, and another titled Does not automatically rejoin known Wi-Fi networks. One suggestion in the "Troubleshooting" document is to move closer to the router or hotspot.

One commenter, username VinceChan, cautioned: "Bear in mind that the all metal enclosure of the iPad may be whats blocking the signal. Theres a reason that the ipod Touch has a plastic window in the back for the wifi antenna, and the MBP's antenna is housed within the plastic portion of the hinge."

Many users described the fixes they successfully implemented themselves, or achieved through Apple customer service. Others remain without Wi-Fi connectivity on their iPads.

Uptime Institute goes off on TIA-942

2010-03-24T17:30:00.000-04:00

In the mode of Mythbusters, The Uptime Institute has taken issue with the belief, apparently commonly held, that the TIA-942 standard is a valid guideline for its (The Uptime Institute's) Data Center Tier classification system.

We talked to Jonathan Jew, one of TIA-942's creators and a co-editor of the still-in-development TIA-942-A specifications, about the Institute's claims. He didn't disagree.

Remember that part of The Uptime Institute's business is to provide training through which design professionals can achieve the organization's Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) designation. It's not in the Institute's business interests to let everyone believe they can buy a standard from TIA and "Voila!" they can follow its script to design a Tier IV data center. Not to mention anything in the way of altruism -- you know, actually caring about designs being done correctly so data centers perform at the extremely high levels their owners require.

It's not too different from the structured cabling industry. One can't just read a standard and have the in-depth knowledge necessary to design a complex layer-one infrastructure system for an organization's dynamic network. Although, I bet many of you have seen a cabling system or two that looked like their designers gave it a try.

A different kind of in-building wireless

2010-03-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

A different but familiar form of wireless communication is making its way into more and more building facilities. 802.11-based wireless local area networks (LANs) have long been recognized as a complementary technology to wired networks within buildings. An organization installing or upgrading its wireless LAN is not news. What is news, or at least a growing trend, is for facilities to install in-building wireless systems that support the nation’s cellular or personal communications service (PCS) networks.

An article in an upcoming issue of Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine will delve into detail on the topic, including information about the Wired for Wireless product line that CommScope recently introduced for exactly that application—-in-building personal wireless service.

One tidbit of information that was “left on the cutting room floor” from the upcoming article is the success story of a distributed antenna system (DAS) installation project at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The airport is about a 5.8-million square-foot facility. ADC’s vice president of product management John Spindler, who is quoted in the article, recalls the Hartsfield-Jackson project. “Even at 5.8-million square feet the job was completed in a span of about 12 weeks. It was properly planned up front and all security clearances had been arranged.

“There are more than 700 antennas, 8 kilometers of fiber-optic cable, 65 kilometers of twisted-pair cable, and 16 kilometers of coaxial cable,” in the facility. Spindler adds, “It might not be a typical installation because it’s such a large facility, but it is a good example of the kinds of challenges that can be faced,” when installing indoor DAS systems. It’s also a good example of what can be accomplished with such systems.

As is the case with in-building wireless LANs, there are a lot of wires (and sometimes fibers, for that matter) behind those wireless communications systems. CommScope’s new system includes the Heliax ½-inch coaxial cable that comes from the Andrew wireless communications brand. ADC emphasizes that its InterReach systems can leverage existing coaxial, twisted-pair, and multimode fiber-optic cabling that may already reside in a building in which a DAS will be installed.

The next time you are in a conference room or lobby and can’t get service on your wireless device, look at it as an opportunity to accommodate the building you’re in to better serve its customers.

Copper connectors putting Large Hadron Collider out of commission

2010-03-11T16:55:00.000-05:00

Are you familiar with the Large Hadron Collider? I knew nothing about it until I read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Then it started popping up in the news all the time, so it seemed. The LHC -- I don't know if that's its real abbreviation or not -- is a particle accelerator that was built and is operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN. (Side note: According to credible sources such as Dan Brown and Wikipedia, CERN invented the Internet. Not DARPA. Not Al Gore. CERN.)

Those who have followed the Collider's history are familiar with a recent shutdown that took it offline for several months. Within the past few weeks CERN brought it back online and has had great expectations of it. However, news got out today that, perhaps among other components, copper connectors will be responsible for the Large Hadron Collider going offline at the end of next year for what's likely to be a year's worth of repair.

I learned about this through Australian news agency The Age, which quoted a CERN scientist as saying, "We are pushing technologies towards their limits." It looks like the collider will run at half power between now and the end of next year when the repairs begin.

Now I'm not a gambling man, but I'd be willing to bet a dinner that the copper connectors that are the collider's weak links are not of the RJ-45 variety. So no snarky comments saying this wouldn't have happened if they'd used fiber - or anything like that.

I just couldn't resist passing this info along, as a high-profile example of the criticality of a "little thing" like a connector. Our industry lives and breathes the importance of high-technology systems' infrastructure components. Sometimes the rest of the world gets wind of that importance as well.

You aren't planning to abandon that cable, are you Uncle Sam?

2010-03-09T14:42:00.000-05:00

Government Computer News (GCN) is reporting that cabling-integration firm Automated Systems Design (ASD) was contracted to install the cabling for some 500 temporary offices for the Census Bureau as that government entity ramped up for its data-collection efforts this year--the promotion of which has even included a SuperBowl ad.

The GCN report details the projects' multiple challenges, including geographic dispersion, short turnaround times, and diversity of office space. "Some buildings were modern, while others were historic structures with tricky floor plans for running cable," GCN reported.

What caught my eye was the plan for the local offices and their information-technology infrastructures to be uninstalled once workers complete their data collection.

If you've been around long enough you've heard me rant about abandoned cable. Then rant again. And again.

Automated Systems Design's (ASD) vice president of sales Barbara Eskew, who is quoted in the GCN report, told me the government did not contract with her firm to remove the cabling systems once the Census project is over. She was given a "wait-and-see" response rather than including removal in the installation contract. Now that doesn't necessarily mean the Census Bureau will be guilty of abandoning the cable from its 500-plus temporary offices. It may use other labor to do the removal, or call ASD later in the year and schedule the appropriate removal.

Heck, the bureau may decide to tag the cable for future use. Census data is taken every 10 years, isn't it?

TIA TR-42 subcommittee elections bring new names to the fore

2010-02-26T14:37:00.000-05:00

While posting to our Web site the news about the recent election of new chairs and vice-chairs for TR-42 and several of its subcommittees, I was reminded of a conversation I had several years ago with an executive of the training organization BICSI.

It was not long after BICSI had launched its OSP (Outside Plant) Specialist designation and our discussion focused on the reasons for creating it. A primary motivator was that for the most part, expertise in OSP design and construction resided with individuals whose experience dated back to the days of Ma Bell. Many of these individuals were approaching retirement; some had already retired. And there really was no formal (and maybe no informal) plan for passing their knowledge along to a next generation of professionals to carry out such important network design work for years--decades--to come.

The formal OSP Specialist program has succeeded in educating that new generation of professionals.

Why did the TIA news remind me of the OSP specialty? From a quick glance at the names of those who have been elected chairs and vice chairs of TIA TR-42 subcommittees, it looks like the TIA is in the process of bringing along a next generation of leaders in the creation of cabling standards. Sure, there are some familiar names in the group; but some new names have shown up as well.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I have never been to a TIA TR-42 committee or subcommittee meeting. I really don't know how these elections work. It could be like some of the committees I've been on, in which the person who misses a meeting or steps into the rest room at the wrong time gets elected to "spearhead" an onerous effort. Or it's a case of, "Volunteers step forward," and everyone but an inexperienced few step backward. I can't say for sure. But I like to think that several individuals are in leadership roles today because they chose to truly drive the cabling industry forward through their efforts at standards creation.

(Note: The links that follow go to LinkedIn profiles. If you're not on LinkedIn and can't view them, well shame on you! Join LinkedIn. And as soon as you do, join the Cabling Installation & Maintenance Group, for goodness' sake.)

So I'm sending kudos to newly elected Jamie Silva, vice-chair of TR-42.4; Mike Kinard, chair of TR-42.12; Brett Lane, TR-42.12's vice chair; and David Fisher, chair of TR-42.13.

More disclosure: Let me know if I've blown it on this one and some of these folks have been long-time committee/subcommittee leaders. I look at TIA meeting minutes frequently and don't remember these individuals as previous committee/subcommittee chairs. But sometimes I do just get things wrong.

Not long ago I heaped praise on a familiar name in the standards scene, Jonathan Jew, because I view his volunteer efforts as both significant and selfless. I know that the individuals I've named today have the backing of their employers for their standards-creation activities. I also understand that having a seat at the table when these standards are created does have its advantages. But just like those who have earned the OSP Specialist designation have helped their long-term career prospects by putting in such effort, those who recently stepped into leadership roles within TR-42 will no doubt find that any professional advantage they gain by doing so might best be described as sweat equity.

Congratulations and best of luck to the new leaders within TR-42. Also, of course, to those for whom such leadership is not entirely new.

Cisco announces 10GBase-T switches

2010-02-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

Cisco Systems is now in the 10GBase-T business. On Monday, Februray 8, the switching-technology market leader joined server-technology provider Intel in announcing support for the twisted-pair flavor of 10-Gbit Ethernet within Cisco's Catalyst switch line. In a blog post, Cisco's Omar Sultan said the company will incorporate 10GBase-T into the Nexus product line next. Within that blog post is a video with demonstrations of the new 10GBase-T gear; that video was taken at Cisco Live Barcelona 2010, which took place January 25-28.

Shortly after the announcement, 10GBase-T PHY developer Aquantia announced it has entered full volume production of the AQ 1002, its flagship 10GBase-T PHY offering.

Executives from Cisco, Intel, and Panduit address and promote the 10GBase-T ecosystem in a video on Cisco's web site. In the video Jack Tison, Panduit's vice president of technology, discusses Category 6A cabling and its ability to support 10GBase-T. Also in that video, VP and general manager of Intel's LAN access division Tom Swinford recognizes that cost, power, and availability have hindered 10GBase-T's adoption to this point. He explains that all three have been, and continue to be, addressed.

We previously covered the optimism of some 10GBase-T technology providers that these barriers were steadily coming down. It looks like market giants Cisco and Intel believe they have come down far enough to make 10GBase-T products marketable.

Or, perhaps, these two companies announcing their support for the technology is itself the elimination of a significant barrier.

It's your turn (to blog for us)

2010-02-05T10:41:00.000-05:00

True confession: As a teenager I watched ... no, not only did I watch, I enjoyed, some of the worst movies ever created. Gory, B-rate (at best) horror movies were my favorites. Like most who have witnessed these abominations of cinema, I saw them much more as comedy than anything else. The notion that these stories were supposed to frighten audiences was, well, comical.

One of my all-time favorites was Truth or Dare. No, not the one with Madonna. I never saw that one. This one isn't even worth describing, except for a single line from it that has stuck in my head for more than 20 years. At one point, as a group of people play the adolescent game that is the movie's namesake, a particularly disgrunted player says, "It's your turn. Your turn!" It was one of those things that took on a life of its own. The small group of us who watched the movie that day made, "It's your turn. Your turn!" part of our everyday lexicon.

Now that I have updated you on a part of my history that is more frightening (and probably more pathetic) than all those movies I saw, I tell you in a much more serious tone, it's your turn. Your turn to put your name and, importantly, your thoughts in this space we call The Cabling Blog.

Since we launched the blog in October, my colleague Matt Vincent and I have mixed facts, opinions, and some oddball stuff into this space. Hopefully you have found it educational, or at least entertaining. But we know what will make it an even more worthwhile destination for professionals in the cabling industry is the inclusion of peer-to-peer perspective on your challenges, accomplishments, and stories--good and bad--from the jobsite.

So we're inviting each of you to "audition" to be bloggers. Here are the ground rules.
1. Write about something that is important, from a technology and/or a business standpoint, to cabling industry professionals.
2. Don't try to use this space as an opportunity to sell your goods or services.
3. Likewise, this blog is neither the official nor the unofficial "Festivus Airing of Grievances" place from which you can heave your frustrations with a particular individual or organization. Opinions are good. Lawsuits, generally, are not.
4. Of course, our audience makes the ultimate choice. If your blog entries are popular, well-read, start a new craze, etc., you'll probably be asked to contribute regularly. Your reward for all this: Fame. Not so much fortune, necessarily, because this is a volunteer effort. But hey, fame isn't so bad, right?

Now it really is your turn. E-mail me to let me know you're interested in blogging for us.

Yahoo! getting nearly $10M government grant for its New York data center

2010-02-04T10:40:00.001-05:00

We told you elsewhere about HP's $7.4 million grant from the United States Department of Energy to develop an energy-efficient modular data center. HP's was the third-largest grant given by the DOE on January 6. That day the DOE announced a total of $47 million in grants to improve efficiency in information technology and telecommunications systems.

The largest grant given that day, more than $9.9 million, went to Yahoo! for the design and engineering of a passive cooling architecture in its under-construction data center in Lockport, NY. It has been reported that the data center will cost around $150 million to build. Lockport is near Niagara Falls and the data center's power will be generated by the Falls.

Here's how the DOE described the effort when announcing the grant.

The integrated building design, including the building's shape and orientation and the alignment of the servers within the building, allows the data center to use outside ambient air for cooling 99 percent of the year. The relatively low initial cost to build, compatibility with current server and network models, and efficient use of power and water are all key featrues that make this data center a highly compatible and replicable design innovation for the data center industry.

That's all I have for now. Yahoo! did not immediately respond to my request for more information about the data center or its passive-cooling architecture. Perhaps you have more detail on this than I do. If so, please share what you know with us all.

Weird Wired News: Student charged with assault after chewing cable

2010-01-29T09:44:00.005-05:00

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.

TIA-942 Data Center Cabling standard set for revision

2010-01-27T15:54:00.000-05:00

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.

Jew a worthy choice for achievement award

2010-01-21T15:45:00.006-05:00

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.

Shielded-cabling discussion continues

2010-01-11T09:00:00.003-05:00

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.

Our top 9 of '09

2009-12-28T10:02:00.003-05:00

With increasing numbers of financial pundits announcing the recession is over, many may be looking ahead to 2010 with more optimism than they (we) had entering 2009. And while some might regard 2009 as a year they’d rather forget, we’re looking back at what meant the most to you, our audience, this year. That is, we’ve crunched the numbers and determined which articles and stories you visited most frequently in 2009.

Two stories relating to Underwriters Laboratories and counterfeiting were among the most-read this year. In the spring then again in the fall, UL issued alerts concerning communications cable. An April alert notified suppliers and users that Systimax Category 6 cable had been counterfeited. In early November, UL issued an alert stating that coaxial cable had been found bearing an unauthorized UL mark for the U.S. and Canada.

In January, Agilent Technologies confirmed for CI&M it would discontinue its WireScope product line on July 31. It later announced it would continue to provide WireScope 350 and WireScope Pro parts and accessories until 2014. (That follow-up didn't crack our "top 9" but we figured it was worth a reminder anyway.)

This year we went into our archives and resurrected some timeless tips for those who face the everyday challenges of cabling-system design, installation, and maintenance. Previously published on the static pages of Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine, these tips had a little more life when re-introduced on our site this year by incorporating some animated motion to better demonstrate the actions they require. One such tip explains how to use a vacuum to get cable through a stubborn conduit. Another details the use of invisible tape as a testing aid at a patch panel.

A couple oldie-but-goodie feature-length articles from past issues of CI&M magazine made it onto our most-read-of-the-year list as well. Both put an emphasis of multimode fiber-optic cabling. One was about why not all multimode fiber is created equal; the other is a years-old article making the case for the affordability of fiber cabling systems in horizontal applications. That one might best be considered reference material.

An article published early in 2009 about using your infrastructure to support video applications was quite popular as well. The article discussed structured cabling supporting IP-based video and surveillance applications. A companion article (again, not cracking our top 9 but worth mentioning anyway) described structured cabling’s ability to support entertainment applications such as IPTV and broadband video.

Finally, our blog, launched in October, was a popular destination for visitors to our site. In fact, you’re reading the blog right now. Thanks for doing so, and thanks for using the cablinginstall.com site as a resource throughout 2009. We look forward to bringing you more news and useful, practical information in 2010.

Shielded-vs.-unshielded tests get people talking

2009-12-21T09:32:00.000-05:00

Last month we let you know about a set of tests that compared the ability of unshielded and shielded systems to carry 10GBase-T traffic. The tests were carried out by German test lab GHMT AG and were made public by Tyco Electronics’ AMP Netconnect business unit.

Those of you who have tracked what AMP Netconnect has had to say about shielded cabling for 10GBase-T are not surprised to see these recent test results. They conclude rather clearly that shielded is a better-performing medium than unshielded for this application.

Once word of these results hit, the fur started flying in discussion groups. In particular, a discussion in the Structured Cabling Professionals group within LinkedIn was pretty much a sparring match between cabling-system providers who agree and those who disagree with the conclusions AMP Netconnect drew from the test results. Thrown in there also are comments from a handful of professionals who don’t manufacture, but actually specify, design, and/or install cabling systems. (By the way, if you’re not a member of the Structured Cabling Professionals group on LinkedIn, I recommend you join. This is just one of several worthwhile discussions taking place within that community.)

The gist of the arguments is as follows. One side says the results were independently achieved and speak for themselves. The other side says the tests did not include representative samples of the Category 6A unshielded twisted-pair systems available on the market. Furthermore, a single round of testing may provide some worthwhile information, but much more testing will have to take place before the results can be considered repeatable.

This little blog of ours is where you can weigh in with us if you’d like. Tell us what you think of the legitimacy of these test results. Or, better yet, tell us what your real-life experience has been if you’ve turned on a 10GBase-T system. I bet many of you haven’t. In that case, please share with us what you’re expecting (or dreading, or looking forward to) when the installed cabling systems that were meant to support 10GBase-T, are finally asked to do so.

Cable now part of USGBC's LEED credit program

2009-12-11T16:12:00.005-05:00

For the first time, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has specifically mentioned cable as a building component that can contribute to an organization’s obtaining a LEED credit. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the USGBC-administered program that recognizes “green” buildings.

Cable is mentioned in a pilot credit USGBC released in November. The organization states on its web site that it uses the pilot credit program to test and refine credits. The pilot credit in which cable is mentioned is Pilot Credit 2: PBT Source Reduction: Dioxins and Halogenated Organic Compounds.

“PBT” stands for persistent bioaccumulative toxic and refers to chemicals. In order to gain credit, an organization must … (the following is taken right from the pilot credit document) … “use materials manufactured without added halogenated organic compounds for at least 75%, by cost, of the material totals in a minimum of three of the following four groups.”
1. Exterior components
2. Interior finishes
3. Piping, conduit and electrical boxes
4. Building-installed electrical cable and wire jacketing.

Wait just a minute, now. It specifically says electrical cable and wire jacketing. So it doesn’t apply to communications cables, does it? I wouldn’t be so sure. With this being a pilot credit, I’d be willing to bet $5 that an organization submitting cabling of any kind that does not include halogenated organic compounds will be recognized as meeting the USGBC requirement. Furthermore, once the pilot credit is fully evaluated, I’m betting that communications cable is mentioned by name.

Of particular note to those of us in the cabling trade, the compounds covered in the credit - that is, compounds to avoid - include all plastics containing chlorine or fluorine. That includes polyvinyl chloride and fluorinated ethylene propylene, both of which can be found in large quantities in communications cables. Also, the specific mention of FEP in the pilot credit is an indication to me that the USGBC intends to include comms cable in addition to electrical cable in its consideration.

Many in the cabling industry have been waiting a long time for a direct link between the cabling systems installed in buildings and LEED credits. I believe that link between cable and LEED has arrived for those who can find cables without halogenated organic compounds. What do you think?

Cabling industry community -- worth it? CI&M asks YOU

2009-12-03T15:33:00.008-05:00

Cabling Installation and Maintenance's associate publisher and national sales manager, Ed Murphy, and I had an interesting chat by the water cooler this morning.

Ah, the chat by the proverbial water cooler! An enjoyable and often worthwhile activity among peers at work in which I'm sure many of you out there in the cabling industry also often partake, whatever your business concern. Maybe your water cooler is a Thermos full of hot coffee at a job site outdoors, if you're installing OSP or wireless network technology, or by the chill of the server room in some mega-data center, or perhaps simply (and this where Ed and I dwell, folks, Monday thru Friday) in that mainstay area of 21st century American working life: the Cube Farm.

Ah, the Cube Farm.

But I digress. The water cooler chat! Is, when you get right down to it, the activity of a community of peers, engaged in the same or similar business or work. And for sure, the discussion that Ed and I had this morning was about community, within the cabling industry, to be exact, and the value of community discussion among professionals working in the same field -- or as is often the case in our industry, actually in the field. And about the specific effort it would indeed take to build such a community. Specifically, an area of this Website dedicated to supporting the community of cable installation professionals who form CIM's core audience.

But (exclaimed Ed and I) this community doesn't necessarily need to be built, not so much perhaps, because it in fact already exists! At least fundamentally. And its members are any and all of you folks out there, who visit the CIM website on a daily or weekly basis (we hope!). All this community really needs then, for best purposes, is its own dedicated area on the Web in which, simply, to grow.

Yes, CIM readers! It bears saying again. The cabling community is YOU, and any community website enterprise would in large part belong to YOU, would be a place dedicated to YOU. A place to post feedback on articles seen in the magazine and on the website, and to have discussions about said articles. A place to post a video demonstrating a technique or a product, or to post a blog such as this, the better to share an opinion or a viewpoint. A place where you as a professional and peer working in our industry can take part and be heard. Ask a question, receive an answer. Air a gripe! (...on second thought, might want to watch that one...).

Or how about: share a funny story! Or a serious story. Some unusual or notable thing that happened on the job site. Or even: pictures of your kids, your vacation, your dog? Not kidding! There is more to life than just work, is there not? Ever heard of a little enterprise called Facebook? We're not talking about re-inventing the wheel here, folks!

Ahem.

Nonetheless, Ed noted, rightly, that, for us here at CIM, any such enterprise would represent what is known in Cube Farm parlance as A Bandwidth Issue. And indeed it would. We at CIM would be the facilitators of such a resource; and without doubt, initating a community site would take some time and effort (as do all things worthwhile, yeah?); but, as Ed and I continued in our water cooler discussion, we began to brainstorm a few ideas for why a community site might really be of value to CIM's core audience...

Got questions about a CIM Webcast that just occurred, questions of yours that maybe weren't able to be addressed during the formal Q and A part of the event? Keep the discussion going, online, at the CIM community site. Having a problem with a tricky installation or sourcing cabling system components for an upcoming design? Ask your peers who might have faced -- or who, very likely, might right now be facing -- similar challenges at the community site. Nervous about how you might perform at an upcoming BICSI Cabling Skills Challenge competition? Hear from a guy or gal who's already been there, at the community site. Confused about some intricacy of a TIA or IEEE standardization, or about the finer points of USGBC LEED certification? Throw your question out onto the community site, and maybe get an answer from a real expert, who is also a member of your community. (We try our best here at the editorial desk, but in truth we are really just humble scribes and typists -- of course, I speak only for myself...not Patrick!)

And so, we at CIM want to ask YOU, our audience, a question. In terms of a section of this Website dedicated to serving the community needs of you who work in the plethora of disciplines that comprise the business, your business, of cabling systems installation and maintenance, the question we ask is this: if we build it, will you come?

Let us know! Your comments and/or questions are, as always, welcome in the space below.

-- Matt Vincent, CIM senior editor

Copper theft is rampant!

2009-11-10T12:10:00.013-05:00

Found this story -- which, sadly, has become a common one -- lurking near the bottom of my "recent news" pile.

From the BBC News in the UK:

Gang rips out 1km of phone cable

Hundreds of people were left without their landline phone service for nearly 48 hours after thieves stole 1km (0.6 mile) of copper cabling....

...[Sussex Police] officers believe thieves posing as workers wearing uniforms or high-visibility jackets used a vehicle to pull the cable out of the ground and take it away...

...[Policeman] Thomas Stallard said: "Manholes running along the side of the road were used to access the cables and it appears the grass over some of the manholes was dug up to reach the sealed covers. The cable is 6in to 8in in circumference and is very heavy."

Every notice how there often seems to be some vaguely spectacular, caperish element to these copper theft stories? Thieves posing as workers used a vehicle to pull the cable out of the ground? Dang!

Or does the concept of "theft" just generally imply a certain amount of spectacle? Well...that's not a question for here. But here's what we can say: whenever the topic is copper, things get interesting. I can tell you that we here at the editorial desk certainly notice the popularity of such news, in terms of pageviews on the Web site.

And here's the thing about this rash of copper theft: it's absolutely becoming rampant, occurring every day all over this great country of ours, often causing considerable inconvenience.

So, finally, here's what I'm wondering: Are these stories just like belly buttons? Does everybody have one?

What say you, audience -- heard anything? Feel free to share any tales of copper theft, weird or otherwise, in the comments section below. Maybe from your town or region, maybe from a job site you've worked on, maybe from an installation you're involved in right at this very moment. We'd love to hear from you. -- Matt Vincent, Senior Editor

Survey says: Data center virtualization an opportunity for cabling

2009-11-03T10:30:00.003-05:00

Not long ago CommScope issued a report entitled Innovating in a Time of Change: Investment and Technical Trends in the Data Center. Some of the highlights from that report have been published in the November issue of Cabling Installation and Maintenance. Or they can be seen here, explained by CommScope's George Brooks.

I had the fortunate opportunity to speak with Mr. Brooks shortly after the report was issued. Our conversation involved many of the topics addressed in our November issue and in the aforementioned video. But following is an item from our conversation that didn't make it into either.

Globally, 72 percent of respondents to CommScope's survey said they had less than half their servers connected to a Fibre Channel SAN. Ten percent said their data centers had no Fibre Channel SAN at all, including 16 percent of those in North America.

At first glance that looks like an enormous opportunity to install new networks and the cabling that goes in them. But Brooks put those figures into perspective. He told me, "SANs are used for applications that require low latency and higher bandwidth. Transactional applications such as email, databases, and image transfer require and reside on a SAN. Other aplications, which do not require low latency and high bandwidth, generally are connected to NAS [network attached storage], which is generally a less-expensive form of storage. Putting those applications on a SAN is not cost-effective. My belief is that the large portion [of servers not connected to Fibre Channel SANs] are probably connected via NAS. The NAS is connected, but probably using Cat 6 cabling. If I had applications that didn't require high bandwidth and low latency, I wouldn't be spending a lot of money."

Great. So much for a cabling opportunity. But wait! Brooks further explained, "The opportunity is with virtualization. As servers virtualize, more of those applications will virtualize. They'll need a bigger pipe, and that's where the opportunity is."

So virtualiztion, then, which is feared in some camps as the beginning of the end of data centers, may actually boost the amount of cabling being deployed in those facilities. That's worth keeping an eye on.

Emerson buying Avocent: Metrics, metrics, metrics

2009-10-06T16:16:00.004-04:00

Today's news about Emerson Network Power buying Avocent for $1.2 billion is all over the finance pages. We'll let them sort out whether or not Emerson's paying too much at $25 per share. I believe cabling and data center professionals (who don't own the stock) will be more interested in the concept that with this purchase, Emerson is acquiring the capability to produce data center energy-efficiency metrics.

Several years ago, when we began turning specific focus to cabling within data centers, I quickly discovered that I could begin a conversation about data centers discussing any topic at all. Whether to run cables overhead or under the floor; choosing copper or fiber for 10-gig; figuring out how to patch in such high-density spaces; whatever. Regardless of how the conversation started, it always came around to the theme of power consumption and cooling efforts in the data center.

As Avocent's relatively new CEO Michael Borman recently told Forbes.com, the company has relationships with server manufacturers that allow it access to energy-consumption information. Such data could prove to be gold for Emerson in the long term. The Green Grid is all over energy-efficiency metrics, and I for one believe we'll all be paying pretty close attention real soon.

Once the Emerson-Avocent deal closes around the first of the year, I'll also be looking to see how Emerson integrates this asset into the breadth of its Emerson Network Power offerings.

Light Peak: 10-Gbit connectivity at your fingertips

2009-09-28T22:43:00.007-04:00

Remember a few years ago when IBM aired commercials for its blade servers? The commercials' tagline was Out With Cables. The theme: Use blade servers, get rid of all those nasty, tangled cables in your data center. Cable: that dreaded, necessary evil.

Now it's Intel's turn. Last week at the Intel Developers Forum the company announced its Light Peak technology. Intel's not claiming that Light Peak will eliminate all cables--just those pesky ones that are subject to electromagnetic interference.

Light Peak is a high-speed (read: 10-Gbit/sec) optical cable, which Intel promises will be available next year, meant to connect devices including consumer-electronic equipment as well as disk drives, printers, and other networked devices.

Light Peak's web page goes into detail explaining the benefits of optical-fiber transmission. The video takes viewers inside Intel's optical lab.

A far cry from IBM's clever swipe at cabling, Intel's Light Peak looks like a promising technology of the near future.