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.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Shielded-vs.-unshielded tests get people talking
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.
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.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Cable now part of USGBC's LEED credit program
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?
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?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Cabling industry community -- worth it? CI&M asks YOU
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
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
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