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

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

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)

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

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.