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.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Tweet this: New data center for Twitter is overdue
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 ...
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 ...
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Legal investigation underway in Tyco's ADC acquisition
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.
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.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Microsemi, Cisco mum on PoE patent agreement
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 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.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
In-flight broadband: Do you have the power?
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.
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.
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