Lightning Round: Q&A on the cabling industry's hottest topics

Watch the flagship episode Cablinginstall.com's Lightning Round, a stand-up Q-and-A of selected experts on the cabling industry's hottest current topics of news and technology advancements. Below, I interview Cabling Installation and Maintenance's chief editor, Patrick McLaughlin.

Here are the Lightning Round's questions:

1.)  Which news from the world of cabling standards in 2012 will have greater implications for network infrastructure professionals going forward in 2013 – the approval of the TIA-606-B data center standard, or the recent announcement of the TIA’s Category 8 designation for next generation of twisted-pair cabling specifications?

2.)  Which IT CEO legend made the following prediction in a nationally known IT technology publication of circa 1993 – and I quote – “Wireless computing will flop – permanently.” Was it:

a. Oracle’s Larry Ellison
b. Apple’s Tim Cook
c. Ethernet inventor Bob Metcalfe
d. Cisco’s John Chambers

3.)  What will be the bigger “game-changer” for network cabling deployments in 2013:  the preponderance of pre-terminated fiber systems -- or the rise of distributed antenna system, or DAS, technologies?

Watch the Q&A Lightning Round

Was Apple the best IT hardware, networking stock for 2013?

As reported in a Business Insider article posted at the San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate, certain capital investment experts are tilting "mega-bull on [Apple], despite the 30% collapse of the [company's] stock since September" -- due specifically to the company's exisiting and expected influence in the IT and networking space, globally.

Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital, says, "our top large-cap stock pick in the 'IT Hardware & Networking' group for 2013 is Apple. The negative sentiment around the stock has reached epic levels that we haven't seen in recent memory and yet we believe the product portfolio has never been stronger."

Smartphones and tablets are "still going to be huge this year [and] no company is in better shape to take advantage of the growth of mobile [networking] than Apple," adds White.

RELATED STORY:  Apple currently seeking data center professionals

On the logistics end, the effect of supply chain cuts for the iPhone itself are deemed insignificant. Never mind that; Apple is forecasted to strike a massive mobile wireless and telecom provider deal with China Mobile. "If every China Mobile wireless subscriber had an iPhone at the current ASP, this would represent ~$450 billion in sales for Apple," estimates White.

Stateside, the impact of the long-awaited Apple TV -- to be broadcast to customers over the company's "digital grid" -- is as yet unknown, but is almost certain to be "amazing," contends the analyst. Ultimately, Apple TV "will allow [the company] to tap into an entirely new $100 billion market opportunity" in the IT and networking sphere, predicts White.

Not all analysts are as bullish as Topeka Capital's on Apple's prospects here; elsewhere predictions are being made that the company's iPhone business is "going to be dead in the water."

SEE ALSO:  Aerial photos reveal Apple's Oregon data center site

Full story:  Here's What The Last True Believer In Apple Has To Say About The Stock Getting Destroyed (AAPL) (sfgate.com)