First the cable was fake, now the conference is

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.

More tips for detecting counterfeit cables

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.

Who cares what the CCCA thinks?

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.

Our top 9 of '09

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.