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)

Do 'Learning Centers' really need data centers?

Chris Gabriel, vice president of solutions management at Logicalis Group (Bloomfield Hills, MI), a provider of data center server virtualization platforms, has turned in an interesting guest blog at Forbes.com. The blog takes as its launch point the increasing prominence and importance of networking and telecom technologies within the education sphere. It's no secret that a big part of the telecom equation for schools nowadays has to do with the provisioning of widespread mobile technologies. The rise of BYOD carries with it a significant footprint in the data center -- but the more pertinent question, these days is, which data center -- and owned by whom?

Read the full blog post from Forbes.com.


See also:  Technical guide outlines BYOD best practices

Don't underestimate the value of cabling skills

Today's blog post delves into the Cabling Installation & Maintenance mailbag...

Hi Patrick and Matt,

I read [your recently posted item regarding] Turck's white paper, Ethernet Cable: A Guideline to Implementing Solid or Stranded Cables. On page 2, referencing the TIA/EIA standards, the paper's author states, "By providing user-friendly instruction, as well as topology, connection points, termination points and media definitions, users can wire a building without prior knowledge or special skill."

Excuse me!

I have been in the cabling business all my life. I am highly offended by this statement. I am sure I am not the only one. I have worked with hundreds of cabling professionals over the years who are true craftsman and take pride in their work. I think the author has insulted anyone in our business who cables a building according to the specifications, building codes and especially those detailed individuals who make sure that every cable is dressed properly as if creating a masterpiece.

Just my two cents.

Regards,

Andrew C. Schmeltzer
Cable Technology Sales Engineer
Black Box Network Services


Hi Andy,

Your point is well taken: empirical data certainly suggests that the TIA/EIA specs for designing and implementing structured cabling infrastructure are only getting more complex -- which is exactly why the Fiber Optic Association (FOA) recently announced that it's creating its own standards for installers and users.

Thanks for the feedback!

Matt Vincent
Senior Editor, Cabling Installation & Maintenance

Google Fiber installations kick off

As reported at the Google Blog, after months of building-in new fiber infrastructure, the Internet search giant announced that it is officially starting to connect homes in Kansas City.

"There are two stages to getting you connected," Google informs its Kansas City customer base via the blog post. "First, we'll pull your fiber from the street to the side of your house; we’ve already done this for several houses in Hanover Heights. Then we'll get in touch with you to schedule the second stage, your in-home installation...If you live in Hanover Heights and see a new box on the side of your house (and have gotten a Google Fiber sticky note on your door), look for an email or phone call from us in the next few days to schedule an appointment. When the installer arrives, he/she will ask you about where you want your devices and then get to work."

Google Fiber has put together a short video to help customers further understand what to expect.

As noted by Light Reading, Google Fiber's 1Gbit/s broadband service carries a price tag of $70 per month, or can be had as part of a subscription TV bundle that starts at $120 per month. A "free" 5Mbit/s downstream and 1Mbit/s upstream service is being pitched to customers who pay a $300 construction fee.

Google's chief FTTH competition in the Kansas City area includes Time Warner Cable, AT&T, SureWest Communications and Comcast.

Cisco CEO: 'Government regulation of IT will not achieve intended objectives'

Cabling Tweets' top 10 Tweets for Tuesday, October 23, 2012:

In a wide ranging talk conducted just before noon on October 23 at the Garnter Symposium/ITExpo 2012 in Orlando (1), Gartner's Richard Hunter and David Willis took the stage (2) to interview Cisco CEO John Chambers.

Mincing no words, Chambers said that "over the next 5 years the fabric of IT will be deeply embedded with every business process (3)."

"Of the top 6 IT vendors, only three or four will be in top six 5 years from now," he added (4). "Any of the top 6 vendors who think they will be in top 6 in next 5 years are probably wrong," the Cisco CEO reportedly said (5) -- owing to the "magnitude of the changes" that stand before the telecom and datacom industries in the coming years.

To that end, at the talk, Chambers' main contention (6) was that "the Internet of Everything will be the platform of the future" -- to which he added provocatively (7) that "government regulation of IT will not achieve [its] intended objectives."

And that wasn't all, in terms of provocative networking industry takes from the Cisco chieftain -- just see his reported comments on competitors Oracle (8) and HP (9).

"When I compete, even with friends, I compete to win (10)," said the Cisco CEO.

Follow @CablingTweets on Twitter.

-- Matt Vincent, Senior Editor

Enterprise BYOD heroes; Cisco data center woes; Cool cars meet cool Icelandic data centers

CablingTweets' Top 5 Cabling Industry Tweets for October 11, 2012:

Heads up IT security managers(1)! You can look like a hero if you lead your organization's charge to establish enterprise BYOD policies -- despite any physical infrastructure challenges you may encounter.

If the prospect of this leaves you "searching" for answers, you know where to turn (2).

To that end, did you know (3) that "Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook buy more networking hardware than practically anyone else on earth? But at the same time, they’re buying less and less gear from Cisco, HP, Juniper, and the rest of the world’s largest networking vendors?" So writes Wired's Cade Metz in a recent exclusive article.

Related news: HP's enterprise services business tumbles

Moving from "discussion" to "call-to-action", how about...Smart Cities (4)! As addressed by Cisco -- who given the claim just made above, you can maybe see feeling impelled to make just that sort of move. (Come to think of it, Cisco's been boogieing quite a bit these days in the big-time data center space -- see the company's recent fast breakaway from Huawei-ZTE for selling critical facilities equipment to Iran.)

Cooler heads prevail elsewhere in the industry -- for instance, as in Iceland's modular data center space (5). It begs the question, which is cooler -- the cars or the facilities?

Follow @CablingTweets on Twitter.

-- Matt Vincent, Senior Editor