Cabling Planner Issue 019

MAKING THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

2016

ISSUE 019

A special supplement with

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CABLINGPLANNER MAKING THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

2016

ISSUE 019

Publishing Director Rajashree Rammohan raj.ram@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 EDITORIAL Group Editor Jeevan Thankappan jeevan.thankappan@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9129 Editor James Dartnell james.dartnell@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9153

CONTENTS

4 FEATURE Cabling the data centre

Online Editor Adelle Geronimo adelle.geronimo@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9135 Deputy Editor Glesni Holland glesni.holland@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9134 ADVERTISING Group Sales Director Kausar Syed kausar.syed@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9138 Sales Manager Merle Carrasco merle.carrasco@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9147 CIRCULATION Circulation Manager Rajeesh M rajeesh.nair@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9119 PRODUCTION AND DESIGN Production Manager James P Tharian james.tharian@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5673 Senior Designer Analou Balbero analou.balbero@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 375 5680 Designer Neha Kalvani neha.kalvani@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9159

8 INTERVIEW: Tooling up for next-gen DC

10 OPINION:

Verification, qualification, certification: Which do I need?

Operations Manager Shweta Santosh shweta.santosh@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9107 DIGITAL SERVICES Web Developer Jefferson de Joya Abbas Madh Photographer Charls Thomas Maksym Poriechkin webmaster@cpimediagroup.com +971 4 440 9100 Published by

Registered at IMPZ PO Box 13700 Dubai, UAE Tel: +971 4 440 9100 Fax: +971 4 447 2409

12 OPINION: On the wire

14 PRODUCTS: The latest tools and technologies for the cabling industry.

Printed by Printwell Printing Press Regional partner of

© Copyright 2016 CPI All rights reserved While the publishers have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of all information in this magazine, they will not be held responsible for any errors therein.

COVER FEATURE DATA CENTRE

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CABLING THE DATA CENTRE

The face of the data centre is changing in the wake of emerging technologies, putting huge strain on physical infrastructure. Here are the must-knows of tooling up your data centre.

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loud computing, softwaredefined architectures, IoT – these technology trends are transforming the data centre. However, these shifts require IT to rethink their traditional cabling strategies. It is no exaggeration to say everything that you once knew about designing a data centre cabling infrastructure needs to be re-examined in light of shifts in demand, technology and the vendor landscape.

“The pace of innovation in data centre infrastructure is increasing with more innovation in the past five years than in the previous 15 years," says Tarek Helmy, Regional Director, Gulf and Middle East, South and East Africa, Nexans Cabling Solutions.

There are a lot of changes going on in data centres such as centralisation of sites and growth of cloud-based solutions. The trend in data centres is towards

more data and bandwidth. With the ever-increasing number of mobile devices and IoT, data has also grown and increased exponentially. Data centres today need higher speeds, greater design flexibility and a cost-effective migration path.”

Narender Vasandani, Technical Manager, Middle East and India, Siemon, agrees, "One of the key trends influencing data centre cabling design today is the 2016 CABLING PLANNER 5

COVER FEATURE DATA CENTRE

fast development of IoT and Big Data generated by the IoT. This, combined with Internet protocol (IP) capability enables the connection of billions of devices to networks, and the collection of large amounts of data. Organisations are looking to effectively utilise this data to improve customer satisfaction, increase revenue, cut operational expenditures and improve productivity. This in turn has had a huge impact on data centre cabling design as it must allow for

Head of Training and Data Centre consultancy, R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa. "And for this, higher value cabling systems such as fibre are the way forward.

Fibre systems facilitate the setup of high-density cabling systems for data networks with paralleloptical connection technology.

Consequently, data centres can introduce 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or even 40 and 100 GbE as bandwidth to connect the fastest servers and switches to each other.”

"WITH THE EVER-INCREASING NUMBER OF MOBILE DEVICES AND IOT, DATA HAS ALSO GROWN EXPONENTIALLY. DATA CENTRES TODAY NEED HIGHER SPEEDS, GREATER DESIGN FLEXIBILITY AND A COST-EFFECTIVE MIGRATION PATH." Tarek Helmy, Regional Director, Gulf and Middle East, South and East Africa, Nexans Cabling Solutions

quick and efficient transmission of data for processing, analysing and storage."

With the IoT and Big Data driving the need for increased transmission speeds within data centre switch-to-switch backbone links to handle larger sets of complex data from multiple sources, data centres are now migrating from 10 to 40 and 100 gigabit per second (Gb/s) speeds.

Now, the question being asked is whether enterprises should invest in higher value cabling systems such as Cat8.

“Today, no one asks for a slower network and while it is 10GbE that is being deployed, all new implementations are factoring in the need to include easy 40G and even 100G migration as a part of their future," says Alfred Tharwat 6 CABLING PLANNER

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That being said, copper is still a good option for horizontal links (10G) and with the new Cat8, it will be able to provide 40G for 30 metres. So, it remains cheaper and sufficient for small distances, Tharwat adds.

Helmy says well-designed data centres utilise a well-balanced mix of copper and fibre. Traditionally, switch-to-switch connections are mainly fibre, but Cat8 make it possible to use copper in that capacity. Uplinks between switches may require speeds as high as 100G, while the switch-to-server downlinks require a lower capacity of 10G up to 25G or 40G. “Compared to top-ofrack design, this can be more costeffectively provided using copper structured cabling. LANmark-7A and LANmark-8 allow connections up to 30 metres in end-of-row or middle-

of-row configurations, providing an upgrade path for switches without recabling," he says.

When it comes to cabling, it is also important for data centre managers to follow the standards.

Cabling is an equipment category that has developed subject to a raft of standards that variously define the performance and capabilities of both copper and fibre cabling as well as offering guidelines as to best practice in design, installation and management.

“Of particular relevance are the new CENELEC EN 50600 series standards which will impact on data centres and buildings that house them," Helmy says. "The series is separated into practices in terms of building construction, power distribution, environmental control, telecommunications cabling and security systems, as well as the management and operational systems that oversee all of these.

It specifies a classification based around risks including availability, security and energy efficiency. Four telecommunication cabling classes have been developed.”

The EN 50600 standard is important as it creates a class system for redundancy in network cabling. This applies a standard to the network topology not just to the component products (cables, switches, connectors) where standards have largely been concerned with performance, technical specification and not risk, he adds.

Another question being debated in the industry now is if fibre is more ideally suited for data centre design than copper. “Due to the ability of balanced twisted-pair copper cabling to now cost-effectively support speeds of 40 Gb/s with the introduction of category 8, copper is the preferred choice for today’s data centre switch-to-server connections.

However, distance limitations and

the migration to higher gigabit speeds pose restrictions to the deployment of copper in data centre backbone switch-to-switch deployments for networking and SANs,” says Vasandani.

He adds that with the continual requirement for expansion and scalability in the data centre, cabling infrastructures must provide reliability, manageability and flexibility. Deployment of an optical connectivity solution allows for an infrastructure that meets these requirements for current and future data rates. Switching and routing, virtualisation, convergence and high-performance computing environments are examples of where higher network speeds will be required within the data centre environment. Cabling deployed in the data centre today must be selected to support data rate applications of the future, such as 100G Ethernet, Fibre Channel ≥32G and InfiniBand ≥40G. To do this, fibre cabling is a must. Fibre cabling is also well positioned to support future speeds of 400G. Tharwat says fibre systems facilitate the setup of high-density cabling systems for data networks with parallel-optical connection technology. Consequently, data centres can introduce 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) or even 40 and 100 GbE as a bandwidth to connect

"WITH THE IOT AND BIG DATA DRIVING THE NEED FOR INCREASED TRANSMISSION SPEEDS WITHIN DATA CENTRE SWITCH-TO-SWITCH BACKBONE LINKS TO HANDLE LARGER SETS OF COMPLEX DATA FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES, DATA CENTRES ARE NOW MIGRATING FROM 10 TO 40 AND 100 GIGABIT PER SECOND (GB/S) SPEEDS." Narender Vasandani, Technical Manager – Middle East and India, Siemon

the fastest servers and switches to each other. “Fibre also offers advantages in space savings and power consumption," he says. "We have seen extreme cases wherein R&M's high density fibre solutions have required 96 percent less space than conventional cabling systems.

They have also been seen to reduce the expense per port by up to 66 percent. There are additional benefits in that the power required for cooling is reduced as higher density means better airflow in the data centre.”

Data centres have a different approach in design and implementation when compared to

"WELL-DESIGNED DATA CENTRES UTILISE A BALANCED MIX OF COPPER AND FIBRE. TRADITIONALLY, SWITCHTO-SWITCH CONNECTIONS ARE MAINLY FIBRE, BUT CAT8 MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO USE COPPER IN THAT CAPACITY."

a LAN infrastructure in an office. In data centres, the main requirements are high-speed links with condensed number or terminations (fibre and copper). The high-speed links require either fibre links, which are usually pre-terminated fibre cables to support switch-to-switch connectivity or high-end copper technology such as Cat6A, Cat7A or Cat8 to support server-to-switch connectivity.

“Looking at bandwidth needs in data centres, we have to split data centre connectivity into two segments: “switch-to-switch” vs. “server-to switch” links," Helmy says.

"Switch-to-switch connections is fibre rich, while in server-to-switch more copper solutions are used.

Parallel optics enables us to achieve up to 100GB today with multimode fibres (OM3 and OM4). Two-lane singlemode is also possible but will be much more expensive because of higher transceiver costs. Upcoming copper standard of 25Gb/s and 40Gb/s over copper will also enable us to see more copper ports to support high speed server-to-switch connectivity.”

Alfred Tharwat Head of Training and Data Centre consultancy, R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa

2016 CABLING PLANNER 7

INTERVIEW NEXANS CABLING SOLUTIONS

TOOLING UP FOR NEXT-GEN DC Tarek Helmy, Regional Director Gulf and Middle East, South and East Africa, Nexans Cabling Solutions, talks about the trends in data centre cabling and what his company brings to the table.

8 CABLING PLANNER

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an you elaborate on Nexans’ smart choices for digital infrastructure range of solutions?

Earlier this year, Nexans launched data centre innovations under the name of ‘Smart Choices for Digital Infrastructure’, which includes different data centre infrastructure technologies that helps managers to support the exponential increase in data transmission.

‘Smart Choices for Digital Infrastructure’ is a concept which supports managers through the decision process by incorporating cabling systems which support several consecutive generations of active equipment and that are robust, flexible and scalable to adapt to new requirements. It is about supporting customers to make smart choices that will help them build and operate an efficient and costeffective digital infrastructure to support their business goals. These choices address challenges data centre managers face and include: • Flexible, cost-effective bandwidth architectures • Optimised space usage • Performance protection and enhancement • Faster modular deployment (with pre-term fibre and copper systems) • ‘Design through to operation’ support services What are the new trends in data centre cabling?

Data centres today need higher speeds, driven by trends such as IoT (Internet of Things), virtualisation, ‘Big Data’, mobile applications, new ways of working, service and network convergence and streaming. They also require greater

design flexibility and a cost-effective migration path.

Data centres have a different approach in design and implementation when compared to a normal infrastructure of a LAN. In data centres, the main requirements are high-speed links with condensed number or terminations (fibre and copper). The high speed links require either fibre links, which are usually pre-terminated fibre cables to support switch-to-switch connectivity or high-end copper technology such as Cat6A, Cat7A or Cat8 to support server-to-switch connectivity.

Optimum set ups include a mixture of copper and fibre cabling.

Copper cabling should support migration paths to connect servers running from 1G to eventually 40G whereas fibre cabling should connect network switches running from 10G to eventually 100G. Good quality cabling and careful design help to minimise disruptions.

Do you see the ToR design going away in data centres?

No. Top-of-rack architecture still remains popular in data centres.

However, the new 25GBase-T and 40GBase-T protocols, End-of-Row or Middle-of-the-Row network designs can bring significant cost benefits over Top-or-Rack (ToR) architecture.

Nexans LANmark-7A is ideal for data centres which currently use 1 Gb/s line speed at server ports.

LANmark-7A can be installed in cost effective End or Middle of Row Architectures and offers cabling for two performance steps ahead of today: 10GBase-T and 25GBase-T. With Nexans LANmark-8, even one

DATA CENTRES TODAY NEED HIGHER SPEEDS, DRIVEN BY TRENDS SUCH AS IOT (INTERNET OF THINGS), VIRTUALISATION, ‘BIG DATA’, MOBILE APPLICATIONS, NEW WAYS OF WORKING, SERVICE AND NETWORK CONVERGENCE AND STREAMING.

performance step further can be achieved towards 40GBase-T Is Cat 8 gaining any traction in the region?

Nexans is the first global vendor to offer commercially available Cat8 cabling solutions in this region. We have seen a lot of interest for our LANmark-8 cabling from the region especially during the recently held GITEX Technology Week 2016.

Can you run 25 and 40 G applications over copper?

Yes. Earlier this year, we launched LANmark-7A and LANmark-8 to cater to 25G and 40G applications.

LANmark-7A is upgraded in frequency from 1000MHz to 1250MHz to fully cope with the demands of 25GBase-T. Designed for applications beyond 10G, LANmark-7A supports existing RJ45 based legacy equipment using the backwards-compatibility of GG45 connectivity. This technology allows for a seamless migration to 25G over 30m while being fully compatible with 10GBaseT over distances greater than 100m.

LANmark-8, which is Nexans Category 8 copper cabling solution for data centres, supports both 25G and 40GBase-T. This new generation of twisted pair cabling is designed to support growing data needs by enabling cost savings for BASE-T protocols compared to fibre or twinax solutions. So far BASE-T is limited to 10G but 25G and 40G will be available soon and will require new cabling - better than Category 6A. While 40GBase-T is designed to support transmission distances of 30m, the additional headroom and reduced delay of LANmark-8 cabling will potentially support additional lengths of 10 percent in the same way that existing LANmark-7A cabling will support 10GBase-T up to 120m. LANmark-8 is ideal for data centres using 10Gbps server ports and can be installed in cost effective End or Middle of Row architectures to provide a two step migration path to 25 and 40GBase-T. 2016 CABLING PLANNER 9

OPINION FLUKE NETWORKS

VERIFICATION, QUALIFICATION, CERTIFICATION: WHICH DO I NEED?

By Werner Heeren, Regional Sales Director, Fluke Networks

Werner Heeren, Regional Sales Director, Fluke Networks

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hen it comes to testing a cabling installation, there are essentially three choices: verification, qualification and certification.

While some features overlap between test tools as you move up the hierarchical ladder from verification to certification, each type of testing answers one of the following questions to help you make the right choice.

Is the cabling connected correctly?

Verification testing answers this question. For copper cabling, these simple-to-use, low cost tools perform basic continuity functions such as wire map and toning. Wire mapping will tell you that each pair is connected to the right pins at plugs and jacks with good contacts in the terminations, while toning is used to help identify a specific cable in a bundle or at the remote end.

Some verification testers like Fluke Networks' MicroScanner Cable Verifier include a Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) feature to help determine the distance to the end of a cable or a trouble spot. It can also detect if a switch is connected to the cable under test.

For fibre, a simple Visual Fault Locator (VFL) can serve as a verification tool as it verifies continuous fibre connections to help find breaks, connectors and splices. It also verifies the proper polarity and orientation of fibres within a multi-fibre connectors.

While verification is ideal for troubleshooting and really the first line of defence in finding cabling problems, most cable testing requires more than simple verification. Hence it is rarely the only method used--unless testing POTS (plain old telephone service) voice-only applications running over simple voice-grade cable like Category 3.

Verification testing alone will not verify the ability of the cabling to support specific applications. And it

CERTIFICATION INCLUDES ALL THE TESTING THAT GOES INTO VERIFICATION AND QUALIFICATION, BUT ALSO MAKES SEVERAL MEASUREMENTS ACROSS PREDEFINED FREQUENCY RANGES AND COMPARES THE DETAILED RESULTS TO STANDARDS SET BY TIA OR ISO. certainly won't result in the ability to ensure the standards compliance required for a manufacturer warranty.

Can the cabling support the desired application?

Qualification testers include verification functionality but are more sophisticated with their ability to qualify cabling bandwidth.

Qualification provides the information needed to determine if the cabling under test will support the signaling of specific applications.

For example, if you have two cables that pass verification testing, Fluke Networks' CableIQ Qualification Tester might also show that only one of the cables can support 10BASE-T (i.e. 10 Mbps Ethernet) while the other can support 1000BASE-T (gigabit Ethernet).

Combined with verification functionality, qualification testers are also excellent troubleshooting tools. They are ideal for small adds, moves, and changes, or for setting up a temporary network that needs to be qualified for a specific network technology. They can also help in deciding whether an existing cabling plant needs to be upgraded to support a new application.

But like verification testing, qualification does not perform the certification required by cabling manufacturers.

Does the cabling comply with industry standards?

Certification testers are the only answer to this question. Used by commercial installers/contractors and enterprise facility managers

to ensure that new cabling fully meets the requirements of cabling standards such as TIA-568-C.2 Category 6A or ISO 11801 2nd Edition Class EA, certification is the most rigorous of all cable testing. It is required by cabling manufacturers to receive a warranty.

Certification includes all of the testing that goes into verification and qualification, but also makes several measurements across predefined frequency ranges and compares the detailed results to standards set by TIA or ISO. The results determine pass or fail in accordance with the standard and indicate if a link is compliant with a specific category or Class of cable such as category 6A or EA. This in turn tells you which application it can support.

The choice matters While the decision to use verification, qualification or certification testing ultimately comes down to what your customer requires, the bottom line is this: If you want the support and financial security offered by a cable manufacturer warranty, certification to industry standards with tester such as the DSX-5000 CableAnalyzer, part of the new Versiv Cable Certification System, is your only option.

Anything else puts the sole warranty responsibility upon you.

And with an average cost-per-link of at least $100 for a commercial installation, the dollars at risk are huge.

2016 CABLING PLANNER 11

INTERVIEW R&M MIDDLE EAST

ON THE WIRE Nabil Khalil, Executive Vice President, R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa, gives his take on the challenges the cabling industry is facing and on why continuous innovation is key for growth.

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Nabil Khalil, Executive Vice President, R&M Middle East, Turkey and Africa

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s Cat 8 slowly catching up in the market?

Not yet. At the moment, we can see that there’s still only a few manufacturers in the market who are developing Cat8 solutions. I believe that for most organisations’ requirements Cat6A is still the preferred solution. It is still the leading variant here in the region. However, with the industry progressing at a rapid pace, the need for Cat8 will definitely increase especially if it is backward-compatible.

The adoption of Cat7 wasn’t widespread because it had a backward-compatibility issue with Cat 6A and GG45 connectors.

And this is the promise that Cat8 and Cat8A make – backwardcompatibility with Cat6A and various connectors. We believe that it is critical to ensure the backward-compatibility feature even in the future upgrades such as Cat8. With that in mind, we have already begun working on our Cat8 solutions and we aim to do this in line with how the industry standardisation progresses.

In the future the demand for Cat8 solutions will be driven largely by data centres needing more bandwidth. Today’s data centres increasingly need higher speeds and flexibility. As bandwidth requirements continue

to grow, Cat8 has the capabilities to provide that extra connectivity organisations will need.

Can you tell us about your training initiatives for cabling installers?

A significant part of our investments in the region is focused on providing training and support to both, our partners and customers.

We have a training academy aimed at providing knowledge transfer on office cabling, data centres and FTTH. We have over 10 training courses that are segmented by topic to provide the necessary knowledge related to cabling in offices, businesses, residential and non-residential buildings and so on. We have a team of local experts who have been certified by our HQ in Switzerland providing insights to installers on how to correctly integrate our different solutions, into structured generic and office cabling systems.

In addition to that, we also offer a lot of support to our partners and customers through consultancy. We actively take part in thought-leadership events in the region as well. Moreover, we host our own events such as Data Centre Network Days roadshow, which spans across countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey.

How has the uptake of Netscale been in the region?

We have noticed that cost and space are among the biggest pain points organisations have when it comes to their data centres.

Every square metre and rack space they use cost them thousands of dollars.

We aim to address this issue through Netscale, which designed as an ultra-high density platform that utilises the smallest diameter uniboot patch cord for minimal cabling bulk.

IN AN AGE OF FAST-PACED GROWTH, WHAT HAS WORKED FOUR YEARS AGO WON’T NECESSARILY WORK FOR THE NEXT FOUR. SO WE HAVE TO KEEP ON ENHANCING OUR PRODUCTS AND DEVELOPING NEW SOLUTIONS TO KEEP UP. Its combination of market leading features save cost and space considerably in large companies within the financial, co-location and telecom segments as well as edge data centres.

Additionally, the solution offers a lower cost per port than previous platforms and provides a flexible upgrade path to accommodate needs for many years to come.

What are the major challenges that the cabling industry is facing?

Technological advancements such as Internet of Things, digitalisation and automation result to higher demands for more bandwidth, speed and availability. What’s more is that the data centre segment is growing at a fast pace, which is driven mostly by cloud and edge data centres. These present technological challenges for the cabling industry as there is more pressure now than ever for us to quickly develop new solutions that are able to cope with this bandwidth requirement.

Also there’s a pressing business challenge – the cabling industry is slowly becoming more commoditised. Because of this, more and more companies offering low quality solutions are coming up, which impact the added value of cabling solutions

in the market. This is a big issue for most manufacturers and providers of quality products and solutions like ourselves.

Having said that, we believe that innovation is always key.

We have to understand that we should never be complacent with the traditional products and systems that have already been on the market for many years. In an age of fast-paced growth, what has worked four years ago won’t necessarily work for the next four.

So we have to keep on enhancing our products and developing new solutions to keep up.

What are the trends you see impacting the data centre and cabling industries over the next couple of years?

We believe that the cabling industry will continue to grow both from a technological and business perspective. IT advancements like IoT and virtualisation will definitely push for more solutions that will give organisations higher bandwidth and more flexibility.

In terms of the cabling solutions specifically, while Cat6A and OM3 adoption are big in the market today, I think that will change gradually moving forward. As the IT industry evolves, we need to keep up and develop more innovative solutions.

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PRODUCTS ROUND UP

SIEMON LAUNCHES LIGHTBOW ADVANCED FIBRE TERMINATION SYSTEM Siemon has launched its LightBow fibre termination system in the Middle East that continues to improve fibre termination speed, performance and reliability whilst reducing costs. Part of Siemon’s LightHouse advanced fibre optic cabling solutions, the new system features an exclusive patentpending termination tool and pre-polished mechanical splice connectors that together reduce termination time, prevent fibre end face contamination and air gaps, and enable easy verification of termination quality.

Ergonomically optimised for use in handheld or table-top orientation, the new LightBow termination tool significantly reduces termination time by combining both splice activation and crimping in a single, optimised step and providing universal LC and SC connector

compatibility with no timeconsuming changeover. It also features integrated LC and SC strip templates moulded right into the tool to ensure proper strip length of the fibre. To enhance connector performance, the tool’s alignment channels simplify fibre insertion, whilst its patent-pending bow feature maintains proper pressure of fibre ends during termination to eliminate air gaps. To further ensure reliability, the entire termination process is completed with the connector dust-cap in place, protecting the critical end face polish from contamination or damage.

For use with the tool, Siemon LightBow pre-polished mechanical splice connectors ship factory assembled to eliminate timeconsuming field assembly of inner and outer connector bodies. Available in both LC and SC configurations, and in multimode and singlemode versions, the connectors feature a built-in verification window in the connector body for use with Siemon’s 0.5mW output power, Laser Class 1 visual fault locator (VFL). This allows technicians to immediately verify a positive termination. Following termination verification, the new system offers the unique ability to adjust the fibre or re-terminate the connectors if needed.

cannot damage the dome-end splice in any way.

R&M will offer three models of the solution, the largest of which

can hold up to 1,152 fibres and splices. The system also guarantees a bending radius of 40 mm, regardless of packing density, which is gentle on fibres. Cables up to 28 mm and micro ducts up to 14 mm in diameter fit in the kits, making the dome closure suited to virtually any application including distribution, branch, and cable joint closure.

With the new SYNO dome closure, the cable entries can be opened, closed, changed, and retrofitted in just a few simple steps. The cable bays and individual cables remain freely accessible, meaning that the dome closure can be modified or fitted with additional fibre optic cables even during network operations.

R&M DEBUTS SYNO R&M has introduced its modular outdoor closure – SYNO - for fibre optic networks.

Development of the new SYNO dome closure follows many years of experience gathered by the company's R&D team in Switzerland and its SYNO gel technology is an innovation in mechanical cold sealing. When the cable entry is sealed in the closure, gel surrounds each cable, preventing dust and moisture from getting in. Because of this, fluctuating temperatures, mechanical loads, or water pressure 14 CABLING PLANNER

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BELDEN INTROS SPACE-SAVING ETHERNET SWITCH

Belden has launched newest switch in the OCTOPUS family from Hirschmann – the OCTOPUS 8TX-EEC. The 8-port, unmanaged Ethernet switch is a compact, easy-to-implement device that enables reliable data transmission and increases IT security through its configurable feature set.

For engineers, system integrators and machine builders running smaller industrial networks, the new OCTOPUS 8TX-EEC provides a simple-to-install and space-saving

solution for specific application needs. Due to its ruggedised metal housing, the OCTOPUS 8TX-EEC not only performs well in the transportation industry, but also in general manufacturing, machine building and automotive applications.

With an IP67/65 rating, this compact solution can easily be mounted anywhere, without the need for protective cabinets. The switch can also withstand harsh conditions, including dirt, dust, vibrations, and water, as well as extreme temperatures.

The OCTOPUS 8TX-EEC meets application-specific standards and certifications for use in the transportation industry, specifically for use onboard road vehicles, metros and trains.

COMMSCOPE LAUNCHES ULTRA-WIDEBAND ANTENNAS CommScope has introduced new UltraWideband antennas that support the 1400 MHz and 600 MHz frequency bands, the latest spectrum being released for cellular network use. CommScope has already delivered the Ultra-Wideband antenna for 1400 MHz to a major European operator.

CommScope’s UltraWideband antenna covers the full spectrum of 1427 to 2690 MHz. Uniquely, it has separate inputs for the 1400 MHz band, enabling downtilt

for just that band, while still offering 4x2 and 4x4 MIMO capability on the 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2600 MHz bands without increasing the size of the antenna.

PANDUIT UNVEILS HD FLEX 2.0

Panduit has launched its new HD Flex 2.0 Fibre Cabling System. The latest addition to Panduit’s expansive line of fibre solutions, the HD Flex 2.0 Fibre Cabling System, has been designed for ease of integration with existing fibre infrastructure by accommodating fibre cassettes and fibre adapter panels (FAPs) with different port counts within the same innovative enclosure and panel. 6-port or 12-port cassettes and FAPs can be deployed in virtually any combination to achieve up to 144-fibres (LC) or 864-fibres (MPO) per rack unit. This solution enables seamless port migration from 10G to 25/40/50/100G in the same RU space without replacing existing fibres and provides substantial savings.

The HD Flex 2.0 Fibre Cabling System also provides a clear path for adopting Cisco Nexus* 9000 Series Switches and ACI* 40Gig and spine-leaf architecture with a reliable physical infrastructure. It offers the lowest installation and test costs through the utilisation of 12-port cassettes, as fewer cassettes are required per RU of rack space.

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LANmark-8

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Built around the GG45 connector with a 2GHz interface, Nexans LANmark-8 system supports both 40G and 25GBase-T whilst LANmark-7A accommodates 25GBase-T. Ideal for data centres which currently use 1 or 10Gbps at server ports today.

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