Cabling Networking Systems January/February 2009

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Also:

The magazine for cabling, networking and telecom professionals

Private Avaya Cabling Q&A The New Data Centre

Intelligence Manitoba Hydro’s New HQ:

Is Everywhere

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Contents January/February 2009

• Volume 11, Number 1

Leave fiber problems in the dust.

FiberInspector™ Mini for end-to-end face inspection inside ports and on patch cords.

NETWORKSUPERVISION™

Features

flukenetworks.ca • 877-963-5853

12

Building Smarts

18

Cabling Q&A

22

New Architecture Is Emerging

24

Troubleshooting Industrial Ethernet

Building intelligence is moving far beyond basic monitoring and control of mechanical equipment. Now enterprises are finding a multitude of new ways to leverage existing resources so that multiple devices — from access control devices and surveillance cameras to air quality and climate control systems — can carry on intelligent conversations.

CommScope’s executive vice president and head of the company’s enterprise division described his take on the economic downturn to the intelligent building space in a recent interview with CNS editor Paul Barker. The biggest concern for everyone is not what we know, he said, but what we don’t know and how deep and how severe it is going to be.

Laura Anderson, of the IBM Almaden Research Centre in San Jose, Calif., writes when it comes to data centres, complexity is the enemy of efficiency. And at the moment, thousands find themselves in the midst of mind-boggling complexity. Fortunately, the situation could soon change.

Ethernet is rapidly spreading across a wide range of industrial environments, but as frontline engineers are quickly realizing, the hostile environmental conditions can play havoc with their networks.

Departments 4 Editor’s Desk

January/February 2009

January/February 2009 Publications Mail agreement #40069240 Publications Mail agreement #40069240

Also: Private Avaya Cabling Q&A The New Data Centre

The magazine for cabling, networking and telecom professionals

6

News Hub

30

What’s New

Intelligence Manitoba Hydro’s New HQ:

Columns 28 BICSI column

Is Everywhere

18 In the next issue: Powering The Data Centre www.cnsmagazine.com

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29

Wireless report

34

Standards update

Cover illustration courtesy of Manitoba Hydro January/February 2009

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editor’s desk

A beacon in the dark During an interview in late November with Randy Crenshaw, executive vice president at CommScope and head of the company’s enterprise division, I asked him for his thoughts on the economic meltdown that is impacting every industry imaginable.

“Certainly there are a lot of people smarter than I that didn’t see the magnitude or the severity of what is going on,” he replied. “The biggest concern for everyone is not what we know, but what we don’t know and how deep and how severe it is going Paul Barker to be.”

To be sure layoff notices are being issued everywhere. A sampling across Canada includes: Sun Media: 600 employees, Rogers Communications: 100 employees, Ford, Chrysler and GM: A minimum of 20,000 workers even with a government bailout, CP Rail: 600 unionized employees, the PepsiCo plant in Trenton, Ont.: 258 workers, Potash manufacturer Agrium: 380 employees at its plant in Vanscoy, Sask., Bombardier Recreational Products: 1,000 employees, including 630 at its Valcourt plant and head office.

Crenshaw noted that the real problem is the uncertainty of it all and the longer the recession lasts, the more things will be delayed: “In previous economic upheavals it’s either been isolated or there was a place to hide,” he said. “This downturn is quite broad and unsettling.

“I have explained to my people here that it’s almost like trying to measure the depth of the ocean with a yardstick. You don’t know if it is a metre or a thousand metres deep.”

Even if it is a thousand metres deep, the recession (depression?) will end eventually, which brings me around to Manitoba Hydro, which for the structured cabling and networking sectors at least, is a beacon for all that might be possible when this prolonged economic slump finally ends. The organization’s new $278 million headquarters will have 100% fresh outdoor air 24 hours a day, 365 days a year compared to a typical North American building where as much as 80% of the air is re-circulated.

A news release from Manitoba Hydro states that the structure optimizes passive systems for ventilation, heating and cooling and also incorporates an array of energyefficient drive, pumps and lighting systems.

Tom Akerstream, energy coordinator for the company, explains in our cover story, that there are about 3,000 control points in a typical building. This has more than 14,000, which control the building’s air quality, heating, cooling, lighting and security mechanical systems. “The biggest issue in all this was the control systems,” he said.

“It wasn’t like what we wanted was an off-the-shelf feature. You can’t go grab a control system that will open a window for example. There was a lot of custom design involved.”

It is all possible, concludes writer Denise Deveau, because today’s bandwidth and network infrastructures have the robustness and capacity to handle loads of extra traffic, and wireless applications are now secure enough to make the job of integration easier and more cost-effective.

In the piece, Greg Turner, director of global offerings for Honeywell Building Solutions in Raleigh, N.C., points out that today’s networks have made it much more cost-effective to reach out to a whole building from a sensing and control perspective and that’s having an interesting impact on operational functions: “It’s not just having the ability to connect everything on a common network, but also extracting value from those facts and exchanging information to make the building more efficient.”

Anything will be possible once the economy starts to improve. As Crenshaw notes, “this collective pause in the real estate build out may give architects, engineers and equipment providers time to come up with a new way to bring these advances forward.”

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Editor Paul Barker 416-510-6752 pbarker@cnsmagazine.com Senior Publisher Maureen Levy 416-510-5111 mlevy@cnsmagazine.com Advertising Sales Manager Vince Naccarato 416-510-5118 vnaccarato@cnsmagazine.com Art Director Lisa Zambri Production Manager John Desroche Creative Services Anita Balgobin Circulation Manager Beata Olechnowicz 416-442-5600 ext. 3543 Print Production Manager Phyllis Wright Advertising Sales Maureen Levy Vice President Alex Papanou President Bruce Creighton Editorial Advisory Board Keith Fortune, C.E.T. Consultant Robert Kostash, P.Eng., RCDD Sales Director • Commscope Solutions Canada Inc. Steve Lennox, Managing Director • Panduit Canada Mark Maloney, RCDD Senior Consultant • Ehvert Technology Services Rob Stevenson, RCDD/NTS Specialist Communications Division Manager • Guild Electric Ltd. Henry Franc, RCDD/OSP Brantz Myers, B.Sc Math and Computing Science Director of Public Sector Marketing - Cisco Systems Canada Co. Peter Sharp, RCDD, AMIEE Senior Consultant — Giffels Associate Ltd. Head Office

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Editorial purpose

Cabling Networking Systems is a publication for the structured cabling industry, covering the latest developments in telecommunications cabling systems in building facilities. The editorial content is directed at structured cabling, networking and telecom professionals The publisher assumes no liability for the accuracy or completeness of the text or its fitness for any particular purpose.

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12/24/08 10:30:36 AM

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Netve

news hub

Avaya readies itself for the recession

Economic conditions expected to speed up consolidation process, analysts told

By Paul Barker

Avaya Inc., the former business communications unit of Lucent Corp., no longer needs to concern itself with shareholders and excessive public scrutiny now that it is a private organization.

While that is particularly beneficial during an economic downturn, according to Todd Abbott, senior vice president of sales and head of the firm’s field operations division, the organization is fortunate in that it has a sound financial structure and unlike some key competitors, namely Nortel Networks Inc., is also profitable.

Speaking at a recent media and analyst event at Avaya Canada’s head office in Markham, Ont., he predicted that recessionary pressures are going to speed up consolidation in the enterprise communications market.

“We are anxious to see how the markets play out from a capital spend standpoint,” Abbott said. “We will continue to invest in the business for the long term and will not modify our plans in any way.”

Sierra Wireless to acquire Wavecom

Sierra Wireless Inc. and Wavecom S.A. a provider of embedded wireless technology for M2M (machine-to-machine) communication, recently reached a Memorandum of Understanding and plan to merge.

The purchase price is worth an estimated $346 million.

“The agreement reached between Sierra Wireless and Wavecom is a strategic milestone for both companies,” said Jason Cohenour, president and CEO of Sierra Wireless. “The acquisition of Wavecom will be the foundation of our plans to substantially expand our position in the global M2M market.

“Wavecom will significantly increase our scale and capabilities in Europe and Asia, both of which are important geographical expansion opportunities for the company.”

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January/February 2009

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The company, which was acquired by two private equity firms, TPG Capital and Silver Lakes in 2007 for US$8.2 billion, has reduced 27 product groups down to three since the sale — unified communications (UC), contact centres and IP telephony.

UC is defined by research firm Dell’Oro Group as the integration of voice with other modes of real-time communications, including instant messaging, video and multi-party collaboration.

In the third quarter of 2008, it estimated that worldwide revenues totaled US$3.1 billion and that Avaya had a 22% market share, three points ahead of its nearest competitor. Other companies tracked were Cisco, Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens and Microsoft.

“It is reasonable to believe that unified communications will be the next disruptive technology,” said Alan Weckel, a Dell’Oro Group director. “UC is bringing functions that have historically been confined to core PBX hardware into software applications.”

In the contact centre space, a report released by Gartner last year, found that Avaya held a 38% share of worldwide revenues, which put it 25 points ahead of its nearest competitor.

Todd Abbott: Dependency “The dependen- on call centres is going up, cy on them is going not down. to go up, not down,” said Abbott. “As companies look to fine tune their business, they are going to be looking to drive a level of support through their call centres.”

In terms of the enterprise telephony market, Infonetics Research stated in a recent report that it grew 8% between the second and third quarter of 2008 and that Cisco overtook Avaya for the first time in the overall PBX-KTX equipment market.

Demand for wireless will maintain industry profit levels of the telcos

average of 2.3%, its slowest pace in more than 10 years.

Canada’s telecommunications industry will remain healthy and profitable even in the face of a worsening economic outlook, according to the Conference Board’s latest forecast for the industry, which calls for annual profits of about $7 billion annually between 2008 and 2011.

“The continued rapid rate of increase in demand for wireless services-eight per cent increases on a year-over-year basis-is driving growth in the telecommunications industry.

However, profit levels will remain flat over the next few years, due to fierce price competition, and a slowdown in demand growth due to the economic slowdown,” said Michael Burt, Associate Director, Industrial Outlook.

Although growth in the telecom industry is not highly correlated with the rest of the economy, the current uncertainty will slow demand for telecom services. In 2008 and 2009, industry output will grow by an

TIA revises optical fiber cabling components standard

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) recently updated TIA 568-C.3, one of a set of four standards that constitute the TIA commercial building cabling suite, which is recognized as the industry benchmark for cabling performance and design.

Revisions of the remaining two parts of this suite are expected in 2009.

TIA-568-C.3 specifies cable and component transmission performance requirements for premises optical fiber cabling and is intended to be used by manufacturers.

It provides specifications for indoor-outdoor cable including minimum bend radius and maximum pulling tensions, and includes array connector specifications.

Further information on the new standard is available at www.tiaonline.org. www.cnsmagazine.com

12/22/08 8:19:26 AM

Netversity- 6 AB- CNS Jan09

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Page 1

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NetStaging of your solutions is exclusively available from Netversity. To expedite implementations on site, Netversity offers NetStage, a complete staging and testing service. Racks and cabinets are factory assembled, tested and ready for immediate installation upon arrival on site. An additional NetService offer is the pre-configuring of cabinets and rack systems with your UPS, cooling systems, servers, and switches as specified by the customer, adding further efficiency at the time of installation.

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news hub

Enterprise WLAN market will defy macroeconomic weakness: Del’Oro According to a recent report from Dell’Oro Group, the enterprise WLAN market increased over 15% in the third quarter of 2008 compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Strong demand for 802.11n-based access points not only lifted enterprise WLAN revenues in the third quarter, but also is helping increase the size of WLAN deployments, the research firm said.

Despite macroeconomic weakness, the enterprise WLAN market is forecasted to grow in 2009 as enterprises opt for higher performance 802.11n equipment.

“The combination of twice the speed, twice the distance, but less than twice the price of legacy 802.11a/g equipment is making 802.11n an increasingly attrac-

tive option for enterprises to provide network connectivity to their users,” said Ben Kwan, analyst of Wireless LAN research at Dell’Oro Group.

“802.11n is increasing the size of WLAN deployments. Since the introduction of enterprise-grade 802.11n equipment in the fourth quarter of 2007, the access point to switch ratio has grown by over 40%,” added Kwan.

The report also shows that revenue decline from 802.11a/g was offset by strong revenue growth from 802.11n on both a sequential and year-over-year basis. Strong demand for 802.11n equipment helped Cisco gain four percentage points of revenue share this quarter to reach nearly twothirds of the total WLAN market.

Intelliden issues five strategies for network, IT managers to navigate downturn

Intelliden Inc., a provider of Intelligent Networking software offerings, has outlined five key strategies, which it says will help network and IT managers navigate the current downturn and also ensure their companies are best placed for the economic upturn.

The five are: Control Cost without Compromising the Business: Technology managers need to harness technology that tackles the most obvious and easiest cost savings, especially if they find themselves resource constrained. Greater automation, and recovering stranded or lost network assets are two easy ways of cutting costs and controlling expenses.

2. Simplify Your Technology Environment: Recessions can actually be a great time to simplify IT architectures, systems and processes. Fewer systems are easier to manage especially with fewer people. One way to achieve this is through migration to commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software.

Look for Shorter Payback Period on your Investments: All new investments, including technology, will understandably be closely scrutinized in this economic climate. A recession dictates new expectations for better and faster return on investment periods.

Secure Your Network and IT Assets: As the economy swings into a downturn, fraud and crime swing into an upturn. This means the threat of cybercrime, data breaches, hacking, malware, phishing or knowledge theft will peak in activity. Without the proper protection in place, this can result in unnecessary cost when companies can least afford it.

Do Not Stop Innovating: Companies still need to be creative and innovative, even in a downturn. There is a tendency for many organizations to hibernate with IT paralysis in a recession. However, it is in times of uncertainty that the best initiatives often come to light.

CNS

January/February 2009

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Prevost to head up MTS Allstream’s enterprise solutions division

Manitoba Telecom Services Inc. has announced that Dean Prevost has been appointed president of its Enterprise Solutions division.

Reporting to CEO Pierre Blouin, Prevost succeeds John A. MacDonald who recently retired after six years with the company.

The division, which operates under the Allstream brand nationally, competes in national business and wholesale telecom markets.

Prevost moves into the role from his current position of chief corporate officer, where he had responsibility for overall strategy and corporate development.

Craig Wireless gets green light for 2.5 GHz spectrum in Vancouver

Industry Canada has approved a request by Craig Wireless Ltd. to convert its multipoint distribution system spectrum in the Vancouver area to Broadband Radio Service spectrum.

The approval will allow the company to provide fully mobile Wi-Max-enabled (4G) service in the Vancouver and lower mainland regions of British Columbia, while at the same time allowing it to continue to provide broadcasting distribution services.

FOA creates reference Web site for fiber optics

The Fiber Optic Association (FOA) has created a new free online reference site that contains a comprehensive collection of information on this cable media.

The reference site was created to complement traditional textbooks such as the FOA’s Fiber Optic Technicians Manual, but it can be kept up to date more easily, can be accessed from anywhere and is much less expensive than printed books.

“The Internet has lots of information on fiber optics, but it’s often written from a commercial point of view, outdated, incomplete and very difficult to find using search engines,” said Jim Hayes, president of the FOA. The site is comprised of basic reference materials in conventional web pages, topical tutorials in slide-show format and reference documents formatted for easy printing. www.cnsmagazine.com

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Conference stream

news hub

SMB data protection practices not on page with data growth: Symantec Symantec Corp. says that a new independent study finds that small and medium businesses (SMB) rate backup as their second-highest computing priority, after defense against viruses and other malware, and ahead of issues such as reducing costs and deploying new computers.

Upwards of 92% of companies have deployed some form of data backup technology, yet 50% of those respondents have lost data.

Of the companies that lost data, approximately one-third have lost sales, 20% have lost customers and a quarter claim the data loss caused severe disruptions to the company.

“A lot of small business owners don’t think data loss can happen to them,” said Susan Shea Cameron, a partner, Cameron

Consultation. “When the hard drives failed on our company computers, our work came to a six-week standstill, clients had to wait, meetings had to be rescheduled and we risked losing a curriculum that took 20 years to create.”

According to survey results, causes of data loss are diverse. Although natural disasters are often cited as a risk, on-site disasters are the primary contributing factor of data loss.

“In a small or mid-sized business, where money and staff time are at a premium, there’s always something more pressing to do than manage backups,” said Chris Schin, senior director of product management at Symantec.

“As digital data volumes increase so does the risk of irrevocable harm to a company’s bottom line if that data is not protected.”

IASTED Conference on Networks & Communication Systems Feb. 16-18 Innsbruck, Austria The conference, organized by the International Association of Science and Technology For Development, will allow researchers to exchange new ideas in both areas.

Contact: www.iasted.org International Wireless Communications Expo Feb. 16-20 Las Vegas, Nev. The show plays host to more than 350 exhibiting companies and 10,000 attendees involved in the two-way mobile communications industry.

Contact: www.iwceexpo.com CeBIT 2009 March 3-9 Hannover, Germany CeBIT, the largest ICT event in the world, will feature 5,845 exhibitors location in 20 different halls. Organizers expect upwards of 495,000 attendees.

Contact: www.cebit.de

Nortel wins Turkish contract

Upwards of 50% of respondents have lost data, according to Symantec.

Nortel Networks Ltd. has been selected

by Turkish construction company Yapi Merkezi to supply the telecommunications solution for the Polatli to Konya section of the Turkish high-speed railway project.

The contract, which includes GSM-R, SDH transmission backbone and dispatcher telephony systems, will cover the PolatliKonya section of high-speed railway which runs between the cities of Ankara and Konya in Turkey. Implementation of the telecommunications portion of the project will begin in 2009 and is scheduled for completion in 2010.

HP ProCurve integrates Colubris product line; releases new wireless product HP ProCurve has announced the integration of the Colubris Networks product line into the existing ProCurve networking portfolio, as well as a new 802.11n wireless access point that enables high-bandwidth applications across a network.

The new product line is the result of HP’s acquisition of the Waltham, Mass. wireless infrastructure last year.

Networks Intelligent Mobility Solution delivers wireless integrated access, management and security products as well as 802.11n 10

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January/February 2009

capability.

Meanwhile, the HP ProCurve MSM410 single-radio 802.11n access point is an indoor access point designed for discrete installation inside hotels, hospitals dormitories and office environments.

Read more news at cns.magazine.com www.cnsmagazine.com

12/22/08 8:21:04 AM

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12/22/08 10:44:05 AM

Building S

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cover

The highly sophisticated central management system developed by Manitoba Hydro is a paragon of high-IQ thinking. It joins a number of other organizations that are taking intelligence to the next level.

Smarts

By Denise Deveau

I

f there were a Mensa society for buildings, then Manitoba Hydro’s new headquarters in Winnipeg would be at the top of the list. The 22-storey LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold-certified building has more built-in intelligence than your typical operation.

“In a typical building you would have about 3,000 control points,” says Tom Akerstream, energy coordinator for Manitoba Hydro. “A complex hospital would have environment would have about 6,000. This facility has more than 14,000 fully-integrated inputs that control the buildings air quality, heating, cooling, lighting, security mechanical systems and other functions.”

He notes that getting up to the super-intelligence levels took a lot of human thinking. “The biggest issue in all of this was the control systems. It wasn’t like what we wanted was an off-the-shelf feature. You can’t go grab a control system that will open a window for example. There was a lot of custom design involved.”

Interoperability was an essential part of the selection process he adds. “We had to make absolutely sure in the design stage that any systems relating to the control and operation of the building could be integrated. This was critical for maintaining an optimal indoor environment and energy consumption.”

Another key consideration was the backbone. “There was a lot of debate whether to use one backbone for everything, or a separate one for the controls system.” The decision was made to go with a dedicated fully-redundant backbone.

It goes without saying the management of this extremely complex “neural network” was of equal importance in the planning and implementation stages. The highly sophisticated central management system developed by Manitoba Hydro is a paragon of high-IQ thinking.

By way of example, the building’s weather stations provide data to the building management system, which in turn

www.cnsmagazine.com

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The construction of the new 22-storey LEED complex was part of the agreement made by Manitoba Hydro in the purchase of Winnipeg Hydro.

Early in the process, a decision was made to go with a dedicated fully-redundant backbone.

communicates with different devices on each floor to tell the various spaces how to respond. If there is an extra amount of heat generated from sunlight in a specific area, the system will tell the blinds whether to open or close. Wind conditions will dictate whether windows or vents should be open or closed to vent air outside.

Depending on the programming configuration, lighting fixtures can respond dynamically to changing conditions.

Lights run off photo sensors during the day, and adjust to changes in ambient light conditions, while at night they respond to occupancy sensors. The system can also identify which lights are to be left on for security purposes.

Ackerstream says that while the building control and management system it has in place today is impressive, future-proofing was always a driver in the network design and decision-making process. A big part of that was adhering to open standards all the way. “Having an open architecture was critical, since it allows us to refine the controls as we evolve 14

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January/February 2009

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for optimum performance. I’d say with all the groundwork we did, we got it about 90% right to start with, but you need flexibility in your control systems because you can always do better.”

The fact is that building intelligence is moving far beyond basic monitoring and control of mechanical equipment. Now enterprises are finding a multitude of new ways to leverage existing resources so that multiple devices — from access control devices and surveillance cameras to air quality and climate control systems — can carry on intelligent conversations.

Adding more intellectual capacity to a building’s IP infrastructure has been driven by a number of factors, not the least of which is the availability of much more sophisticated and affordable control systems that can do everything from managing heating controls to opening blinds.

Bandwidth and network infrastructures have the robustness and capacity to handle loads of extra traffic, and wireless applications are now secure enough to make the job of integration much easier and more cost-effective.

The rapid adoption of telephony has also had its effect.

Those who have gone the VoIP route have proven that there are a lot of cost savings and efficiencies to be gained by putting voice and data on a single network. Now network managers are applying creative thinking to using the same IP backbones for even more applications.

The focus of intelligent applications has evolved over time as various political and economic forces have taken centre stage. The post 9/11 era spurred increased activity in improving security, as organizations used their IP infrastructures to ensure their surveillance and access control systems worked in tandem.

The last 12 months security has been surpassed by energy as building managers seek alternative ways to manage rising fuel prices and reduce their carbon footprint.

Bottom line thinking

“What is happening now is that people are looking at their buildings and saying we have telephony and data and have been able to drive savings, so why can’t we do the same thing with building automation and light controls — or any other (electronic) thing that we can put on an IP backbone?” says John Cowley, director intelligent building solution business unit for CommScope Inc. in Richardson, Tex. Ronald Zimmer, president and CEO of CABA (Continental Automated Buildings Association) in Ottawa, says that the move to building intelligence is really more of an interest in reducing operating costs, creating better indoor air quality and increasing employee productivity. “It’s very easy for example to reduce energy usage by 35- 45% with technology. That’s huge in terms of your bottom line and doing the right thing.”

A CommScope study of a major building project in the Middle East, in which 100,000 devices were connected and controlled through a central management system, delivered a 33% up front savings in cabling costs and reduced IT support staff needs by 70%. “This demonstrates that by going intelwww.cnsmagazine.com

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ligent you save on up front construction costs, as well as on back end operating costs to keep the facility running,” says Cowley.

The operative word to achieving these gains is integration.

As Jiri Skopek, managing director for sustainability for Jones Lang LaSalle, a Toronto-based global real estate services company notes, there have been plenty of control systems in place for some time that can provide intelligent data. However, they have often operated in isolation. “Typically, systems were installed separately, which meant dedicated wiring and a lot of redundancy. Now the move is to integrate all those legacy systems together to make a building intelligent.”

Integration can ultimately lead to a great deal of enlightenment when it comes to how buildings operate, from understanding water and steam usage, to lighting controls and occupancy management, says Greg Turner, director of global offerings for Honeywell Building Solutions in Raleigh, N.C. “Today’s networks have made it much more cost-effective to reach out to a whole building from a sensing and control perspective and that’s having an interesting impact on operational functions. It’s not just having the ability to connect everything on a common network, but also extracting value from those facts and exchanging information to make the building more efficient. For example, you can understand what areas of a building are in use when, and adapt your lighting, heating or air conditioning to meet demand.”

Upping the intelligence quotient of your building is not something that should be approached on an ad hoc basis. An important first step for many is getting a working understanding of your BIQ (Building Intelligence Quotient). This online intelligent building ranking tool is provided by CABA and BIQC (BIQ Consortium).

BIQ expert Tom Lohner, vice president of Peng & Associates in Chicago, says that in developing the certification, they first looked at traditional things people relate to intelligent buildings and typical automation systems. HVAC control was the most dominant, followed by lighting, security, intrusion protection and vertical transportation.

“For the most part these were standalone components, but we then looked at whether any of them could be integrated, as well as the additional features and benefits that could be gained from it,” Lohner explains.

The last part of the process is looking at whether integration could reside on the corporate intranet and/or had the ability to logically connect to the corporate network in a secure fashion.

Abracadabra.

“This last piece is more about the way a building is managed and maintained (at the enterprise level). We considered how using data from a building can be used to help improve ongoing operations and overall management of multiple buildings.”

A strong proponent of the BIQ process, Skopek says, “By using the BIQ scoring system you can determine the quality of the systems you have, how well they are integrated, and the functionality you can bring to the building through linking those systems.”

Once you know the lay of the network landscape, integrating intelligence doesn’t have to be an “all-in” proposition from the get-go. According to Zimmer, “not every building requires that you network your entire inventory of control systems. It depends on the building’s focus and your budget. A warehouse for example is far different from a courthouse or an airport.

In many cases, you might just want to have the lighting and energy systems networked.”

In addition, not all building management systems need to run on a network. Because many room-specific occupancy or CO2 sensors are small and low powered for example, they can easily be battery-powered wireless solutions. That said, building management systems actually put very little stress on a building’s network. Even video applications, which initially required a great deal of bandwidth, can be managed more effectively on existing backbones.

“It’s realistic to assume that if you put in a TCP/IP backbone in the last two years, you can use it for building automation purposes,” says Turner. “Compression algorithms (for video) are so much better, and end devices much more efficient.

Also, you now have the ability to allocate feeds between VPN tunnels which make for better network management.”

The only exception to the rule in virtually all cases is the fire alarm/emergency system. These require special routers and standby routers in accordance with building code requirements.

Designing for intelligence

The Bank of Montreal for one has spent the last few years evolving its intelligent building initiatives for several of its office towers. The facilities management team has automated a number of lighting, fan and air flow systems to optimize energy efficiency and indoor air quality.

“We can manage our buildings floor by floor, zone by zone,” says Mike Wells, director of facilities management. “As we learn how our occupants behave, we can automate changes

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Cat 6 cabling should be the absolute minimum for any new installation.

Pictured are the non-plenum Category 6A 1091 GigaSpeed X10 cable and the iPatch Rack Manager Plus, which displays end-to-end connectivity information.

in air flow and lighting to get as much savings as we can out of our office towers.”

Access control plays an integral part in optimizing energy usage, which is why BMO’s facilities team has also been standardizing its surveillance and security systems on IP networks in seven major buildings in the Greater Toronto Area.

A more recent pilot project is the implementation of a single, central monitoring system for two buildings, with a goal to increase that number over time.

For those working from a clean slate, getting the most out of intelligent integration on a new build has to start at the drawing board. Experts advise working with the architect and consultant at the front end of the project to identify what systems you want integrated, what are your electrical requirements, and whether you want to put everything on a single backbone.

In the interests of economy, many will opt for hybrid systems, since they have legacy equipment such as surveillance cameras that haven’t depreciated enough to warrant replacement. “Even if you’re keeping some systems, it’s important that you are looking to your future needs when it comes to cabling,” says Cowley. “That’s one of the hardest things for people to get their head around.”

A key component of any plan is ensuring interoperability 16

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and open standards. “It’s very important to have a homogeneous network with one standard to manage,” says Turner.

When working with existing systems, there are devices such as the Building Network Adapter from Honeywell that will TCP/IP enable proprietary, serial network devices.

Interoperability also plays a key role in the security aspects that go hand in hand with convergence. Manfred Arndt, convergence solutions architect for HP ProCurve, notes that one of the management challenges is how to seamlessly deploy policies and securely authenticate users on the network.

“Depending on the users, you have to ensure ongoing proactive management of communications security.

Adoption of interoperability standards is an important part of supporting that.”

Mark Ascolese, chief executive officer at EDSA in San Diego, Calif., a specialist in power analytics for electrical system applications also points out the importance of applying intelligent software tools to enable real-time design changes and to keep tabs on your power infrastructure in a real-time setting.

“If you want to make better use of energy and reduce your carbon footprint, you need the model simulation tools to figure out how design changes will impact electrical usage before you spend money. That’s a huge benefit.”

Cat 6 cabling should be the absolute minimum for any new installation, since Cat 5e can lead to bandwidth and frequency response, says Cowley. “That cable will be bundled with 40 to 60 other cables running to offices and cubicles, and bundles can create noise.”

Termination is another factor that deserves special consideration. Every time a transmission hits break, reflection happens. The higher the bandwidth and speed, the higher the reflection.

“You really have to pay close attention to crosstalk and termination issues,” Cowley explains. “Most cable installed today is UTP, but when it’s terminated at the jack, the wires are untwisted. If you’re not careful, you’ve defeated the whole purpose of using UTP, which his noise cancellation.

You wouldn’t believe the number of calls we get about poor performance on a network, only to discover that they bought cheap patch cords. So make sure you test everything, including outlets, connectors and jumper cables, to ensure they meet specifications.”

Redundancy is also a network design and installation essential. This can be achieved through both wired and wireless options. “It’s much like looking at a power system when you have redundant power providers,” says Lohner. “You should look at broadband services the same way and have redundant providers. You can accomplish that in a number of ways. Wireless and Wi-Max can be used as cost-effective alternatives.”

Whatever the choices, according to BMO’s Wells, building intelligence is a matter of applying sound technology principles, while keeping your business needs in mind. “The technology is available to do it now. The question is, whether it’ economical to exploit it or not. You have to figure that out before you move to the next stage.”

CNS www.cnsmagazine.com

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Siemon Labs has again proven its technology leadership with breakthrough Z-MAX innovations including zero-cross termination and PCB-based patchcords (patent pending) that enable best-in-class performance across every critical category 6A parameter.

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cabling q&a

CNS Interview With

Randy

Crenshaw

CommScope’s executive vice president and head of the company’s enterprise division provides his take on the current economic upheaval, and discusses a host of other issues including how the purchase of Andrew has worked out.

CNS: Let’s jump right into the economy. What are your personal thoughts about what is currently transpiring?

Crenshaw: Certainly there are a lot of people smarter than I that didn’t see the magnitude or the severity of what is going on. The biggest concern for everyone is not what we know, but what we don’t know and how deep and how severe it is going to be.

I have explained to my people here it’s almost like trying to measure the depth of the ocean with a yardstick. You don’t know if it is a metre or a thousand metres deep.

It’s the uncertainty that is the big thing and the longer the uncertainty 18

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goes, the more things are delayed and the inertia tends to slow.

In previous economic upheavals, it’s either been isolated or there was a place to hide. This down turn is quite broad and unsettling. My personal assumption is that the overall economy is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

CNS: How is CommScope as a company approaching the downturn?

Crenshaw: I have used the word measured. We have been in the industry a long time and the management team at CommScope is a very cohesive group that has been together for many years dating back to the late 1970s.

While we have not seen this exact downturn before, we have experienced some challenging periods of time. We are certainly going to be cautious. We will make sure that we are conservative in what we do and potentially scale back some initiatives, but stay focused on our long-term strategy and staying close to our customers.

Despite a challenging economic outlook for 2009, ongoing demand for bandwidth continues to create opportunity. IP traffic growth in wireless markets, communications infrastructure needs in emerging markets and data center demands all create opportunities for CommScope. We have also expanded our market, customer and geographic diversity with the acquisition of Andrew. In addition, through the Andrew acquisition, there are a lot of opportunities to help improve our cost position and global position.

I would definitely say our response to the current situation as measured at this particular point. We will, however, continue to balance manufacturing with customer demand.

We see both the wired and wireless as being synergistic, but mergers are never easy. I will say, however, we do see a lot of commonalities between this merger and the Avaya acquisition. We have a formula, we have a strategy and we think there are lots of natural synergies that have and will continue to come from this merger. It will make us a stronger company that delivers even greater benefits to enterprise customers. We are very happy with the progress so far and we believe it will pay dividends long-term for our customers and shareholders.

CNS: The wireless side of the business is clearly key to CommScope moving forward. What is the Wireless Innovations Group all about?

Crenshaw: We see the wireless and wired as really being an issue of convergence — they are complimentary. If you scroll back a few years, everyone was tethered to a PC somewhere trying to get his or her e-mails, but that has shifted to a mobile device.

We still see opportunities. To begin with, wireless requires a lot of wire.

There is probably more value in the wired part of wireless than there is in conventional broadband architectures.

Anything that consumes bandwidth naturally improves long term demand for our products.

There is still a large need for a broadband high-speed capability for transmission for data and video. We don’t see them as displacing technologies, per se, but see them as complimentary technologies.

CNS: From an enterprise perspective, how much interaction occurs between Andrew, SYSTIMAX and Uniprise?

Crenshaw: One of the areas CNS: Judging by your third quarter financials, it appears the purchase of Andrew was a good move. How difficult or easy has the merger been?

Crenshaw: It is keeping with our overall strategy, which is to be a total solutions provider for our customers. www.cnsmagazine.com

CNS q&a-feature 18-26.indd 19

where there is a lot of crossover would be in the DAS or Distributed Antennae System inside a building.

Certainly as a 3G or 4G communication device becomes more ubiquitous throughout a commercial building, there is going to be demand for universal coverage. Andrew has a lead-

ing solution in that space, but it’s really coming from the carrier today and it’s viewed as a service enhancement type of approach.

If you come at it from the enterprise space, now you have to look at it as a service differentiator and the ability to provide ubiquitous wireless coverage in a building and either lease it or provide it as an enhanced service capability.

Additionally evolving building codes may soon require ubiquitous wireless coverage for life safety requirements.

We think we are well positioned. We have the potential to take what has been a carrier product and apply it to to the benefit of the enterprise market.

Moving into the future, wireless also integrates into the intelligent building applications that we see. In summary, there is a good marriage and good synergy between all three divisions of CommScope.

CNS: Our cover story this month examines the intelligent building space.

What role is CommScope playing in this market and what opportunities exist?

Crenshaw: Lucent was an early pioneer in what we call IBIS — The Intelligent Building Infrastructure System—and it was a little ahead of its time. Frankly, that is one of the side benefits of a slowing commercial real estate market in North America and Europe in that it may allow the architects and designers time to rethink how they deploy the infrastructure within a building. It is also going to give the appliance providers time to refine and provide Ethernet interfaces for their devices.

Typically what happens today is that a general contractor wins a project and they farm out electrical one place, security another place, HVAC somewhere else and access control to somebody else.

You have all these disparate systems.

Intelligent buildings used to be a like-to-have thing, but did not make much economic sense. I think it’s going to make compelling economic sense as you look at POE devices where you don’t have to run a 110V to a remote location, you can integrate low power January/February 2009

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cabling q&a

and higher power devices and build a complete new infrastructure on an initial capital cost basis.

In the past, people attempted to justify an intelligent building on a total cost of ownership basis in which they paid a premium initially. I think it will evolve to the point where it is more cost effective to use Ethernet protocol to drive your entire infrastructure in a building of the future as it relates to green, intelligence and a lot of the attributes owners will want to have.

“Canada is a unique country with its own culture and personality and we cannot treat it as another state.”

This collective pause in the commercial real estate build out may give architects, engineers and equipment providers time to come up with a new way to bring these advances forward.

We can use our intelligent infrastructure to manage and control and help the building owner understand where everything is connected and where the critical of applications breaches exist.

We think it plays very strongly in our portfolio of products.

CNS: There is not a lot of “greenness” discussed around intelligent buildings, but I think it’s fair to say that will soon happen.

CommScope has always been an environmentally conscious company. We see it as a way to understand what is going on from an environmental perspective, what the initiatives are. Basically the Grid looks at what standards should be and makes recommendations to various agencies and organizations about what would be the proper way to design a building and to utilize components that are environmentally responsible. Everything can’t be made out of bamboo and string, but with proper measure, most products can be made more environmentally friendly.

Crenshaw:

CNS: Your company recently joined an organization called the Green Grid.

What is it all about?

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CNS: What is CommScope doing to improve its sales in Canada?

CNS: Clearly, R&D is important to your company. What key areas are you currently concentrating on?

Crenshaw: This is a key differentiator for CommScope especially with the Bell Labs legacy that we achieved with the purchase of the SYSTIMAX/ Avaya organization and Andrew’s longtime industry leadership in R&D. We have a substantial R&D focus and investment within CommScope.

There are key initiatives in the enterprise space that, come thick or thin, we will continue to fund. We think the areas around the intelligence infrastructure, where we can help customers manage their physical network, which is a chronic problem, is a key area. We also are investing in technology that makes our products easier to use, more intuitive and more cost-effective. In addition, data centres are going to be a hot space for the next three to five years as companies consolidate. We will also continue investing heavily in the optical space.

CNS: How do you see the fiber vs.

Crenshaw: So many buildings are poorly utilized and use very generic lighting, HVAC, drapery controls, security, etc. As people become more environmentally conscious, conservation is going to become a requirement that will be built into many codes.

thing we think distinguishes us is that we are media agnostic. People are going to be owning their infrastructure for telecommunications, data transport, video transport for a much longer period of time than they are going to own the electronics, typically.

We do not paint customers into one technology or the other.

Certainly fiber is going to be important, but we also think the highperformance copper-based 10G cables are going to be important as well.

copper debate playing out?

Crenshaw: I don’t really think it is a debate. We see them as complimentary products. There are applications where fiber makes a lot of sense.

There are applications where fiber, either due to the prohibitive cost of the component electronics or the use of PoE devices, will not be effective.

We make all mediums and one

Crenshaw: Since the purchase of Avaya’s Connectivity Solutions division in 2003 we have doubled our revenue in Canada and added staff. We provided that team with a lot more independence. Canada is a unique country with its own culture and personality and we cannot treat it as another state. We are also developing unique products and applications for this and other sophisticated, well-developed markets. We see Canada as a resource rich country with a lot of innovative capability and a bias to buy a high value product.

CNS: Finally, what differences, if any, do you see between the Canadian and U.S. markets?

Crenshaw: Probably the biggest difference to us is the dominance of Bell Canada. It bears a lot of influence. It is like having a large RBOC (Regional Bell Operating Company) in the U.S. Aside from that, we find customers on the whole slightly more cautious and a little bit more adept at taking a second look or letting others try first when it comes to such advances as Category 6A and high-performance fiber. That said, once they become comfortable with the technology, they embrace it very well and do a very good job.

Corporate customers in Canada are good at making a value decision about the product they are about to buy.

In summary, it is an important market for us.

CNS www.cnsmagazine.com

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feature

Change Is On The Way

Thankfully, the data centres of the future will be vastly different creatures than the power-guzzling, administrative headaches of today.

By Laura Anderson

A

computer, like anything else, works best when it is built and used for a specific purpose. Though far more complex than a hammer or saw, a computer is a tool just the same. And all tools must be designed to a task.

These days it is easy to forget this simple fact. As computer systems grow increasingly complex, particularly in the data centre, we find that many are being used in unintended ways — for example, running software they were never meant to run, or being housed in buildings that were designed for other purposes.

As hardware and software additions to the data centre require more and more connections between new and old technology, eventually the industry will hit a complexity wall in which data centres become unmanageable. The result will be widespread power and utilization inefficiencies at a time when energy and efficiency are at a premium.

That is why we believe that the data centres of the future will be vastly different

creatures than the power-guzzling, administrative headaches of today.

In coming years, the hardware systems that occupy these massive compute farms will be designed in concert with the software they are intended to run.

Indeed, even the buildings that house the data centre will be custom-built for the type of workload and processes the systems will handle. These new data centers will use less power, produce better results and require less administration.

When it comes to data centres, complexity is the enemy of efficiency. And at the moment, thousands find themselves in the midst of mind-boggling complexity. One technology that holds the promise of greatly reducing that complexity is virtualization, the process that pools disparate computing resources — processors, memory, storage — to appear as one. But so far virtualization has been mostly about consolidating servers. This is helpful, and it improves utilization, but it does not cut down on software complexity or signifi-

A New Data Centre Architecture Is Emerging

The data centre architecture of the future will be simpler, faster and far more efficient from the hardware to the software.

4 A nEw isv marketplace and developers network.

3

Ability to package applications with a full software stack (“application images”)

2 A hardware-service oriented interface between layers for scheduling

work hides many details of ensemble.

1

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Autonomic management of very homogenous pool of hardware resources management as “Ensembles.”

cantly reduce administrative costs.

There are three technologies that are emerging that will radically alter the virtualization landscape. One is the concept of a Virtual Machine Image, or VM Image.

A VM Image is the bundling of the operating system, middleware and application into a self-contained, fully operational package.

These images have instructions attached to them (metadata) that enable them to simply drop into a data centre environment, find the necessary resources and execute.

The second technology is VM Scheduling. This is akin to system provisioning, in which an administrator can decide when and where to run a particular VM Image.

It allows for rapid scheduling and prioritization of shared resources among other VM Images on the same system, for more dynamic and efficient environments.

The third technology is VM Mobility, which is the ability to move virtual images around the data centre while they are actually running, without skipping a beat.

Though there is still work to be done on the standards and licensing fronts, these technologies have the potential to greatly improve the dynamism and efficiency of the data centre. This new world of virtualization will require some significant changes to the data centre architecture itself. The major new concept that will emerge is something we are calling an “ensemble.”

These ensembles are essentially collections of homogeneous hardware, or clusters that have systems management capability built in; everything from workload optimization to restart and recovery. The key to these ensembles is their autonomic abilities.

In other words, they will monitor their own utilization, heat production and power consumption, dynamically allocating re-

12/22/08 8:25:41 AM

New World Telecom is

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sources as needed.

By using the principles of autonomic computing — Monitor, Analyze, Plan, Execute (MAPE) — these ensembles require very little by way of administration.

The goal of this re-architecting is to simplify the data centre.

Though the dynamic scheduling of workloads is actually a fantastically complex process, the interface that is exposed to the administrator is quite simple.

By using the ensemble structure, managed by a service-oriented virtual machine interface, the data centre becomes a system of selfcontained components that interact with each other on an as-needed basis. (see chart p. 22) There is one more element that needs to be rethought before data centres can reach their full potential. Though it may seem sometimes that they exist only in the world of ones and zeros, they are actual physical structures that require tremendous amounts of power and cooling in order to operate.

In this way, data centres are not unlike factories. And the lease, maintenance and power consumption are all factored into the cost of finished goods.

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In short, the data centre of the future will be a much more integrated, purpose-built machine. The type of workload will dictate the design of everything from the software to the building itself.

be mounted on BIX-type mounts.

6 Port modules come in several multimedia configurations that includes Category 6, Category 5E, Voice

Like a factory, there is an optimal efficiency that can be reached in a data centre by matching the machines to the building (or vice versa). By applying some of the same economic principles that measure the efficiency of factories to the economics of data centres, we have arrived at some surprising recommendations for optimizing data centres. For example, bigger is not always better. The cost benefits of scaling data centres begin to diminish if it is too large and requires too much electricity. Maximum efficiency points will develop based on the workload of the data centre and surrounding environment.

By optimizing all of the components that reside in this building block, and monitoring power and heat with sensors that feed back into the systems management capabilities discussed earlier, the data centre can attain maximum efficiency.

At a time when energy use carries heavy costs, both financial and environmental, every ounce of efficiency is highly valuable.

In short, the data centre of the future will be a much more integrated, purpose-built machine. The type of workload will dictate the design of everything from the software to the building itself.

And there may be a variety of different types of data centres, based on their respective purpose. Not as simple as a hammer, but just as efficient and effective.

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feature

Troubleshooting Industrial Ethernet Networks

Unlike office environments, slowdowns in industrial networks can quickly escalate into production nightmares.

You definitely need some help.

By David Green Frontline industrial engineers and network professionals can quickly solve a wide range of plant communications problems using a handheld portable network troubleshooter for 10, 100 and Gigabit copper, fiber and wireless LANs.

E

thernet is rapidly spreading across a wide range of industrial environments, but as frontline engineers are quickly realizing the hostile environmental conditions can play havoc with their networks.

This standardized, plug-and-play technology is easy to install and it works 99% of the time, but when it does not, it is not so easy to understand why.

With more devices being added to the network and fewer people on the factory floor, production and maintenance engineers are under growing pressure to ensure 24/7 network uptime. If they don’t, the consequences can be devastating.

Unlike office environments, slowdowns in industrial networks can quickly escalate into production nightmares. As a result, production and maintenance staff are under increasing pressure to keep networks up and running at top speed, and when they’re not, resolving any issues as quickly as possible in order to maintain or improve productivity and uptime.

In an industrial network, you may encounter cases of sensors in the network sending their information to multiple addresses instead 24 CNS January/February 2009

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of transmitting to the single, relevant address.

A pressure sensor in a bottling plant for example could be sending measurements to labeling, and capping in addition to the bottling machine, resulting in unexpected network traffic.

In addition, if the bottling line is not correctly segmented from regular network traffic, it may send the bottling-machine pressure information (a time-critical packet of information) at the same time as dozens of people in the corporate network are busily downloading a new network security fix, causing major ramifications on the production line.

On the industrial side there is also much greater sensitivity to delay or latency than in office environments.

When a forecast file takes 20 seconds longer to download than usual, a sales manager will not be too concerned. In the bottling line, the difference between 25 milliseconds and 2000 milliseconds could result in a run of bottles without labels — and all the costs that go with that kind of mistake.

This article explores some of the basic design and installation issues for industrial networks, as well as troubleshooting tips to help www.cnsmagazine.com

12/22/08 8:26:07 AM

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feature

you quickly recognize, locate, and solve problems in order to maintain or improve productivity and plant uptime.

Design and installation: As with any network, taking care of the basics when it comes to network design and installation can play a key role in improving overall long-term performance.

There are several things to consider when installing structured cabling in an industrial setting, these include: • Design to standards: Make sure to adhere to the TIA 568A installation guidelines (standards from the Telecommunications Industry Association that apply to structured cabling). When installing STP (shielded twisted pair) /fiber in a noisy and harsh environment, pay close attention to the cable length maximums and the quality of terminations.

• Understand the performance characteristics needed in your specific production environment: In most cases, they tend to require much lower bandwidth than office settings. (Sending 2K of a communication command requesting a temperature reading is more critical than a receiving a complete 2 MB photo and being able to see it clearly). It is more important to focus on accommodating multiple data commands traversing a process system, rather than prioritizing bandwidth or network transmission speed.

• Understand your communication priorities: With industrial Ethernet it is important to ensure that smaller commands continuously reach their end at exactly the right time. Cat 5e transmission requirements are usually sufficient to handle this type of traffic. Also gain a thorough understanding of the electrical noise generated by any nearby machinery when deciding upon UTP (unshielded twisted pair), STP or fiber optic components. * • Use the right components: Use protective cabling in any areas with repetitive motion or an area that a link might be stepped on or crushed. Many cable manufactures offer specific cabling with boots and/or advanced engineered material cable jackets specifically for harsh environments.

The basic troubleshooting sequence for any networking environment consists of these steps: Document the network — Create a diagram of the parts of the network, as well as the signal flow paths between various devices, using for example the EtherScope Network Assistant from Fluke Networks for discovery. This is enormously helpful in visualizing the problem and saving valuable time. A good practice is to start with the physical layer and work your way up the protocol stack (OSI model).

Collect all available information and analyze the symptoms — Verify or recreate the problem where possible.

Localize and isolate the problems — A good overall troubleshooting strategy is to divide and conquer; test and eliminate.

Subdivide or isolate the problems into a smaller function sections to eliminate culprits one by one, removing the largest and/or most convenient section first.

The step-by-step process should include: • Pinging or simulating signals to check for power and proper connections • If the connections are okay, proceeding to the control or 26

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management device • Looking at the PLC for error codes • Document what you did — As an important final step in troubleshooting, documenting of all the steps you took will provide a baseline which will be helpful in troubleshooting similar problems, prepare reports or train network support team members.

No matter what your cable type, it is important that you test and certify each link. Following are some of the more common issues you are likely to encounter when troubleshooting your network.

• Contaminated fiber optic cable end faces — Microscopic fiber optic cable is particularly susceptible to contaminants clogging the ends leading to communication breakdowns. This will show up as errors in the transmitted data and could be catastrophic.

• Device installation errors — A common and difficult-totroubleshoot issue is misconfigured devices. The original installer must select the speed of the connection between the switch and sensor. In some cases, the sensor may be configured for half duplex, and the switch on the other end to full duplex in error. Duplex mismatch is very difficult to detect since standard testing will indicate that the cabling is fine and that both the switch and sensor are connected.

The only clue will be extremely variable delay or latency so the network appears slow. A good tester can tell you the configuration of each device and will help you locate a mismatch.

• Device failures caused by a harsh electrical environment — Electrical signals carried over the network are susceptible to the harsh electrical and climatic environment. Several factors can influence or degrade electrical signaling, including high-energy sources such as lighting systems and heavy-duty machinery. Monitoring the network, one segment at a time can capture these events so you can isolate their source.

• High-voltage electrical loads — Transients, surges, and harmonics are the most common electrical phenomena found on high-voltage electrical feeder and branch circuits with breakers and non- linear loads. These and other phenomena like static discharge from rotating machinery can cause disturbances to electrical signals. Ground-loop currents are also notorious for creating erroneous equipment failures that are hard to diagnose. With attention to proper installation practices, minimizing sources of electrical disturbances, and using appropriately IP-rated devices you can mitigate many of these problems.

Although similar principles apply to installations in a data centre, Ethernet installations in dirty and noisy industrial environments require special consideration. To ensure your installation meets the customer and environmental needs you must design to standards, use the right components, and understand the appropriate troubleshooting techniques and equipment. As Ethernet continues to be deployed across industrial environments, new and specialized test tools are available to help isolate industrial Ethernet problems quickly and easily.

CNS David Green, P.Eng., is Director of Marketing for Fluke’s AmPac Region, including Canada, Australia and Latin America He can be reached by e-mail at david. green@fluke.com.

www.cnsmagazine.com

12/22/08 8:26:30 AM

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BICSI bulletin Richard Smith

ITS training schedule in the works Meetings at a number of technical schools across Canada planned this year including SAIT and NBCC in Moncton.

P

roviding education and training that keeps pace with the fast-changing information transport systems industry is a challenge.

Sources tell us that some of the top jobs in 2010 did not exist earlier this decade.

It has been stated that the education system will train people for jobs that do not exist at the beginning of their university program, but will at the end.

Many of these jobs will be a result of technologies that have not yet been invented.

One thing is certain, nearly all these jobs will use some form of technology that needs network access.

If jobs themselves do not use a technology then facilities where they exist will be monitored or accessed by forms of networked security systems or building automation devices.

In addition, did you know there are over one billion Internet devices in use today? It is calculated that there were 1.434 billion Internet users globally.

Amazingly, the numbering scheme Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) allows 4,294,967,296 unique IP addresses, which is not enough to distinguish all the network devices that will be in use.

This numbering scheme is based on 2 32; however, IPv6 was created to address (pardon the pun) the issue, it uses 2 128th power. In other words, imagine the career opportunities that currently do and will soon exist in networking.

BICSI Canadian Region Meetings: If your career is focused on Information Transport Systems (ITS) and training is what you are looking for, BICSI is finalizing plans to conduct Canadian Region Meetings at a number of technical schools across Canada. British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Burnaby, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary, and New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) in Moncton are queued up as host venues during the first six months.

We plan on returning to Algonquin College in Ottawa in late October or early November. The exact dates for these events will be available in upcoming BICSI communications and on our Web site at www.bicsi.org.

In conjunction with the meetings, we are also scheduling a number of BICSI training courses and BICSI accreditation exams.

We also have a number of Authorized Training Facilities (ATF) in North America and are now working to establish more in Canada.

Once in place, the added facilities will offer installation training that is needed.

Through the release of the Information Transport Systems Installation Methods Manual (ITSIMM), 5th Edition, in July of 28

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2008, followed by the new curriculum, all ATFs will now be offering four credentials through the program — BICSI ITS Installer 1; BICSI ITS Installer 2, Copper; BICSI ITS Installer 2, Optical Fiber; and BICSI ITS Technician.

Exam, Credentialing Information/Pricing: There have been significant changes with the exams and the credentialing renewal requirements.

There are no skip levels in the Installation Program. Therefore, the credentialing fee for the Installer 2, Copper, Installer 2, Optical Fiber and Technician exams are all $200. Each retake will be $75 for each part (hands-on and written).

If an individual does not pass both portions of the exam after three attempts, they must wait 90 days from the date of their last attempt to reapply for the exam, as opposed to the previous one-year waiting period.

The Installer 2, Copper and Installer 2, Optical Fiber written exams are 100 questions and particpants have two hours to complete the exam. The Technician written exam has changed to 150 questions and allows two hours to complete the exam.

All three exams are written in a knowledge (one should know the information) and application-based (knowing how to apply the knowledge) format.

The Installer 2, Copper will not be tested on Chapter 6: Optical Fiber Structured Cabling Systems or Chapter 9: Specific Applications. The Installer 2, Optical Fiber will not be tested on Chapter 5: Copper Structured Cabling Systems or Chapter 9: Specific Applications.

The Technician will be tested on all chapters, 1-9. No one is tested on the Appendix or Glossary.

All three levels will be given and are required to pass six random hands-on tasks. Examinees are still given two attempts and up to 20minutes-per-task to complete and pass all tasks.

Exam Requirements: For the Installer 2, Copper exam, one must possess at least one year of current and verifiable ITS industry installation experience.

For the Installer 2, Optical Fiber exam, one must possess at least two years of current and verifiable ITS industry installation experience. For the Technician exam, one must possess at least three years of current and verifiable ITS industry installation experience and hold the ITS If you want more information about ITS training, I encourage you to contact BICSI. Richard Smith, RCDD, NTS, OSP, is the Canadian Region Director of BICSI and the manager of Aliant Cabling Solutions in Moncton, N.B. He can be reached at rsmith@bicsi.org. www.cnsmagazine.com

12/22/08 11:02:15 AM

Trevor Marshall wireless

A pair of resolutions for 2009 One has to do with the cable television industry, while the other involves automobiles, mobile phones and common sense.

H

appy New Year everyone. It is time, once again, for a cou- tention. (Need convincing? I recommend the book “Traffic: Why ple of resolutions for 2009.

We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)” by Tom The first being that I will watch less television.

Vanderbilt.)

“Wait a minute,” I hear you say. “This is a wireless column, right?”

The problem is not that drivers chat on mobile phones, it: is that Sure thing, but sometimes one has to think outside the (idiot) box. we attempt to do any sort of multitasking behind the wheel of a car.

And I got thinking about the relationship between TV and wireChanging the CD, eating, yelling at the kids to Cut That Out … less late last year, while reading a newspaper report on the battle it is all distracting, but mobile phones are highly visible, so they end between cable companies and televisions networks over up taking more heat than they deserve. Some jerk cuts us whether the broadcasters could charge money for off and it is easier to blame the phone stuck to their their signals. ear than the sandwich sitting, out of sight, on I will leave the finer points of the argutheir lap. ment to others, but one sentence in the arCanada’s wireless industry knows it ticle stuck with me and it was this: “Only is better to convince people to police Cable can specialty channels are allowed to coltheir habits voluntarily than it is to lect such fees, since they are considwait until governments force us to be a great conduit ered discretionary purchases outside change our ways. Unfortunately, of basic cable.” the message is not being heard. As of information and entertainment, Hello? Since when has cable of this writing, Ontario is prepar(even the basic kind) been anything ing to join the growing list of provbut people can (and do) live just but discretionary? Clean water and a inces that have outlawed talking on reliable electricity supply: Those are a hand-held phone while behind the fine without it, thank you utilities. Cable can be a great conduit wheel. (The proposed ban also covers of information and entertainment, but texting, using a BlackBerry or an iPod, very much. people can (and do) live just fine without programming a GPS system, and other it, thank you very much. (I am one of them: in-car technology.)

I cut the cable in the summer of 2007.)

Such laws are difficult to enforce, and it is Cable television has never been essential, alpathetic that society needs to resort to regulating though some would try to argue it is because it brings common sense, but there it is. a world of programming into our homes. Sorry, that pales in comThat said, impending regulation is also creating opportunities for parison to the whole water and power thing. What is more, we have companies to solve the problem with technology. more alternative sources of news and entertainment than ever, inAn example is Vancouver-based Aegis Mobility, which has develcluding many mobile devices. oped DriveAssist. This application detects whether a mobile phone I would argue that if anything should be declared an essential is travelling at vehicle speeds. It then mediates, blocking outgoing communications utility today, it is the mobile phone. Cable TV will calls and telling incoming callers and texters that you’re driving and not help drivers who skid off the road this winter: Mobile phones will respond later. could save their lives.

I have oversimplified DriveAssist for this column, but would enYet in this country we have traditionally treated basic cable ser- courage companies concerned about their employees abandoning vice like a utility and mobile phones like a discretionary purchase. common sense when in charge of a couple tons of potential mayhem That is something to think about. to look at DriveAssist more closely: www.aegismobility.com.

Resolution number two: I will shut up and drive Here is another thing to think about. Canada’s wireless industry Trevor Marshall is a Toronto-based reporter, writer and observhas, for years, been trying to convince its customers to shut up and er of the Canadian wireless industry. He can be reached (on drive. (They are nicer about it, but that is what it comes down to.) his mobile, but not when driving) at 416-878-7730 or trevor@ There is a good reason for this. wordstm.com.

Driving is a remarkably complex task that demands our full atwww.cnsmagazine.com

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what’s new

Molex now shipping its PowerCat 6A cable offering Molex’s latest addition to the PowerCat range is its 6A shielded structured cable offering, designed to meet and exceed demanding applications by fully supporting 10 Gigabit Ethernet / 10GBASE-T /IEEE 802.3, while being backward compatible with 10BASET, 100BASE-T, and 1000BASE-T. In addition, the system offers alien crosstalk mitigation and insertion loss that surpasses all unshielded systems.

The PowerCat 6A consists of Category 6A shielded patch panels, both straight and angled, cable, patch cords and the new die-cast Datagate shielded 6A jack. The 24-port and 48- port 6A shielded patch panels are supplied with rear cable management trays for cable strain relief and neat dressing, and the angled panel provides enhanced port access, also minimizing patch cord bend radius.

Molex www.molex.com

IndigoVision IP dome reduces high bandwidth bursts

Eaton EPM software, power cables enhance data centre power management

The 9000 H.264 PTZ IP dome from IndigoVision overcomes the high data rates or loss of video quality associated with traditional IP domes when a camera is moving.

The design reduces high-bandwidth bursts during pan and tilt movement through the use of an algorithm that automatically adapts the compression to suit the type of movement. The result is improved video compression without losing picture quality during high-motion periods.

The cameras are available with a number of options including internal or external housings, day/night versions and multiple zooms.

They can be fully integrated with third-party systems such as access control and intruder security. An external alarm, such as a security perimeter breach, can automatically cause a 9000 PTZ camera to pan to a preset position to view the incident IndigoVision www.indigovision.com

Eaton Corp. has released the Eaton Enterprise Power Manager (EPM) software and a line of power cables, which the company says allow data centre managers to more effectively measure and manage power at the rack and server levels.

The software allows them to monitor and manage an unlimited number of enclosure power distribution units (ePDUs™) and midrange uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) with an enterprisewide view.

Eaton’s new cables offer a power distribution solution within three distinct product categories — adapters, jumpers and splitters.

Adapters enable equipment with disparate input/output receptacles to work together. Jumpers connect two pieces of equipment without cluttering up the cable arrangement; and splitters add extra equipment to a UPSorpowerdistributionunit(PDU)withoutusingadditionaloutlets.

Eaton Corp. www.eaton.com

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12/22/08 8:28:08 AM

Wiremold/Legrand floor box designed for raised floor, platform apps Wiremold/Legrand has introduced a round raised floor box that combines ease of installation with flexible configuration for power, data, and audio/visual applications. The FloorSource CRFB Series fits into a standard raised floor air diffuser opening, providing easy access to recessed devices.

In addition to raised floor applications, this UL listed and approved floor box is also approved for use in elevated platforms and stages in lecture halls, houses of worship, theaters, and concert halls.

CRFB Series Floor Boxes have multiple trade size knockouts to feed four separate compartments that accommodate power, communication, and audio visual services. Removable dividers allow boxes to be field configured or reconfigured to accommodate single services or multiple combinations in one unit.

HellermannTyton introduces a new push mount tie HellermannTyton recently launched the 7x12mm Fir Tree Push Mount Tie, developed to simplify the bundling and mounting of cables, wires, and hoses.

The tie features a fir tree design that provides a single mounting solution for a range of applications with various panel thicknesses. The fir tree base locks and secures the bundle onto the panel by latching onto the opposite side of the panel surface.

The tie is ideal for mounting wire harnesses in oval and rectangular 7x12mm panel holes and blind assembly holes. The disc on top of the fir tree covers the insertion hole, reducing the ingress of dust, dirt, and water. The outside serrated tie comes in two strap lengths to accommodate different bundle sizes.

Wiremold/Legrand www.wiremold.com

HellermannTyton www.hellermann.tyton.com

Clariton Distributed Antenna System improves in-building Wi-Max coverage Clariton Networks has developed CableMAX, a system designed to improve in-building Wi-Max coverage in commercial buildings such as hotels, hospitals and office buildings. CableMAX is an active Distributed Antenna System (DAS) based on the existing coax cables infrastructure, used to distribute TV signals within a building.

Coverage is achieved using a wireless access point, an inexpensive device connected to the TV outlet. All units have fixed transmission power. Fine tuning can be done after installation by moving access points between outlets or plugging in additional ones.

Clariton www.clariton-networks.com

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CNS SU

Literature Reviews Security The convergence of networking and security brings about greater capabilities as well as increased efficiencies. However, it also comes with its own set of challenges.

From traditional analog systems to fully integrated IP solutions, Anixter has the products, services, technical expertise, and global capabilities to get you up and running today to prepare you for the future of IP security.

To order your copy of Anixter’s 2009 Security Catalog or CD Visit www.anixter.ca or call your local branch at 1-877-ANIXTER

EZ-Path® Fire Rated Pathway The EZ-Path® System is a zero-maintenance solution for firestopping cables.This device features maximum resistance to fire and smoke whether empty or 100% visually filled, and remains fire and smoke compliant 100% of the time.The EZ-Path® System gives you many installation options and is available in three different sizes.

Berk-Tek® FTP Cabling Brochure Highlights 10G Applications Learn how Berk-Tek LANmarkTM-FTP cables support applications that require: • Control of signal emission • Additional security • Added protection from high EMI or RFI Learn about the first ETL-verified Category 6 FTP cable (part of the NetClear GTS solution) that fully supports the 802.3an 10GBASE-T standard.

Request your brochure: Berktek.info@nexans.com 800-237-5835 Or download it: www.berktek.com

Structured cabling and power solutions by Leviton.

The V200 Leviton catalogue is the complete catalogue for all your network solutions.

From copper systems, to fiber solutions to cable management, power solutions, PoE and wireless solutions, enclosures and tools we cover the range of products.

To order today email your request to: publications@leviton.com For additional information visit us on the web: Leviton.com

www.stifirestop.com

Nedco Telecom is now Nedco Communications!

Nedco Telecom has evolved again to meet the needs of a changing market.The convergence of networking and security is a reality.To meet these demands Nedco Telecom has expanded into the Security market by bringing GE Security and Digital Shield into our product portfolio.

However, with these changes we have outgrown ‘Telecom’ and have adopted a new, more appropriate name for this market segment.

Nedco Communications – Canada’s Preferred Choice for Voice, Data, and Security.

For more information please visit www.nedco.ca

Complete Grounding Solutions from Panduit Panduit offers Complete Grounding Solutions that comply with the Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centres.

Panduit solutions maximize uptime, maintain systems performance, and protects network equipment while providing a dedicated, low resistance, and visually verifiable ground system with a flexible design for use on EIA-310-D compliant cabinets.

For more information call 1-800-387-9689 or visit us at www.panduit.com

Connectivity Solutions New 2009 Catalogue from New World Telecom New World Telecom’s latest product catalogue provides complete solution for connectivity products.

• Category 6A (Augmented) • Category 6 • Category 5E • Voice • Audio/ Video • Fiber • Baluns • Cable • Tools/ Testers Download a PDF version of the 2009 Catalogue: www.newworldtelecom.com/catalog.htm Order a hard copy : nwtsales@newworldtelecom.com Visit: www.newworldtelecom.com Call: 1-866-507-4810

CNS 2009 MEDIA KIT CNS magazine provides quality editorial coverage for cabling designers, electrical contractors, cabling installers, consulting and specifying engineers, and end users (IT, IS and MIS Managers and Network Specialists).

The magazine reaches both influential and key decision-makers across the country – the very audience you need to reach.

To request your 2009 media kit, please send along your request directly to Maureen Levy at (416) 510-5111 or email: mlevy@cnsmagazine.com

Panduit

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Index of advertisers Companies

Pg. #

Email

Phone

Website

Belden CDT

2

csmith@adtrack.com

800-262-9334

www.beldenibdn.com

Berk-Tek

35

rebecca.cressler@nexans.com

800-237-5835

www.berktek.com

CableTalk Systems

11

solutions@cabletalk.com

905-791-9123

www.cabletalk.com

Canatal International 2008 Inc

11

info@canatal.com

905-405-0800

www.canatal.com

Fluke Networks

3,15

david.green@fluke.com

800-283-5853

www.flukenetworks.com

it360 Inc

25

svernon@plum.ca

905-695-0123 X214

www.it360.ca

JFC Solutions

9

jayf@jfcsolutions.ca

604-473-2500

www.jfcsolutions.ca

Leviton

36

bpotter@leviton.com

800-461-2002

www.levitonvoicedata.com

Nedco, a division of Rexel Canada

21

communications@nedco.ca

1-888-73NEDCO

www.nedco.ca

Netversity Solutions

7

cpadley@netversity.ca

905-952-2285

www.netversity.ca

New World Telecom

23

nasir@newworldtelecom.com

905-507-4810

www.newworldtelecom.com

Panduit

5

cdn-info@panduit.com

800-387-9689

www.panduit.com

The Siemon Compnay

17

info@siemon.com

866-474-1197

www.siemon.com

www.cnsmagazine.com

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standards update Paul Kish

40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet The IEEE 802.3ba Ethernet Task Force is currently working on an amendment that defines MAC, physical layers and management parameters.

F

or this month’s article you will find an update on the next generation standard for 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet.

What I have done is identify what technologies are being considered and what media types are needed to support 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s networking speeds.

The IEEE 802.3ba Ethernet Task Force is currently working on an amendment to the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. This particular standards update defines the parameters for 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/ s operation, including media access control (MAC) parameters, physical layers and management parameters. The first draft of this amendment was issued this past October.

What are the different IEEE 802.3 physical layer implementations for 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet? A brief description of these different implementations is listed below: Copper : 40GBASE-CR4: 40 Gb/s over four lanes of twin-ax cabling 100GBASE-CR10: 100 Gb/s over 10 lanes of twin-ax cabling Multimode fiber: 40GBASE-SR4: 40 Gb/s over four lanes of, short reach, multi mode fiber 100GBASE-SR10: 100 Gb/s over 10 lanes of, short reach, multi mode fiber Single mode fiber: 40GBASE-LR4: 40 Gb/s over four WDM lanes, long reach, single mode fiber 100GBASE-LR4: 100 Gb/s over four WDM lanes, long reach, single mode fiber 100GBASE-ER4: 100 Gb/s over four WDM lanes, extended long reach, single mode fiber The copper based 40GBASE-CR4 implementation uses a special connectorized cable assembly with eight twinaxial pairs, 4 x 10 Gb/s in each direction, for an aggregate data rate of 40 Gb/s.

The 100GBASE-CR10 implementation uses a cable assembly with 20 twin axial pairs, 10 x 10 Gb/s in each direction, for an aggregate data rate of 100 Gb/s.

The transmission parameters for these cable assemblies are specified up to 6 GHz and are intended for equipment-to-equipment connections for distances up to 10 metres (33 ft). There are no physical layer specifications under development in IEEE 802.3 for 40 Gb/s and 100Gb/s transmission over 4-pair Category cabling, at least not at this time. Such a need may develop over time; however, it is not envisaged before 2013 timeframe.

The 40GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-SR10 implementations use four or 10 pairs of multimode fibers respectively, for a distance of at least 100 metres.

The data transmission rate for each multimode fiber is 10 Gb/s, 34

CNS

January/February 2009

CNS standards 34-36.indd 34

for an aggregate data rate of 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s respectively.

The connector interface is most likely the MPO connector, although this is not specifically defined in the current draft standard.

The reference is to the performance specifications of IEC 617531-1 and IEC 61753-022-2.

Another question to consider is why is the distance limit only 100 meters and not 300 metres?

OM3 fiber is capable of supporting a distance of up 300 metres at 10 Gb/s. After looking into this, it is my understanding that the parallel optics transceivers for SR4 and SR10 are a different specification than 10GBASE-SR. The 100 metres distance is a minimum objective. It may be possible to do 200 metres or some longer distance yet to be determined.

Table 1 below shows the primary attributes of 40GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-SR10

F E AT U �

The 40GBASE-LR4, 100GBASE-LR4 and 100GBASE-ER4 implementations use two single mode optical fibers and wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) to achieve an aggregate data rate of 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s.

The specified wavelengths and the data rate for each wavelength are shown in Table 2 below.

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This is a brief overview of the cabling requirements in support of 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet over specialized copper cable assemblies and optical fiber. This work is under development in the IEEE 802.3ab task force.

The plan is to complete this work by mid- 2010.

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Paul Kish is Director, Systems and Standards at Belden. The information presented is the author’s view and is not official TIA correspondence www.cnsmagazine.com

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CNS standards 34-36.indd 36

12/22/08 8:30:00 AM