CONNECTIONS+ JAN/FEB 2014

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014

+ the mag azine for ict professionals

Smart

Brewing Moosehead updates its plant

Also: Security & BYOD

Private Dell

EBIF 2013 Formerly

Magazine

Our Expertise Is Rooted in Production

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Belden designs and manufactures an unsurpassed range of Infrastructure products. This gives us a unique expertise across connected product categories, allowing us to deliver the right solution that addresses your specific needs.

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CONTENTS Fe a t u r e s 22 . . . Smart Manufacturing Advances are occurring at a furious pace.

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28 . . . That Insecure Feeling Mobile and BYOD are changing all the rules.

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Departments Editor’s Note Infrastructure Systems Networks & The Cloud Mobile Movements New & Noteworthy The Back Page

member of:

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I n the N ext Issue

audited by:

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>> Building Integration >> Growing World of Big Data

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Jan/Feb 2014

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E D I TO R ’S N OT E

A New Beginning elcome to the premier issue of Connections+, the Magazine for ICT Professionals.

As you will see in the ensuing pages, whether discussing infrastructure issues, networks and the cloud or mobility, we are at a point where all four are so closely linked.

As an example, research firm IDC’s top 10 predictions for 2014 were heavily influenced by what it calls the 3rd Platform, “the industry’s emerging platform for growth and innovation built on the technology pillars of mobile computing, cloud services, big data and analytics, and social networking.”

According to IDC: 1. Worldwide IT spending will grow 5% year over year to US$2.1 trillion in 2014.

2. Emerging markets will return to double-digit growth of 10%, driving nearly US$740 billion of worldwide IT revenues.

3. Within the 3rd Platform, value will start to migrate “up the stack”, from infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to platform as a service (PaaS) and from generic PaaS to data-optimized PaaS. 4. The mobile device onslaught will continue in 2014 with

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sales of tablets growing by 18% and smartphones by 12%.

5. Cloud spending, including cloud services and the technology to enable these services, will surge by 25% in 2014, reaching over US$100 billion.

6. Spending on big data technologies and services will grow by 30% in 2014, surpassing US$14 billion as demand for big data analytics skills continues to outstrip supply.

7. Social technologies will become increasingly integrated into existing enterprise applications over the next 12-18 months.

8. Data centres represent the physical foundation underneath the cloud, and are thus a crucial component of the 3rd Platform. As cloud-dedicated data centres grow in number and importance, the market for server, storage, and networking components will increasingly be driven by cloud service providers, who have traditionally favored highly componentized and commoditized designs.

9. The 3rd Platform will deliver the next generation of competitive advantage apps and services that will significantly disrupt market leaders in virtually every industry.

10. Finally, the 3rd Platform will continue to expand beyond smartphones, tablets, and PCs in 2014 to the Internet of Things (IoT). With IoT momentum building in 2014, IDC expects to see new industry partnerships to emerge as traditional IT vendors accelerate their partnerships with global telecom service providers and semiconductor vendors to create integrated offerings in the consumer electronics and connected device spaces.

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Volume 1, Issue 1 January/February 2014

Magazine

the mag azine for ict professionals

Editor Paul Barker 416-510-6752 pbarker@connectionsplus.ca Senior Publisher Maureen Levy 416-510-5111 mlevy@connectionsplus.ca Advertising Sales Manager Vince Naccarato 416-510-5118 vnaccarato@connectionsplus.ca Art Director Mary Peligra Production Manager Karen Samuels

Vice President Alex Papanou President Bruce Creighton Editorial Advisory Board Keith Fortune, CTech, Business Development Specialist, Western Canada Network Solutions - Leviton Manufacturing of Canada Ltd. Henry Franc, RCDD/OSP Senior Account Manager, Professional Support at Belden

Creative Advertising Services Anita Balgobin

Brantz Myers, B.Sc Math and Computing Science Director of Healthcare Business Development - Cisco Systems Canada Co.

Circulation Manager Barbara Adelt 416-442-5600 ext. 3546 badelt@bizinfogroup.ca

Peter Sharp, RCDD, AMIEE Senior Telecommunications Consultant • Giffels Associates Limited/IBI Group

Print Production Manager Phyllis Wright

Alex Smith, President • Connectivitywerx

Advertising Sales Maureen Levy www.connectionsplus.ca

Rob Stevenson, RCDD/NTS Specialist Communications Division Manager • Guild Electric Ltd.

Head Office BIG Magazines LP, a div. of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. Head office: 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON Canada M3B 2S9 Tel: 416-442-5600 Fax:416-510-5134 Toll Free: 1-800-268-7742 ext. 3546 (CAN.) 1-800-387-0273 ext. 3546 (U.S.) Editorial purpose Connections+ targets 60,000+ individuals who purchase, design, specify, install, maintain and test structured cabling, networking and telecom products as well as facilities management specialists and senior executives who are responsible for overseeing the implementation and installation of these initiatives.

Connections+ is published by Business Information Group, a division of BIG Magazines L.P., a leading Canadian information company with interests in daily and community newspapers and business-tobusiness information services.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

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I nf r a st r uc t u re S ys t e m s

Copper Theft:

No Sign Of A Decline Commscope estimates that globally, it could add up to a ‘US$10 billion problem’

By Paul Barker

Late last year, Calgary Police laid a number of charges following a 13-month investigation into a sophisticated copper theft ring in which industrial metal was stolen from oil and gas sites in and around Southern Alberta.

Upwards of 44,000 lbs. worth of copper was resold by five individuals to local salvage yards netting the accused upwards of $100,000.

According to a recent article on copper theft that ran in The Gazette, the quarterly magazine of the RCMP, the value of the metal has

2013 ENTERPRISE GAME CHANGERS Survey respondents were asked to rank each game-changer in order of importance.

ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

44% of surveyed participants see the widespread use of mobile technology in the enterprise as a game-changer.

CLOUD SERVICES

44% of surveyed respondents pointed to cloud services as a game-changer.

40GBE AND 100GBE

32% of respondents indicated that 40GbE and 100GbE would have a significant impact on their operations.

INFRASTRUCTURE INTELLIGENCE

Nearly 1 in 3 surveyed participants mentioned the need for intelligent infrastructure.

GREEN, RELIABLE POWER

24% cite energy and green initiatives as game-changers over the next 5 years.

The above infographic chronicles findings from a recent Commscope survey.

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increased 290% over the past 10 years. “Theft of copper from remote communication towers, tilting lines or construction sites has had a huge financial impact on the industry, some reporting annual losses in the millions,” the article stated.

“And paired with the fact there are no identifying markers to differentiate illegally obtained copper from the legitimate, the ease with which it can be stolen from remote and rural sites, and the relatively light sentences offenders face if convicted, thieves face few deterrents.”

For Doug Wells, the vice president of cable solutions with Commscope Inc.’s broadband division, the fact there is an increase in cases of copper theft is not surprising.

“The demand for copper has continued to push the cost up, along with speculation,” he said in an interview. “While a lot of people have gotten smarter about it and switched over to bi-metals, we do see the problem continuing.”

A look at the physical cost of copper explains why. In late January 2009, it was just below US$1.50 a pound. Fast forward two years and it had risen to US$4.55 a pound. As of the end of December, copper was on the rise again and while still lower than 2011 prices, at US$3.44 a full 20 cents more expensive than it was in early September.

With the global demand for copper expected to rise by more than 40% to 27 million tonnes by 2020, Commscope is predicting a further price hike: “The rise in price has increased the incidence of copper theft, which is impacting many industries such as power companies and wind farms that rely on copper cabling for grounding applications and train companies that use copper in overhead power cables. www.connectionsplus.ca

Infra s t ructure Sy stems

as inside and outside plan bonding applications, it said in release.

“Companies trying to protect their copper infrastructure have been going to extreme measures to deter theft, many of which are neither successful nor cost effect,” Wells said at the time. “(They) have increased security around their plants, going as far as laser etching their cables so they can be traced when they are stolen.

Others have coated cables with a special liquid that leaves a stain detectable under ultraviolet light. Despite efforts like these, thieves continue to steal copper because of its rising value.”

GroundSmart Copper Clad Steel and an accompanying product called Copper Clad Aluminum, which is designed for inside plant bonding and grounding applications, are made from the bonding of different metals into a single conductor.

That fact alone, the company said, “drastically” decreases the scrap value.

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“The ongoing, unpredictable fluctuations to the price of copper on the global metal markets have become a great cause of concern for the telecommunications industry, which traditionally uses copper wire and cabling for network grounding of base stations, transmission lines to connect cell sites and voice and data networks.”

The company estimates that globally, copper theft is potentially a US$10 billion problem.

“In a utility, for example, it’s not only the cost of replacing the grounding network on a pole or substation, but also the loss of services and the danger of having people cut live wire,” says Wells. “People can be killed or severely injured.”

In January 2012, Commscope announced it had developed a copper-alternative grounding wire designed to deter copper theft and lower maintenance costs. The GoundSmart Copper Clad Steel offering has been designed for use in subsurface grounding grids as well

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Etelesolv’s Cimpl designed to cut IT, telecom costs Montreal-based Etelesolv has released a new fee-based monitoring service called Cimpl, which it says helps organizations connect complex information IT and telecom and IT assets, allowing them to control costs and resources.

According to the company, Canadian enterprises overspend on IT and telecom by 9-10% annually, which equates into millions of dollars being wasted every Chris Thierry, year, and has a profound impact on overpresident of Etelesolv all competitiveness.

“We have worked with big organizations, in every major vertical in this country over the past 10 years,” said Chris Thierry, president of Etelesolv. “Cimpl connects disparate telecom and IT information to clarify the picture of what’s being spent, and allows enterprises to take back control over their assets and expenses.”

Through Cimpl, managers are able to connect all telecom and IT assets in one place in real time. This happens via a dashboard where all the information is centralized and accessible through a customizable reporting portal.

Organizations are able to determine what assets they have, where they are located, who owns them and finally, who pays for them.

“Our engineering team aimed to do one thing: simplify life for managers seeking to get a handle on their IT and telecom assets,” said Vincent Parisien, the firm’s vice president of research and development.

The software uses an API layer that allows for third party software integration and is built using HML5, which means that it can work with any web browser or mobile device.

Thierry told Connections+ in an interview Cimpl “hooks” onto network log files.

“In the old days, the IT department would have all this information. www.connectionsplus.ca

They could technically dive in and put it together, but they don’t have the time. They are swamped and overloaded. The most important thing is to keep the network up and running. They are not there looking at all of these angles because it is time consuming.

“You have to go through the log files and if you don’t have a system, you are doing it through Excel and other traditional methods.”

The process is not only lengthy, he added, but it ends up being a project that only delivers “one-time” analysis.

“What I am saying is that this should not be a project, but a way of life,” said Thierry. “Organizations should be doing this at all times in a dynamic way. Bills come in every month, people are coming and going in an enterprise, usage patterns are changing. There are too many moving parts for any person or any one department to control this.”

Further information is available at www.etelesolv.com.

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The Cimpl software connects disparate telecom and IT information.

Jan/Feb 2014

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I nf r a st r uc t u re S ys t e m s

STANDARDS

What’s coming in 2014 and beyond

By Paul Kish

or this month’s column, I wanted to look at some of the new technologies and standards that are under development in the world of Ethernet and what this means to end users and network systems providers. The growth of Internet traffic, cloud services, high speed computing applications along with new server virtualization technologies and network convergence are driving the need for higher speed LAN connections. The speed of “switchto-server” connections is doubling every 24 months and the speed of “switch-to-switch” connections is doubling every 18 months.

Today, the transition from 1 Gb/s to 10 Gb/s server connections is well underway and by the end of 2014 will represent about two thirds of server connections. This is accelerated by the fact that 10 Gigabit (10GBASE-T) Ethernet ports are now available with LAN on motherboard (LOM) for new high performance servers.

The latest 4th generation, 28 nm 10GBASE-T PHYs reduce the power consumption to about 1.5 Watts to 2.5 Watts, they use less space and are less costly compared to previous generations. Because of these factors, 10GBASE-T is well positioned to grow rapidly in 2014 and 2015.

For “switch-to-switch” connections, networking speeds are transitioning from 10 Gb/s to 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s. Today most of these connections are at 40 Gb/s. Connections between switches at 40 Gb/s are accomplished using either: 1) QSFP+ Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables for short point-to-point connections up to 7 meters 2) QSFP+ Active Optical Cables (AOC) for longer point-to-point connections or 3) QSFP+ 40GBASE-SR4 transceivers and 12-fiber MPO structured cabling for distances up to 150 meters over OM4 multimode fiber

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

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100 Gb/s connections between switches are rare today because of the higher cost and larger form factor. 100GBASE-SR10 ports use a larger CXP form factor compared with the QSFP+ form factor for 40GBASE-SR4 and the SFP+ form factor for 10GBASE-SR. The IEEE 802.3bm Fiber Optic Task Force is currently developing a new 100GBASE-SR4 standard using four lanes at 25 Gb/s per lane compared to the existing 100GBASE-SR10 standard with ten lanes at 10 Gb/s per lane.

The net result would be to reduce the optical fiber count from 20 fibers using a 24-fiber MPO interface for 100GBASE-SR10 to 8 fibers using a 12-fiber MPO interface for 100GBASE-SR4.

This will enable an easier migration from 40 to 100GbE as both applications will use only eight optical fibers with the same 12-fiber MPO interface.

The transceiver cost for 100GBASE-SR4 is expected to be less than 100GBASE-SR10 and the transceiver may use a smaller QSFP+ 28 Gb/s (QSFP28) form factor, thus providing a higher density of ports.

25 Gb/s per lane transmission speed is expected to be the predominant speed for many future technologies, including Infiniband and 32G fiber channel. Also, a 16 x 25G wide bus is being considered for the next generation 400G Ethernet in the 400 Gb/s Ethernet Study Group.

In summary, to meet the needs of higher speed applications and increased network traffic, we are moving toward 100G and 400G networking speeds for backbone “switch-toswitch” connections and 10G and 40G speeds for horizontal “switch-to-server” connections.

The challenge is being met using more efficient transmission technologies that use less power and higher bandwidth cabling.

www.connectionsplus.ca

Infra s t ructure Sy stems

BICSI BULLETIN

Of regions and individuals

By Alfieri Negro

have been involved with BICSI since 2000, and have always felt strongly about its value to the ITS industry. Its contributions to standards, best practices, training and credentialing have helped shape and strengthen the industry into what it is today. I have also enjoyed the sense of community. When I was new to the industry, I found the people that were most willing to help me out, show me the ropes and mentor me were almost always strong supporters of BICSI. Today, I find myself echoing that attitude when I meet an industry newcomer that is looking for some help and professional development. I make an effort to introduce them around at BICSI functions, as well as steer them toward BICSI training and credentialing programs such as the RCDD or RITP. I feel my BICSI credentials have played a large role in providing me with most of the career opportunities that have been afforded to me.

BICSI credentials ensure an individual has displayed a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of information technology systems (ITS) and their associated infrastructure. It also demonstrates a willingness to invest continuing effort into staying current with new standards, products and design trends in the industry.

When I started in the industry, most discussions I had with customers centered on the performance of different copper solutions above the Category 5 level.

The respective merits of Category 5e, Category 6, Enhanced Category 6 and then, finally, Category 6A, were all discussed in turn.

Lately, most of my conversations surround migration paths for 10G to 40G to 100G, and different efficiencies in data centres. Other popular topics include evolving technologies such as IP-based video surveillance and access control, passive optical networks (PON) and distributed antenna systems (DAS). These technologies are pulling ITS into the realm of facilities management and the overall building tenant experi-

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ence. Throughout my years in this industry, BICSI has consistently striven to keep their members informed on these progressions in the ITS industry.

In my work across the country, I have found that the ITS industry has some fundamental regional differences, and there are very few truly national companies.

From cabling installers to system integrators, security integrators and service providers, they are almost all regional.

Even when they offer national service, it is almost invariably through a network of subcontractors, leasing infrastructures and other arrangements. Product lines and business practices also exhibit these regional differences.

Market conditions, individuals, strategies and companies have all interacted to form unique business environments, resulting in different manufacturers and product lines being preferred in different regions.

Which brings me to my point. Individual contributions matter to this industry. People can and often do have a lasting influence. Since I am a relative newcomer out west, I find it fascinating to overview an aspect of a particular market to try to identify the key reasons why it developed the way it did.

Often, it can be traced back to the influence of individuals that led to the business environment we see today. And BICSI plays a key role by giving us a forum to go out and get involved in the industry as a whole, not just as part of the company that employs us.

Taking a step back from the month to month or quarter to quarter focus of our regular jobs allows us to take a more strategic view of what it will take to keep the ITS industry growing and healthy, for all of us. This industry will end up being whatever we choose to make it, so, let’s work together to make it even better.

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Alfieri Negro has over 15 years of experience in the Canadian ITS industry and is an assistant region director for BICSI in Western Canada.

He is currently the Location Manager for Anixter in Calgary. He can be reached at alfieri. negro@anixter.com.

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N et w o r ks & T h e C l o u d

Going Private New Dell vows to make ‘bold bets’ in cloud computing, data centre and enterprise networking

By Paul Barke r

At Dell World 2013 the company made a number of announcements including the signing of a technology agreement with Red Hat in which the two companies will jointly engineer enterprise-grade, private cloud offerings based on OpenStack.

AUSTIN, TEX. – Now that he no longer needs to concern himself with the scrutiny that CEOs of all publically-traded firms must endure, Michael Dell and his executive team have embarked on a major overhaul of the company he founded in 1984, while still a student at the University of Texas.

The company officially went private on Oct. 29 with the completion of an acquisition by Dell and Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm, valued at US$24.9 billion.

At the recent Dell World user conference held six weeks after the deal was announced, he said going private will allow the company to make some bold bets and take risks without “having to constantly be thinking ‘if we do this’ what is going to happen in the next 89 days.”

The bets will largely revolve around cloud computing, enterprise networks, data centre initiatives, mobility and security.

Dell added he is not prepared to walk away from the personal computing space, despite some lackluster financial results.

Last August, for example, the company reported a 72% drop in quarterly earnings, the result of declining PC sales.

“The PC is continuing to evolve,” he said. “We have notebooks, tablets, convertibles, two-in-ones, three-in-ones. Every day I hear from customers that these devices are still incredibly important and remain extremely relevant. PCs for a lot of orga10

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nizations are how things get done. We are investing, innovating and differentiating in this space.”

Another major area of investment is the data centre, which Dell said is undergoing a transformation: “It is no longer about systems of record, but systems of engagement. It is no longer transactional, but relational. It is no longer proprietary, but open, accessible and cloud based.

“Data centres are the backbone of the world and the key to the infrastructure world and driving your organizations and in fact, billions of people around the world and our entire society forward.

“Technology holds the key to solving the world’s greatest challenges. At the heart of these challenges is the fact they are really computational in nature Think about water, energy, climate, education and health care.

“Cloud, mobile, social, Big Data, security challenges – all of these are changing the way technology works. It is making possible a degree of productivity, efficiency and smart decision making like never before.”

On the cloud front, the company announced a number of announcements that included: • A technology agreement with Red Hat in which the two companies will jointly engineer enterprise-grade, private cloud www.connectionsplus.ca

Ne t wo r ks & The Cloud

Michael Dell: Data centres are the backbone of the world.

offerings based on OpenStack. Dell becomes the first company to OEM Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform • Its intention to offer the Google Cloud Platform and its compute, storage and application services to developers through the Dell Cloud Partner Program.

• Deliver Windows Azure to its customers through the same program. The cloud platform allows organizations to build, deploy and manage applications across public cloud environments.

• The signing of a technology agreement with Accenture in which the two organizations launched offerings for cloud, security and application performance initiatives.

• The signing of a strategic partnership with Dropbox designed to help organization meet the needs of today’s evolving workplace and employees expectations for “easy anywhere, anytime” access to data.

• The expansion of Dell Ventures, Dell’s strategic investment arms, from a US$60 million fund to US$300 million. The company will use the capital to invest in “early-to-growth-stage companies” in emerging technology areas such as cloud, storage, big data, the next-generation data centre, security and mobility.

Laurie McCabe, co-founder and partner at SMB Group, a consultancy based in Northborough, Mass, said that while the cloud has been a murky space for the company in the past, with Microsoft, Century Link, Dropbox and Google on board with its expanded partner program, that is no longer the case.

“Dell’s journey to transform itself from a hardware company to a solution vendor has been ongoing for a couple of years,” she wrote in a recent blog.

“To achieve that, the company has been acquiring, building and blending hardware, software, services, cloud and open standards to broaden its technology footprint. But much of Dell’s progress has been buried in the drama of the fight to take the company private.”

Dell World 2013, she added, promised to be somewhat of a bellwether and while one event will not change things overnight, the company is off to a good start.

Another key area moving forward is the enterprise networking space. At Dell World, it announced upgrades to the Dell EqualLogic storage offerings and introduced a series of new enterprise switches, the company said are designed to “connect the modern workforce. www.connectionsplus.ca

Just as network architectures are transforming to accommodate new workloads, applications and delivery models, so too are campus network architectures.”

According to Brad Casemore, research director of data centre networks with IDC, throughout the last two years, building on its Force10 acquisition, Dell has bolstered its capabilities and portfolio in data center networking.

“Its data centre networking products fit into its integrated (converged) systems, and also represent standalone solutions for enterprises and cloud-service providers that are not inclined to adopt converged infrastructure,” he said. “Dell also is active in SDN and in software-defined infrastructure in the datacenter.

“An interesting development at DellWorld was the introduction of Dell’s N-Series of switches. Dell already had an SDN networking story in the data centre, but it now is broadening that capability to the enterprise campus. It sees campus applications for SDN around applications such as security and traffic isolation, as does HP, and we also see the potential for SDN applications in those areas. It is well placed to capitalize on the growth of enterprise SDN beyond the data centre.”

Further coverage from Dell World will appear in the March/April issue of Connections+.

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Data Center Infrastructure

Solutions

www.siemon.com/datacenters • Cabling Strategies to Maximize ROI/TCO • Data Center Infrastructure Design & Thermal Modeling

• High Density, High Performance, Pre-Terminated Copper & Fiber Cabling • Cabinets, Racks, Cable Management, Power & Cooling Solutions • Case Studies, White Papers & More

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N et w o r ks & T h e C l o u d

ICT CAPITAL

Three steps to avoid merger meltdown

By Mark Borkowski

he easiest time to change is when we are in crisis mode. It is human nature to resist change unless a decisive moment forces our hand.

During a merger, transition can be overwhelming for employees and problematic for companies to manage.

Leadership expert and internationally acclaimed business consultant Susan Steinbrecher puts it this way: “During a merger or an acquisition, there is usually a disproportionate amount of time and money spent on the financial due diligence and sadly, very limited resources are allocated to the ‘people due diligence’. But numbers don’t make a merger work; people do”.

Steinbrecher, an internationally acclaimed businesswoman, licensed mediator, executive coach and speaker, is CEO of Steinbrecher And Associates Inc., a management consulting firm that provides professionaldevelopment services in the areas of executive coaching, group facilitation and leadership training.

She says that “people capital” can make a merger thrive – or take a dive – and maintains that there are three steps to effectively navigate through the storm.

T Mark Borkowski is president of Toronto based Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corp.

Mercantile is a mid market M&A brokerage firm.

He can be contacted at mark@ mercantilema.com or (416) 368-8466 ext. 232.

Step One: Clash of the Cultures “Most companies think they can easily assimilate two completely different company cultures into one. This can be a recipe for disaster”, says Steinbrecher.

When you take the time to explore the similarities and the distinctions of both company cultures, you can conceive a more effective communication strategy.

Tip: Share best practices of both companies – not just the acquiring firm – and leave the corporate ego at the door.

Step Two: Communicate!

Bottom line: managers need to communicate more, show more empathy, have open forum conversations, allow employees to vent and yes, even show their emotions at times”, maintains Steinbrecher. This generates a healthier forum rather than an environment filled with disgruntled employees who may not be at their best under duress. They may even take it upon themselves to attempt to sabotage the business.

“If your employees are working in a service role,

Data Centre Cooling

innovation ENCLOSURES

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POWER DISTRIBUTION

CLIMATE CONTROL CLIMATE CONTROL www.connectionsplus.ca

Ne t wo r ks & The Cloud

ICT CAPITAL

would you want them to be stressed out and insecure – or worse – angry and upset? Would it not be better if they were on an even keel and ultimately more productive? At the end of the day, people want to be heard. They want their questions answered, and their fears identified and addressed. When a company leader cannot provide answers or refuses to communicate, it forces people to make up their own ‘story’. This has a spiral effect leading to a major impact on employees’ mental health”.

Steinbrecher says it is most important to address the emotional aspect of the merger before the business side. “Get their hearts before their minds,” she says. “What do you imagine your employees are thinking and feeling? They are scared and upset and may have lost their friends to downsizing or wonder if they’re next on the chopping block. If they have already lost a close friend due to the merger, they may feel like they have lost a family member: it can be traumatic”.

Address the 800-pound gorilla in the room, head-on. The more you engage them the more you will disarm them; giving you the opportunity to engage their mind. Summon up the courage to answer the difficult questions – even if you do not have definitive answers. This will engender the utmost respect for you, the leader.

Tip 1: If you don’t have answers don’t change the subject; simply say: “I don’t have that answer for you today but my commitment to you is that as soon as I have it, I will get back to you.

Here is what I can tell you…”

Tip 2: Explain what is happening and why – particularly important in any new decision that affects employees.

Tip 3: Communicate in more personal settings of smaller groups or “round tables” – this will impart a sense of encouragement and support.

Step Three: The Four Energy Quadrants If you are a leader involved in a merger or acquisition it is imperative that you take particularly good care of yourself so that your energy reserves do not become depleted. Of equal importance is the health of your employees to ensure they are operating at their optimum capacity.

Steinbrecher says the four “quadrants” of energy that must be addressed are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

1) If you observe a physical deficit you will notice fatigue. Pay close attention to proper diet, sleep and exercise.

2) An emotional deficit pertains to negative thoughts, which can be tackled through proper communication .

3) A spiritual deficit shows up as lack of motivation and sense of purpose. By offering reassurance and encouragement you uphold their resolve and enthusiasm.

4) When there is a mental energy deficit employees become distracted so involve them in decisions whenever possible and make sure they are clear on your expectations.

Tip: “Try meditation”, says Steinbrecher, the co-author of Heart-Centered Leadership: An Invitation to Lead from the Inside Out; Roadmap to Success; and Straight Talk from America’s Top 10 Speakers. “It is the best remedy for a distracted mind.”

To learn more visit: www.steinbrecher.com or via Twitter: @SteinbrecherInc. C+

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Mo b i l e Mo v e m e n t s

Changing urban equations Portability, mobility and the cloud driving the entire ecosystem now: Ericsson

By Pa u l B a rk e r

TOKYO – Ericsson has developed a cellular radio small enough to fit into a person’s hand that delivers mobile broadband access to users via standard Internet LAN cables. Japanese car manufacturer Honda is beta testing Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P) technology in which a pedestrian’s smartphone and nearby vehicles “establish a communications channel” to determine if the pedestrian is in danger of being struck by an oncoming car.

Meanwhile, the OpenStack Foundation, the open and scalable operating system for public and private clouds that was created by Rackspace and NASA three years ago, continues to gain momentum with organizations of all sizes signing on to the movement.

At the 2013 Ericsson Business Innovation Forum (EBIF) held in November, all three were highlighted as examples of initiatives taking place in the networking, mobile and cloud computing space that are not only changing individual industries, but society as a whole.

“This year’s forum will look at what urbanizations brings to business, people and society and what role ICT plays in 14

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this development,” Douglas Gilstrap, Ericsson’s chief strategist wrote prior to the event.

“Having those discussions in the world’s largest metro area with some 35 million inhabitants is the perfect location.

“Beyond the sheer size of its population, Tokyo also represents one of the world’s most advanced technology markets. In addition to global electronic firsts here is where mobile Internet over 3G was first launched. And with that, Japan was an early mass market for mobile apps.”

Speakers included Charley Watanabe, deputy-director general with Japan’s ministry of information and communications bureau, who said the Japanese government is investing heavily in ICT in areas as civerse as caring for the elderly and “building resilient towns against disasters.”

The ultimate goal is to produce the world’s most sophisticated ICT infrastructure through a combination of big data, sensor networks, cloud computing and smartphones.

Statistics released by Watanabe revealed that one-quarter of all sensors in the world are used here, the amount of all digital data will reach 40 zettabytes – which is equal to one billion terabytes – by 2016, www.connectionsplus.ca

M o bile Movemen ts

Pictured from l. to r. are Mats Olsson, head of Asia-Pacific for Ericsson, Charley Watanabe, John Rossant and Douglas Gilstrap during a Q&A session with media.

the cloud computing services market will be eight times larger than it was in 2010 and the number of smartphone subscribers will reach an estimated 94 million by 2018.

Worldwide, the most recent Ericsson Mobility Report indicates that by 2019, mobile subscriptions will reach 9.3 billion, of which 5.6 billion will be smartphones.

“It took more than five years to reach the first billion smartphone subscriptions, but it will take less than two to hit the 2 billion mark,” said Gilstrap, “Between now and 2019, smartphone subscriptions will triple.

“Data is driving the ecosystem now.”

Gilstrap added that on top of the 9+ billion subscriptions, there is also the machine-to-machine market to consider: “These two forces will drive innovation and lead to what we believe will result in the networked society. Usage will drive how people live and work with mobility.”

In a video on how mobility is shaping the ICT industry released in early December, Ericsson chief technology officer Ulf Ewaldsson said that “more than 90% of all the traffic in mobile networks globally is now data. That is changing the industry profoundly and it is also

Michael Bjorn, head of research at Ericsson Consumer Lab: Smartphone services can drastically improve people’s satisfaction with life in cities.

affecting the way operators see their role. They become the enablers of other industries to be connected rather than just providing voice.

“Mobility is changing the ICT industry in a way that it becomes the most significant technology in terms of traditional communication. These networks that were originally built for voice are now completely data-centric.”

In an interview with Connections+ he said that during the past 12 months since the last EBIF was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, much has changed. “Here in Tokyo we are describing a world where demand from the network is coming from other industries,” he said. “That is a big shift and will continue to do so even more.”

Another major shift, says Ericsson, is how mobile networks have evolved through 2G, 3G, and Long Term Evolution: “As mobility becomes part of the mainstream digital lifestyle, the next step is for the network to be the vehicle of cloud evolution.”

Regardless of the type of application, Gilstrap said, the traditional form of processing of transactions will have to change.

“We think the operators and the end users themselves want content, computing power, storage, transactional computation closer to the end user so that they have quicker latency,” he said.

“If you are on your phone and want to grab a video you don’t have to go across the world or if you want to grab an online game it is stored in regional pods, it is stored in regional footprints. The computing power and the transaction power is in the footprints within the network.”

•

The number of smartphone subscribers in Japan will reach 94 million by 2018.

www.connectionsplus.ca

•

•

The late Donald Richie, an American expatriate who was considered a leading authority on Japanese film and culture would have been intrigued by findings contained in a new Ericsson ConsumerLab report issued at the EBIF. “Londoners actually want to live in the suburbs where they have a bit of space, a spot of green,” he once wrote. “Tokyoites, however, want to live in Tokyo, always have, always will. For them the suburbs…

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Mo b i l e Mo v e m e n t s

John Rossant, founder and chairman of the New Cities Foundation, expanded on that the following day.

“Half the world’s population lives in cities and this is heading to 70% by 2050,” he said.

“It is changing how we live, think and breathe air. ICT is giving us unprecedented tools to make cities better and allow human beings to enjoy it more and be more efficient.

“I don’t think any politician is going to lose votes coming out strongly for smart cities.

“I can think of some mayors around the world who have made it a battle cry and who are really focused, be it Gregor Robertson in Vancouver, Mike Bloomberg in New York City and Boris Johnston in London.

“When you make the transition to networks and smart cities, in many cases you have to change the regulatory enUlf Ewaldsson, Ericsson’s chief technology officer, says that more than 90% of all the vironment. In North America, Europe and Asia it is based on traffic in mobile networks globally is now data. That, he adds, is changing the industry 19th century concepts of utilities and things like that. It is very profoundly and also affecting the way operators see their role. ill adapted often to smart initiatives.”

According to Rossant, it will take a collective approach. and the long commute exists only because they cannot afford to live “Particularly in this area of cities, the problems and the challengin crowded, expensive Tokyo.” Smartphone users in the Japanese capital as well as in São Paolo, Beijing, New York, and London were es are too vast for any one company. Almost by definition compapolled about their interest in, and the potential development of 18 nies have to collaborate with one another, often times when they are competitors. new services relating to assorted aspects of city life.

“We are all breaking new ground here so we have not seen that All four are megacities, defined as a metropolitan area with a before. Also, the public and private sectors have to collaborate.” total population in excess of 10 million.

Rossant, who founded the Swiss-based nonIn the study, individuals were asked to profit organization in 2010 as a means to generate evaluate new service concepts related to the “new perspectives on the future of cities,” referareas of city life they are most satisfied with – enced recent citizen uprisings in Sao Paulo, Rio de the availability of shopping, restaurants, and Janeiro, Istanbul and Stockholm as an example of leisure facilities. how ICT has evolved into a purveyor of change.

Examples of new services include social He calls it Urban Spring and just like the Arab restaurant guides, a digital real-time trainer, Spring that preceded these protests, “it is a sign of situational shopping recommenders, mobile how digital media technologies are being used by menus and table reservations, and same-day urban citizens to speak up.” goods delivery.

“People want more bandwidth and they absoRespondents were asked if a restaurant lutely have to get it,” said Rossant. ingredient checker service was of interest and “They have a total thirst for it.” while only 8% think the service is available toUrban change was a primary theme of an Ericsday, 61% expect it to be a normal service availson think-tank called NEST, an acronym for the Netable within three years. worked Society Forum held in November in Miami They also indicated they are looking for Beach, Fla. better services and improved communication At the event, the company released its 2013 Netfrom authorities via their smartphones. worked Society City Index report, which examines “Mass demand for new ICT services can how cities are and can benefit from ICT. change city life, beyond what we recognize, in “With one million people moving into cities evjust three years,” said Michael Bjorn, head of ery week, urban life represents some of the world’s research at ConsumerLab. greatest challenges and opportunities,” said Hans “Smartphone services related to shopping, eating out and finding entertainment can drasti- Vestberg, the firm’s president and CEO. “ICT is an integral and natural part of everything we do in this cally improve people’s satisfaction with life in cities. Smartphone services can also alleviate dissatisfaction, and expecta- urbanized world.

“To solve systemic issues of traffic congestion, C02 emissions, tions are high on the market to make these services available.”

Society, he told a group of reporters on the first day of the EBIF, trash collection, residential crowding, and more, collaboration is the only way we will bring workable solutions to cities.” is changing.

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I don’t think

any politician

is going to

lose votes

coming out

strongly for

smart cities.

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Mo b i l e Mo v e m e n t s

IoT & The STEM Factor A movement is underway to help fulfill the “unmet needs” of highly-skilled workers in science, technology, engineering and math.

B y Pa u l B a rk e r

NEW YORK – One week before research firm International Data Corp. released its predictions for 2014, Cisco Systems Inc. and the New York Academy of Sciences announced the expansion of a new learning initiative that operates via mobile computing, cloud services and social networking.

These three technologies along with big data and analytics are the “pillars” that make up the so-called 3rd Platform, which the research firm defines as the ICT industry’s emerging base for “growth and innovation.”

“In 2014, we will see every major player make big investments to scale up cloud, mobile and big data ca-

Wim Elfrink, Cisco’s chief globalization officer, is shown at a recent press event in which details of the STEM initiative were released. ICT will be used to connect students with their peers and experts in an assortment of fields.

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pabilities, and fiercely battle for the hearts and minds of the developers who will create the solutions driving the next two decades of IT spending,” said Frank Gens, senior vice president and chief analyst at IDC. “Outside the IT industry, 3rd Platform technologies will play a leading role in the disruption of almost every other industry on the planet.

“With IoT momentum building, IDC expects to see new industry partnership to emerge as traditional IT vendors accelerate their partnerships with global telecom service providers and semiconductor vendors to create integrated offerings in the consumer electronics and connected device spaces.

“This kind of collaboration and coordination will be necessary to reach the 30 billion autonomously connected end points and US$8.9 trillion in revenues that IDC believes the IoT will generate by 2020.”

As for the education part of the equation, Cisco and the Academy said here at a recent press event that two new partners, the city of Buenos Aires and the State University of New York (SUNY) would be joining the Global STEM Alliance’s original members, the city of Barcelona and Malaysia.

According to Wim Elfrink, Ellis Rubenstein, president and CEO of the Cisco’s chief globalization New York Academy of Sciences: Young officer, the program brings scientists will mentor STEM participants. www.connectionsplus.ca

M o bile Movemen ts

world class-education to students of all ages and will also help fulfill the “unmet needs” of highly-skilled workers in science, technology, engineering and math, which collectively make up STEM. Education is going to be the key, he said, adding that despite the fact the world is closing in on upwards of 20 billion “smart objects,” a mere 1% of the world is currently connected.

“The Internet of Things is creating an unprecedented opportunity for both current and future generations of (IoT) entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators,” a release issued by Cisco and the New York Academy stated. “As detailed in a recent study published by the World Bank, the ICT sector is rapidly growing with an addressable market of US$800 billion globally.

“Additionally, it is estimated that over the next 10 years there will be two million unfilled ICT-related jobs globally, correlating with a projected talent gap of 8.2% by 2022.”

The ultimate goal is to use technology to connect STEM students with their peers and experts in the various fields.

“Imagine all the kids on a type of Facebook,” said Ellis Rubenstein, president and CEO of the academy at the press briefing. “The kids will be able to interact with each other so that they stop feeling like they are isolated and dweebs or dorks. They are going to be with the most exciting kids in other cities and countries. On top of that, young scientists will be willing to mentor them 24-7.”

Nancy Zimpher, chancellor of SUNY said that at the same time there are a “massive number of jobs crying out” for good candidates, there is a major problem.

“About 30% of the students who go to high school fail to graduate,” she said.

“By the time you get to a degree program we are looking at less than 20% of the population that started high school making it to the finish line.

“These statistics are exacerbated in the STEM field. The statistics are diminished incredibly. We just do not have this STEM pipeline.”

In a blog posted following the event, Elfrink wrote that the “bottom line is that we need to attract more students to STEM fields in order to find innovative ways that enhance our quality of live, whether it is around urbanization, healthcare, supply chain, energy or even personal connections.”

The pipeline will soon have to be filled for as Carlos Dominguez, a senior vice president with Cisco pointed out, a “profound change has

occurred over the last five years,” in that “we are connected in ways that we could never imagine before.

“The Internet of Things, Smarter Planet, Programmable World do not let those terms confuse you because we are all talking about the same thing here. Every single thing that connects is outputting data and that data is being captured and processed and utilized to either save money through optimization or it is going to make money through knowledge via information analytics.”

The change will soon be felt on Wall Street, added Dominguez, who cited a recent paper from Richard Foster, a professor at Yale University. According to Foster, the average lifespan of a Standards & Poor company has decreased from 67 years in the 1920s to 15 years today.

He is also predicting that by 2020, more than 75% of the S&P 50 will be made up of companies that “we have not heard of yet,” Dominguez added.

Meanwhile, Tom Noonan, founder of energy management vendor JouleX, a company that Cisco bought last year for US$107 million, talked about the sheer amount of energy these billions of connected devices will not only use, but potentially waste.

“One of those interconnected devices whether it is a sensor or an actuator or an IT device, industrial device or a light … requires power or it cannot communicate over IP. “The sheer scale of the energy being consumed by our IT infrastructures today is mind boggling. Data centres being built in the U.S., Europe and Asia are consuming more power than the largest cities that support them.

“Cloud computing and mobility are creating an enormous amount of demand on our energy grids at a time when we are trying to be more sustainable and more careful with our environment. We are really dealing with a perfect storm here.”

Noonan, who now heads up Cisco’s EnergyWise Solutions division, said that any piece of hardware be it a printer, copier, router, switch, PC or wireless access point that is on all weekend without anyone connecting to it constitutes waste.

“This phone sitting in front of me costs about $10 a year to operate, which isn’t much, but if a large organization has 400,000 of them and they are only being utilized 36% of the time, the other 64% of the time it’s powered and wasted,” he said.

Continued on p. 20

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• There are plenty of wireless access points at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, home of the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and soon-to-be home of the NHL’s New York Islanders, upwards of 300 of them.

The US$1 billion arena, which opened in late 2012, is not only New York City’s newest sports and entertainment facility, it is has been built from the ground up to take advantage of all that is possible in an IoT world.

Cisco’s Connected Stadium offering provides the connectivity inside the stadium, while its StadiumVision delivers content to an estimated 700 high-definition digital televisions and 100 concession menu boards throughout the arena.

Content ranges from replays from the court to information on concession specials and when the event is over, how best to get home through a software application called Roadify.

“Our company is a data platform for mass transit information,” says Roadify CEO Scott Colber.

“We are aggregating open data from transit authorities around the world and distributing that through our mobile application, but also through public digital signage.

“When folks look up and see those screens when they are out in

•

• the hall it is like whiplash. What we are doing is presenting fans with information they need at the exact moment that they need it.”

Roadify was built for and by “folks who were tired of running after the bus; not knowing about transit delays and closures, frustrated trying to find a parking spot; tired of needing 15 different apps to navigate any new city.”

Meanwhile infrastructure wise, fiber is installed throughout the building as well as copper. “When I talk about the connectivity inside the building there is 24-pair multi-mode, 24-pair single mode fiber to each closet, basically 10 Gig to each closet,” says Chip Foley, director of building technologies with Forest City Ratner, owner of the Brooklyn Nets.

“Anything that we have connected is on a 10 Gig backbone, which is extremely fast. This is as robust as you can get right now.

“Everything is on the network – ticketing, point-of-sale, wireless, sound, security, access control, HVAC. It’s fully converged. You set it up with a single backbone and then you add multiple VLANS. which are segmented. If I have security on one network and wireless on another one, people logged onto Wi-Fi can’t get it on the security network. There are virtual segments that separate them.”

See also p. 38. C+

Chip Foley, director of building technologies with Forest City Ratner, owner of the Brooklyn Nets discusses Roadify during a recent press tour of the Barclay Center. It was built for and by “folks who were tried of running after the bus; not knowing about transit delays and closures, frustrated trying to find a parking spot, tired of needing 15 new apps to navigate any new city.”

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COV E R S T ORY

The Infusion Of

Intelligence Smart Manufacturing is all about what can be achieved by integrating network-based data and information and a manufacturing and supply chain enterprise.

By Denise Deveau

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www.connectionsplus.ca

COV E R S T ORY

COVER STORY

With

ce Wayne Arsenault, VP of Operations at Moosehead Breweries.

www.connectionsplus.ca

all the conversations you hear around the Internet of Things, manufacturing has had a pretty strong grounding in that area already, given the communication capabilities of sensors and controls that have been introduced to equipment over the years.

As Mike Hannah, manager of network and infrastructure product development for Rockwell Automation puts it: “For us, these things have been sitting out there on networks at the machine and plant level for over 10 years.”

That being said, the road to a truly smart manufacturing environment is not an easy one. Nor has anyone achieved the Utopian ideal of a world where every piece of information flows seamlessly from parts and receiving to production and shipping. But many players are getting closer to the mark with each passing day.

Smart manufacturing is perhaps best defined by the SMLC (Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition) a non-profit organization comprised of manufacturers, suppliers, technology companies, universities, government agencies and labs. It defines smart manufacturing as “the infusion of intelligence that transforms the way industries conceptualize, design, and operate the manufacturing enterprise.”

In more basic terms it is talking about what can be achieved by integrating network-based data and information that comprises all aspects of a manufacturing and supply chain enterprise.

Smart manufacturing could very well be a matter of competitive survival, says Rockwell’s chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch. At the first Smart Manufacturing CEO Summit held last year he said that “the combination of automation and information is the next wave of productivity. Being able to get real-time feedback from the consumer and to apply that information quickly to the plant floor to change what you’re making – that seamless integration of the enterprise, the supply chain and the plant – is becoming the next wave of competitive differentiation.”

That was the thinking behind Moosehead Breweries’ $35 million capital-investment program to improve manufacturing efficiency at its Saint John, N.B. operations. According to Wayne Arsenault, vice president of operations, it is now in Phase 2 of its modernization project for its canning processes, with more phases on the drawing board.

Going smarter is a matter of survival in the brewing industry, Arsenault says. “In this business, consumers are always demanding more value for their money. They want consistent product at lower prices. In order to become more effective and efficient at reducing costs, we have to invest in controls and automation tools to be in the game. It’s an absolute necessity.”

The foundation for Moosehead’s transition to a leaner, smarter production facility was the bottling operation, where upgrades to systems and processes have already reduced labour requirements by 50%, while maintaining the same output.

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The next stage in Moosehead’s smart manufacturing transition will be to connect handheld smartphone devices to PC-based controls on the shop floor to enable line diagnostics and troubleshooting.

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“Right now we’re working on a controls and automation infrastructure upgrade as well as linking that architecture with the corporate IT infrastructure so we can make more real-time information available from the board room to the shop floor,” Arsenault explains.

It is a long way from the days of person-to-person and paperbased communications, when there was no platform linking machines with PC controls or any kind of HMI (human machine interface) for the operator, he adds. “Now the lines are linked end-to-end and information can be displayed in real time up to the boardroom level. The next stage is connecting handheld smartphone devices to PC-based controls on the shop floor to enable line diagnostics and troubleshooting.”

“We moved from having to hit start and stop to several HMI screens that show the interaction between each machine,” says Matt Walsh, manager, brewery maintenance and engineering.

“At any point a technician can scroll in to view how the overall line performs, much like SCADA systems.”

With 12 main and 12 sub-machines (i.e. machinery that conveys product) fully linked, active monitoring can be performed on all sensors and variable speed drives and controls over Ethernet.

Once wireless is added, operators will be able to use the HMI to zoom into an area and troubleshoot or trigger a stop signal if needed.

“Bringing it all together allows us to harvest business advantages out of the system and take advantage of real-time information and troubleshooting capabilities, as well as store programs and history of performance,” Arsenault notes.

“Collecting and communicating feedback means we can look three stages ahead to see performance, and go three back to modulate things where necessary.”

Having worked on a number of infrastructure integration projects in manufacturing, includ-

ing for Moosehead, Andy Bentley, president of McCrae Integration in Toronto says the biggest movement over the last few years on the production front is the breaking down of the isolation that used to exist around manufacturing systems.

“Now everything is being integrated with overall business systems from top to bottom,” he says. “Production machinery is talking through networking infrastructures to business systems such as SAP and Oracle more than it ever has in the past.”

”

The foundation for Moosehead’s transition to a leaner, smarter production facility was the bottling operation, where upgrades to systems and processes have already reduced labour requirements by 50% while maintaining the same output.

”

While it all makes sense, it is not without its challenges. “There are different constraints that aren’t always understood by traditional IT specialists,” Bentley says. “They are used to working with different priorities and types of networks. Deploying systems on the shop floor that production personnel can service 24/7 gives the network a whole different look and feel.”

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COVER STORY

Industrial Ethernet a key part of the equation ike Hannah, manager of network and infrastructure product development for Rockwell Automation in Mayfield Heights, Ohio says there are three developments that will move initiatives along very quickly on the smart manufacturing front: big data analytics, cloud computing and virtualization and mobility/BYOD (bring your own device).

“At the centre, they will all be leveraging IT and Ethernet IP, the same protocol that is used in the enterprise space today. What is critical to the connectivity in industrial applications is the use of a standard, unmodified industrial Ethernet, like EtherNet/IP (Common Industrial Protocol), as all things start playing together and need to work together securely.”

EtherNet/IP leverages standard Ethernet IP and can co-exist within an Ethernet IP infrastructure allowing companies to achieve connectivity across all devices on a network.

As a more robust option, EtherNet/IP does not require special switches, gateway or proxies to connect over a standard Ethernet IP network.

To educate the market on the benefits of Ethernet, Internet Protocol and Ethernet/IP, Rockwell, Cisco and Panduit, in cooperation

M

with ODVA, have created Industrial IP Advantage (www.industrial-ip.org).

As Hannah explains, “we want to make sure that all products can co-exist and provide a level of consistency throughout the network. Right now, only about 50% of devices being connected at the plant floor are using an industrial protocol. With it, you can use one secure network technology that will coexist and share data with all other standard Ethernet devices sitting on the network.”

“There are trillions of dollars of value at stake by making operations more efficient through the Internet of Things – connecting more people, processes, data and things,” says Dan McGrath, manager, industrial automation solutions for Panduit.

“There are ways to move beyond the flat networks or multiple types of networks we find in factories to achieve a more comprehensive, holistic design. Ether/Net IP is the only protocol that can use all levels of the OSI stack without modifying it.”

A big part of Industrial IP Advantage is opening the lines of communication between the IT and the control guys, Hannah says.

“It’s about bringing them together and helping everyone see the bigger picture.”

The photos above were taken at Belden’s cabling manufacturing facility in Richmond,. Ind.

Security is also a challenge, because in many cases, third party vendors need to dial in to service equipment, and having VPN access opens up new vulnerabilities, he adds. “A lot are quite concerned about how to segregate the network for security to ensure they have protection from production to the main server environment. And IT’s drive for virtualization is not necessarily a fit with production requirements either.”

The biggest hurdle is getting process control IT on the same page, he says. “They never talked to each other in the past.

www.connectionsplus.ca

But most projects now cross over and require a level of interdependency.”

Jim Simpson, associate partner, IBM Natural Resource Solutions Centre based in Calgary says integration of information between the front line machines and business system also relies on understanding the value of the usefulness of the data in hand.

“There is a lot of instrumentation in all industries. While the extra data may be helpful, the problem is a lot of data does not mean a lot.”

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”

Smart manufacturing could very well be a matter of competitive survival, says Rockwell’s chairman and CEO Keith Nosbusch.

The chemical and petroleum industry has recognized for some time the need to bring all the pieces of information into a common place to tie it all together, he says. “That’s the critical piece. The next part is developing the techniques and capabilities to get real, action-oriented intelligence out of it so you can take prescriptive [or preventative] action.”

The severe weather conditions in remote production locations puts a significant burden onus on the wireless side, Simpson adds. “Advanced wireless networking is a must do for anybody in this t his industry to have near real-time monitoring of operations. There are a lot of small facilities that need to be monitored. At the same time, there are facilities like oil sands mines that are famous for their size, where players have to invest in mesh type networks to get the coverage they need to move data around.”

The industrial world as a whole is going through a dramatic change on the wireless side, as operations increasingly look to technologies such as wireless cards, Wi-Fi and ZigBee, says Dilip Advani, director of product management and marketing for Fluke Networks in Santa Clara, Calif.

There are however, particular challenges that are unique to industrial settings. “There are constantly changing environmental conditions that have introduced multiple problems in terms of interference.

Wireless communication is a completely different beast compared to a wired network where things are more controlled inside the cable.”

Testing for interference is a particularly critical is-

”

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sue in the manufacturing world, he says. “There are different types of invisible threats that exist that could cause problems. Video cameras, sensors, motion detectors … they can all cause problems for a Wi-Fi network. It’s important therefore for the organization to be able to detect sources of interference to ensure optimum network performance.”

Advani recommends using a spectrum analyzer at the Layer 1 physical layer to look at raw RF (radio frequency energy). “It can tell you if interference exists, the level of impact on your network and the root cause.”

Remote detection of devices can be done with a 24/7 intrusion detection and prevention monitoring device. “It helps detects threats that may exist within or from external sources in real time. This device will automatically alert you to the presence of a device [brought in from outside] and block it from operating in your environment.”

Whether it is a wireless or wired environment, the thinking part of a smart manufacturing operation is more than just cabling and access point decisions. Bob Speed, vice president of Lean Enterprise, for Belden says their Lean approach includes working on linking manufacturing capabilities and supply chain to meet customer consumption patterns and increase precision in production numbers.

“Doing it precisely allows us to get the output we’re looking for. We can actually go in to the machinery and tell it what to run and it will automatically know the processing parameters, set them and continually monitor them to ensure everything is staying where it is supposed to, regardless of where it is in the world. We can also gather data, transmit it for analysis, make decisions and transfer that back to the production machine to make adjustments.”

While it is ultimately about the integration of people, processes and technology, Speed notes that ultimately “machines are simply a lot smarter today.”

C+ Denise Deveau is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

She can be reached at denise@denised.com.

www.connectionsplus.ca

COVER STORY

Intelligent networking driving Ford Oakville Assembly Plant he Ford Oakville Assembly plant may seem like an unassuming building on a sprawling 487 acres, but underneath the hood you’ll find a networking powerhouse that manages and tracks the production of 250,000 vehicles a year.

According to Will Cowell, plant manager, having a vehicle roll off the line every 50 seconds is a huge undertaking in terms of information flow.

“Things can look quite chaotic, but everything is synchronized perfectly.

We get 10,000 parts coming in from all over the globe, 500 trucks delivering them daily, 3,000 staff and about 1,000 robots – not to mention countless sensors and controls. The flow of information around people and products ensures we know things to the smallest detail.”

It has taken years to get the ‘high availability’ network and ‘virtual server’ enterprise it has today, says Bill Kovacs, IT manager. There are two key infrastructure innovations that have been expanded or introduced in recent months, and both enable the plant to continue operations while proactively trouble shooting any issues.

“The first is the implementation of air-blown splice-free fiber optic cabling which uses compressed nitrogen to help install additional fibers without interrupting operations, a first for Ford globally,” Kovacs explains.

The second is the high-availability wireless mesh network, sometimes called the mesh cloud, he adds. “If a wireless access point fails, information can instantly be transferred to another access point directly or through one or more intermediate access points using a hop process.

The Oakville site also transitioned to running critical applications in the virtualization environment this year which increases high availability and reduces disaster recovery time to repair.”

The network infrastructure is divided into two types, one for general purpose applications called Office Automation and the other for production called the Manufacturing Production Network. “Information from every single sensor is sent to from the plant floor PLC to the computer room and back out to the plant floor display boards in seconds,” Cowell says.

Ultimately the plant has traceability down to a fine art, he adds. “Our body shop has different robots spot welding cars to within a millimeter of accuracy. We always know which product is in that cell and can even measure the amount of turns applied to a bolt.”

The networking capabilities extend beyond the plant floor, notes Dave McGuire, material, planning and logistics manager. “The infrastructure has changed things on the logistics end as well. Everything talks to each other so we can forecast our raw material needs, lock them down to a seven-day schedule and know exactly where they need to go and when.”

With a new $700 million investment in the works, Cowell says it will achieve yet another level of capability, efficiency and security. “It will bring us opportunities to even further evolve. Advanced tools and systems together with a strong employee culture increases employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. We’re proving Canada can be competitive in a global market.”

T

The networking equipment at the Ford Oakville Assembly plant manages and tracks the production of 250,000 vehicles a year. Information from every single sensor is sent from the plant floor PLC to the computer room and back out to the plant floor display boards in seconds.

www.connectionsplus.ca

Jan/Feb 2014

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1011001010001100111000011101 10

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Connections+

SECURITY & THE BYOD FACTOR With more applications exposed to mobile workers, companies are revisiting the need for something above and beyond password-only protection

Jan/Feb 2014

By Dave Webb

www.connectionsplus.ca

T R ENDI NG – Secur ity

“Your identity might be the same, but because you’re

01 1011001010001100111000011101 accessing the network on an iPad instead of a desktop, your access is limited,”

obile security issues are top-of-mind for security leaders.

David Jarvis knows this because he has asked them.

The author of the 2013 IBM Chief Information Security Officer Assessment and IBM Corp.’s Centre for Applied Insights conducted in-depth interviews with security leaders across four countries regarding business practices and their impact on their companies’ security posture. Asked what their biggest security challenge is, Jarvis says, mobile security came out on top.

“Through the interviews we did, we definitely saw significant attention and significant investment, with the focus really still on deployment,” Jarvis says. “There are concerns around theft or loss of a device, or loss of sensitive data on the device, but the concern isn’t slowing anyone down.”

Hand-in-glove with mobile security comes the issue of “BYOD” computing – users bringing their own, consumer-grade device into the company network. One study by security firm Webroot Inc. found that 82% of those surveyed believed employee-owned devices are a high security risk within the corporate environment.

There are three primary vectors of exposure BYOD computing brings to the enterprise: remote access, loss or theft of device and data, and connections to insecure networks, says James McCloskey, senior consulting analyst with Info-Tech Research Group in London, Ont. “I don’t know that they’re exactly new, but (BYOD) exacerbates those vectors,” McCloskey says.

With more applications exposed to mobile workers so they can be productive, companies are revisiting the need for something above and beyond password only protection, he adds. They are taking another look at multi-factor authentication: Something you know, like a password, plus something you have, like a smart card or a key fob, adds up to authentication. And there’s been a lot of activity in the field of out-of-band authentication, McCloskey says; a user logs on, and is sent a one-time password by text to his or her smart phone, eliminat-

M

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ing the need for a key fob or smart phone.

“That’s one less thing they have carry for those people, it’s one less piece of hardware you have to pay for these people,” McCloskey says.

Data has left the building: Desktops and servers do not tend to walk away with their data. But that is exactly what mobile devices do.

They are exposed to loss and theft, and there is a good chance users of a consumer device aren’t applying the most stringent security.

“Most people won’t have a password or will have a very weak password on their mobile device for personal reasons, because they’re not terribly worried about someone stealing their pictures or stealing their personal e-mail, but it’s a whole different equation when you start talking about downloading company information onto that device,” McCloskey says. “All of a sudden encryption becomes a much more important control, having a good authentication mechanism that unlocks or decrypts that data is equally important.”

So does enforcing the separation of work and personal data on mobile devices, says Ronald Gruia, principal analyst and program leader for emerging technologies at Frost & Sullivan in Toronto. That allows a personal workspace and a corporate workspace, with different standards of encryption enforced by a mobile device management solution. Encapsulation is one approach.

“The enterprise provides a secure mobile version of an application on a personal device that is separate from the personal applications that a user would have on that device,” Gruia says. “It’s easy to deploy, it’s secure, it co-exists with the personal environment, it’s scalable. The only issue there is that you only have specific applications, so that restricts their productivity.”

It helps isolate the company network if the personal workspace is exposed to a phishing attack, for example, but perhaps not entirely.

Say a user downloads a file and saves it on the device’s SD RAM card, for example. It could trigger a worm attack on the other side of the fence, Gruia says.

Application vulnerabilities: As the enterprises extends more

Jan/Feb 2014

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TR E N D I NG – S e c u ri t y

applications out to a remote workforce to make it more productive, the applications themselves can become vulnerabilities. “Vulnerability-wise, whenever you do use an application, it’s always prone to attacks,” Gruia says. “if it’s going to be a touch point to the enterprise, it can always be exploited.”

Jarvis calls this an “emerging issue.”

“There is this increasing focus on the application, and I think that it’s a layer that’s getting increasing attention, but maybe not enough,” Jarvis says. “In our survey results, the security around applications was a lot lower than we thought in terms of importance. I think that’s definitely an emerging issue, and I think mobile is just accelerating it as an issue.”

McCloskey agrees.

“Application security is a key aspect because many organizations enable mobile users by exposing these applications either directly onto the Web or though a Web portal,” he says. “Those applications are more at risk than they ever were when they were just available from internal IP addresses.” Application security disciplines and secure coding are important to make sure the application itself doesn’t become a vector for data to be breached, according to McCloskey.

And it is not just the application.

“Perimeter security effectively is compromised as soon as you’ve got the perimeter extending out onto the Internet, when you’ve got personal devices coming inside the perimeter, all of a sudden the idea of perimeter defence is no longer adequate on its own.”

McCloskey says that calls for a second look at an out-of-favour technology: Network access control (NAC). But not in the traditional, LAN-based sense, but from a remote access or wireless standpoint. “(When you have a) device of some unknown provenance and some unknown security posture connecting onto your network, you want to have some mechanism to inspect that device and enforce certain policies – to be able to say, for example, this particular device is running its antivirus and it is up to date, it’s running an up-to-date version of the operating system and is patched and so forth, prior to being granted access to the internal network and applications and data that reside on that internal network,” he says.

But there are reasons NAC has fallen out of favour with the networking crowd, according to Gruia: its impact on performance, its complexity to manage, its cost, interoperability issues. But maybe more than that, NAC provoked political hurdles in the IT department; it touches security, desktop management and network management disciplines, each with an agenda.

Still, NAC could potentially tighten up security in the mobile environment, Gruia concedes. “You could devise policies on top of that, you could really do a bunch of different things,” he says. “It’s not the most popular use case, but it could be a use case.”

Ali Ashfari says NAC has come a long way in the last few years.

The director of enterprise security for Cisco Canada says the compa30

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Jan/Feb 2014

ny’s NAC offering, once hardware-intensive, is now part of its overall identity services engine; where previously, NAC servers were needed all over the network to shepherd traffic, it is now more of a service engine – the switching fabric itself does the enforcement.

It is also more context-sensitive, he says.

“The traditional NAC was very black and white,” Ashfari says. Devices that didn’t pass certain criteria were kept off the network. Now, policy can be differentiated according to a number of factors.

For example, while a user might be able to access certain data and applications on a laptop or desktop, he or she might not be able to on a tablet or smartphone. “Your identity might be the same, but because you’re accessing the network on an iPad instead of a desktop, your access is limited,” he says.

Other contextual rules might be built around time of day (“What access I give my employees or my contractors or my guests might be different depending on the time of day”), physical location (are you inside the building or connecting through a 4G network?) and what the security posture of the device is (is it running antivirus, and are the patches up-to-date?).

Virtually secure: Gruia also cites desktop virtualization as an approach to securing the network against mobile vulnerabilities. In a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), the “computer” is a collection of virtualized compute resources: processor, memory, storage, applications. The device that handles the input and output becomes essentially and dumb terminal. “It’s a little bit more secure,” Gruia says, but of course there are drawbacks: the device has to support the appropriate hypervisor, it draws more power (an important issue with mobile devices), and there are issues with offline computing, Gruia says.

The different approaches to mobile security all have pros and cons, Gruia says. He recommends companies find their chief use case for mobile, and build around that.

Whatever approach, enterprises are forging ahead on mobile and BYOD security, says Jarvis. They have to. “I think it’s moving at such a pace that we saw some gaps emerge around an enterprise strategy for mobile security and BYOD and a specific incident response policy,” he says. “Those capabilities weren’t as widespread as the more kind of technical things that you would expect, like management capability or an inventory of devices or a published set of principals or even containerization or encryption.

“There has been such a rush to get this stuff in place, to get the architectures, the basic structure in place, that strategy and policy haven’t had the chance to catch up. It is not to say (security decision-makers are) not aware of those problems. They’re just not addressing it right now. Those are the two areas where we see the most planned attention over the next 12 months.”

C+ Dave Webb is a Toronto-based freelance writer. He can be reached at dave@dweebmedia.ca.

www.connectionsplus.ca

FEATURE

HOW WILL YOU SPEND YOUR LAST 10 YEARS? The average Canadian will spend their last ten years in sickness.

Change your future now.

www.connectionsplus.ca

Jan/Feb 2014

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1011001010001100111000011101 101 011001010001100111000011101 101

What You Need To Know Ab

What You Need To Kn

By Paul Comessotti

F

inancial institutions have been battling waves of large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks since early 2012. Many of these attacks have been the work of a group called the Qassam Cyber Fighters (QCF), who until recently posted weekly updates on Pastebin reminding readers of the reasons for their efforts and summarizing Operation Ababil, their DDoS campaign.

Other Hacktivist groups have launched their own DDoS attacks and targeted financial services institutions with focused attacks on web forms and content. There have also been reports of nationstate organized cyber assaults on banks and government agencies, along with complex, multi-vector efforts that have combined DDoS attacks with online account tampering and even fraud.

The past year-and-a-half point to a state of hacking activity that consistently increases in intensity and evolves regularly.

The recent incidents against all sizes of banks have shown that there are many kinds of DDoS attacks. These have included traditional SYN and DNS floods, as well as DNS amplification, application layer and content targeted methods. Denial of Service (DoS) activities that have targeted SSL encrypted webpage resources and content are an additional challenge. In some instances, the adversaries have moved to a blended form of attack that incorporates harder to stop application layer methods alongside “cheap,” high-volume attacks that can be filtered and blocked through simpler means.

To cope with this level of malicious activity, CIOs, CISOs, and their teams need to have a plan in place and consider a broad set of defensive tools that combine on-premise technologies and cloud-based scrubbing services. They must also begin to explore and ultimately implement intelligence gathering and distribution methodologies that help lead to a comprehensive DoS mitigation strategy.

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1. Have a scrubbing service or similar cleaning provider to handle large volumetric attacks The volumes associated with DDoS activity have reached a level where 80 Gbps of DDoS traffic is a normal event. There are even reports of attacks in the range of 300 Gbps.

Few, if any organizations can maintain sufficient bandwidth to cope with attacks of this size. And, when faced with DDoS incidents this large, the first thing an organization needs to consider is the option to route their Internet traffic through a dedicated cloud-based scrubbing provider who can remove malicious packets from the stream. These providers are the first line of defense for large volumetric attacks as they have the necessary tools and bandwidth to clean network traffic so that DDoS packets are stopped in the cloud and regular business as usual (BAU) traffic is allowed through.

2. Have a dedicated DDoS mitigation appliance to identify, isolate, and remediate attacks The complexity of DoS attacks and the tendency to combine volumetric and application methods require a combination of mitigation methods. The most effective way to cope with the application and “low and slow” elements of these multi-vector attacks is to leverage onpremise dedicated appliances.

Firewalls and intrusion prevention systems are critical to the mitigation effort, and DDoS security devices provide an additional layer of defense through specialized technologies that identify and block advanced DoS

www.connectionsplus.ca

T R ENDI NG – Secur ity

01 1011001010001100111000011101 01 1011001010001100111000011101

ow About DDoS Attacks

To Know About DDoS Attacks activity in real-time. Administrators can also configure their onpremise solutions to communicate with cloud scrubbing service providers to enable automated route away during attack.

3. Organizations need to tune the firewall to handle large connection rates The firewall will also be an important piece of networking equipment during DDoS attacks. Administrators should adjust their firewall settings in order to recognize and handle volumetric and application layer attacks. And, depending on the capabilities of the firewall, protections can also be activated to block DDoS packets and improve firewall performance while under attack.

4. Develop a methodology, or a strategy, to protect applications from DDoS attacks Secure technologies can provide robust protections to DDoS activities. But administrators should also think about tuning their web servers, modifying their load balancing and content delivery strategies to ensure the best possible uptime. Also relevant to such efforts are the incorporation of safeguards against multiple login attempts.

Another interesting approach is to block machine-led, automated activities by including web pages with offer details, such as opportunities for interest rate reduction or information on new products, so that users must click on “accept” or “no thanks” buttons in order to continue deeper into website content.

Additionally, content analysis is important. Such efforts can be as simple as ensuring there are no large PDF files hosted on high-value servers.

The above methods are crucial to any DDoS mitigation strat-

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egy. Organizations must also reach out to service providers and ISPs and work with them to identify novel mitigation techniques.

ISPs must be involved in mitigation strategies. DDoS attacks use the same Internet as bank customers, and the ISPs carry both forms of traffic.

Of increasing importance is the need to investigate and implement intelligence gathering and distribution strategies. Such efforts should investigate data within company networks and expand to include other companies who operate in the financial services industry.

Getting more information about who the actor is, motivations behind the attack, and methods used, helps administrators anticipate and proactively architect around those attacks.

Attack profile information can range from the protocols used in the attack (SYN, DNS, HTTP), the sources of attack packets, the command and control networks, and the times of day during which attacks began and ended. While valuable in mitigating attacks, there is no easy way to communicate this data, and regulatory hurdles make it even more difficult to share attack information.

Right now, information-sharing consists of friends talking to friends. Information sharing needs to evolve into an automated system where organizations can log in to a solution and see correlated and raw log data that provide clues into attacks that have ended and that are in progress. Such systems could also be used to share attack intelligence and distribute protections. An industry information sharing capability would help elevate financial services companies’ abilities to cope with DDoS activity and bring the industry as a whole to a new level of preparedness.

Paul Comessotti is regional director for Canada with Check Point Software. He can be reached at pcomesso@checkpoint.com.

Jan/Feb 2014

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33

New & Noteworthy

1 4 2

3

1. CERRO WIRE

2. SNAKE TRAY

3. HARTING

4. LEVITON

Cerro Wire has released a new line equipped with RectorSeal single-use steel pulling grips.

The grips eliminate waste, saving time and money, especially on larger commercial jobs. Rated for use on THHN and XHHN wire, they reduce set up time for a 4-wire pull to less than five minutes.

Snake Tray has released the ‘industry’s’ first high density data distribution reception module.

The 36-port access floor enclosure can contain any category receptacle from any manufacturer, the firm says. It delivers a multiple redundant channel system for command and control centres, trading desks and other mission critical facilities.

Harting has expanded its portfolio of outdoor-ready connectors with derivatives of its Han-Yellock and Han-Eco series that offer enhanced resistance against the elements. The Han-Eco Outdoor is made of a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic highly resistant to environmental influence. Flange gaskets of fluorine rubber have been developed to give the outdoor version enhanced UV protection.

Leviton’s Intact Intelligent Port Management System, an offering for fiber and copper networks that monitors port status and manages network changes. The system sends alerts and realtime information to IT managers, allowing them to diagnose problems and handle changes quickly using Intact software. The Intact Patch Cord works through a programmable microchip.

www.cerrowire.com www.snaketray.com

www.leviton.com www.harting.ca 34

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New & Noteworthy

5 6

8 7

5. GREENLEE

6. RITTAL

7. PLATINUM TOOLS

8. EATON

Greenlee Communications has launched the 930XC, an all-in-one Optical Time Domain Reflectometer that offers fast, accurate, and reliable, solutions for cable acceptance testing and fault locating. All 930XC OTDR models come with an Optical Power Meter (OPM), a Visual Fault Locator (VFL), and a Stabilized Light Source (SLS) as standard.

Rittal now has standard pricing for the stainless steel variants of their cooling units, including those from the TopTherm Generation Blue e range. A selection of wall-mounted cooling units, with nominal outputs in the range 300-1500 W and rated operating voltages of 230 V AC and 400 V AC, are now also available from stock.

Platinum Tools Recon Test Set (p/n T62) now includes a new protection boot and a direct RJ11/12 No-Fault (6x6) connector, allowing for telephone line testing without a modular adapter (banjo). The large backlit display shows information clearly, and with a glow in the dark keypad the unit can be used in low light environments.

Eaton has launched its 93E uninterruptible power system (UPS), which it says features enhanced maintenance bypass options and external battery cabinets to ensure uptime of critical IT systems.

Known as the 9E in previous models, Eaton’s new 93E delivers up to 98% efficiency while maintaining a small physical footprint.

www.greenlee.com

www.rittal.com

www.platinumtools.com

www.powerquality.eaton.com

www.connectionsplus.ca

Jan/Feb 2014

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35

Liter a t ure Re v ie w s

Belden Copper, Fiber and Infrastructure Solutions Catalogs

The OCC Category 6A Shielded Solution

Belden’s enterprise connectivity solutions are detailed in three new catalogs: updated Copper Systems and Optical Fiber Systems catalogs detail the complete line of structured cabling components for today’s advanced networking and include new SmartPart numbers on all flagship optical fiber products.

The new Infrastructure Solutions catalog outlines Belden’s racks, enclosures, airflow management, PDUs, and power and climate monitoring products designed to support and optimize overall system performance.

End to end Production. End to end Expertise.

OCC’s Cat 6A shielded solution is comprised of four elements: U/FTP cable, outlet jack, patch panel, and equipment cords. Singularly, all of these components meet and exceed TIA-568-C.2 Category 6A component performance specifications. Together in an end-to-end solution, they provide superior EMI/ANEXT performance, guaranteed 10GBASE-T throughput and support for devices requiring 10G links, and of course, are backed by OCC’s MDIS Extended Performance 25-year Channel/Link Warranty.

To learn more, visit www.occfiber.com or call 800.622.7711.

www.belden.com

www.occfiber.com

Rittal’s IT Liquid Cooling Package

Free Siemon INNOVATE digital magazine

Rittal provides an innovative cooling solution that provides up to 60 kW of cooling capacity direct to your rack. By bringing the cooling direct to the heat source, energy efficiency is optimised.

Rittal’s LCP is a scalable solution that you can expand as your data centre and cooling needs grow.

Siemon celebrates 110 years of technology leadership in the latest edition of INNOVATE interactive magazine: • MAX TurboTool significantly reduces termination times • Case study: Cat 6A and 7A cabling equips the St. Louis Art Museum • Infographic demonstrates the advantages of structured cabling over Top-of-Rack • White paper discusses the benefits of fiber optic cabling • Standards Updates: Cat 6A, shielded, 40GBASE-T, data centers To access INNOVATE, visit www.siemon.com/innovate.

www.rittal.ca marketing@rittal.ca 1-800-399-0748

www.rittal.ca

www.siemon.com

STARLINE Track Busway Mission Critical brochure now available.

Connections+ 2014 MEDIA KIT

Learn why STARLINE Track Busway is the ideal power distribution choice for data centers and mission critical facilities. To download your copy of this new brochure, visit www.StarlinePower.com.

The magazine for ICT professionals, Connections+ readership targets 60,000+ individuals who purchase, design, specify, install, maintain and test structured cabling, networking and telecom products as well as facilities management specialists and senior IT executives who are responsible for overseeing the implementation and installation of these initiatives.

For more information contact Maureen Levy – 416-510-5111 or mlevy@connectionsplus.ca

www.StarlinePower.com

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ber.com

Editor

Formerly:

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THE MAGAZINE FOR ICT PROFESSIONALS

Business Information Group 80 Valleybrook Drive Toronto, On M3B 2S9 Your company’s primary business activity Phone: 416 510 6752 Email: pbarker@connectionsplus.ca Network (LAN/WAN) Installation/troubleshooting www.connectionsplus.ca

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P d f ed ent her ovide e, ut and links, C’s ear

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o f

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37

TH E B ACK PAG E

Skills Gap Can Be Fixed

By Dave Webb

ou have probably seen that fantastically cute video of a one-year-old infant tapping, pinching and squeezing away at a magazine, apparently in the mistaken believe it is a tablet computer. (If not, give us the postal address of the rock you live under, or better yet, watch it at bit.ly/p4hopp.) “Is it broken, or what?” a title card asks, likely a sarcastic reference to the magazine publishing model itself.

The smarmy shot at the industry that pays my rent is irrelevant. There is an important truth beneath the video, but it has to do with education, not publishing.

Kevin Coughler is managing director of Partners in Research. The London, Ont.-based charity aimed at inspiring students to aspire to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (or STEM, since everybody loves an acronym). One of their programs, virtual researcher on call (VROC), brings professors and professionals into elementary and secondary school classrooms by teleconference for an interactive learning and exploration session.

In his home office, Coughler would sometimes go through sessions with these partners accompanied by his three-year-old son. He would often ask them to explain science or engineering concepts to him. I can only imagine explaining engineering to a three-yearold as bemusing at best.

Two years later, Coughler Jr. is off to kindergarten.

He returns from his first day, brow furrowed, to the extent that a five-year-old can furrow his brow. “Dad, there’s a problem,” he says. “There’s no video in the classroom.”

(Coughler recounted this story at a recent Cisco Systems Inc. event in New York.)

Technology associations in Canada years ago raised alarms about a “brain drain” in Canada, with skilled technologists heading south of the border to ply their trades.

It is now referred to as a “skills gap”; we are not producing enough technologists to fill high-tech jobs needed in an information economy. That is a telling difference. It also recognized this is a global problem, not just a Canadian one: The World Bank projects a technology talent gap of 8.2% by 2022, needing 222,000

Y

38

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Jan/Feb 2014

more graduates each year, starting in 2014. There are programs aimed at encouraging teens to consider a career in technology –- my daughter attended IBM’s wonderful Exploring Interest in Technology and Engineering (EXITE) camp aimed at increase girls’ interest in science fields, and is still in touch with her mentors from the program –- but the reality is that inspiration has to be cultivated much earlier.

Children are bathed in an LED glow practically from birth, and technology offers the opportunity to plant the seed early.

Some organizations get this. The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) has created the Global STEM Alliance to bring access to curricula, research and mentorship to students in Spain, Malaysia and Argentina, in partnership with this State University of New York (SUNY).

Some do not. When NYAS and SUNY first tried to deliver after-school programs in science and technology to New York elementary schools, bureaucratic hurdles forced them to go through boys’ and girls’ clubs to get the program to the kids. In Indonesia, fractious relations between rival departments of education stifled efforts, until new leadership united them and gave them a STEM mandate.

At the post-secondary level, technology has a role to play in delivering what SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher calls “hybrid accessibility.” While most people want the residential experience of university or college, the reality is that’s becoming the preserve of the rich.

Remote delivery of programs is more affordable, making it accessible to more students, in more geographies.

In developing nations, programs like this can be delivered with an Internet connection and a computer.

Canada is a country rich with resources and opportunities. What is needed is political will at all levels of government, along with the co-operation of corporate partners, to make the necessary investment in infrastructure.

The kids will take care of the rest.

Dave Webb is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

He can be reached at dave@dweebmedia.ca.

www.connectionsplus.ca

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