'Pathway to deliver is not up to the standard despite the capability to deliver'

How has the response been from India?

Response has been very good. Since last year there is a momentum and is better than before. Initially BICSI was considered as a structured cabling association only, but of late participation from other segments is increasing such as fiber optics, wireless, and telecom outside plant.

In order to extend our reach to more people, we are offering online courses. It helps us to reach out to locations where there are no training facilities. Courses are also being made affordable. Membership fee in India is reduced to $70 for a year as against $150 in the US. It is $160 for 3 years as against $450 in the US

What is your outlook on the tech-market in India?

India is a tech-savvy country. A huge number of people are using various technology and devices but speed is a concern. From my observation, it looks like India has technology in place but the issue is in its implementation process. Infrastructure is lacking. India has the ability to deliver, but the pathway to deliver is not up to the standard.

The other limitation is that India's structured cabling and IT infrastructure industry doesn't follow any industry standards as there's lack of awareness on cabling and networking standards. This offers us an opportunity for setting up standards, bringing awareness, and educating the industry here. Setting up a sustainable IT infrastructure on industry standards and best practices is pivotal, otherwise the growing demand of high-speed data and internet could lead to IT systems' failure.

Have the cabling technologies matured in terms of reliability, or are they still perceived as unreliable?

Undoubtedly technologies are constantly evolving. Every technology is based on standards and reliability. From the technology perspective, it is tested. But there would be an issue in delivering if the network is not designed, installed, and implemented perfectly.

There are some limitations in technology. Because of this, all technologies would co-exist. We cannot determine that one technology would be perfect. A combination of technologies would be deployed depending on the needs of the geographies.

What are the latest innovations in the cabling market?

40/100G is the next biggest thing in the cabling market. IEEE is exploring a possibility of terabit that is 1000G.

Will BICSI's focus remain imparting technological knowledge alone?

Our main focus is to provide information, education, and knowledge assessments. Besides that, we have embarked on writing international cabling standards. Our global members are assisting BICSI in this move.

Every country has different cabling standards. We are attempting to create a single-standard applicable globally. We are on the verge of creating data center prudential, which helps global community to work in data centers.

Malini N
malinin@cybermedia.co.in