Prepare for Tomorrow

BICSI India, in association with MAIT in Bengaluru, organized the BICSI India

Technology Conference 2009, titled 'Emerging Technologies in Information

Transport Systems'. The conference started with welcome address by Dileep Kumar,

country chair, BICSI India, who explained the role of BICSI in the ITS industry

and its growth path in India. Chief guest for the event, Robert Faber junior

RCCD, NTS & chairman, standards committee, BICSI, USA delivered his keynote

address and explained BICSI's new initiatives and developments in standards

development.

Deepak Kumar, AVP, research, IDC India presented an industry overview to set

the tone for the day's proceedings. He said, "The SCS market in India is showing

signs of revival, though as in case of other IT market segments, the recovery is

expected to be 'U' shaped. So, it would be around the second half of 2010, when

we would see the growth rate becoming comparable to the pre-slowdown phase of

early 2008." He further added, "The SCS market has a close co-relation with the

active networking equipment market, and given that the actives segment is also

slowly revving up, we expect the SCS market recovery to be steady and

sustainable. The overall macroeconomic signals are also positive for the coming

year, which is a further good sign for the SCS market in India."

David Frenkel, educational services manager, RiT Technologies spoke on data

center infrastructure management, emphasizing that integrated solution was the

key for this. He said, "Data centers today are complex entities and to ensure a

smooth operation, it's absolutely necessary to manage its infrastructure in

real-time as a whole, taking various considerations into account. Companies

choosing the integrated management approach will enjoy substantial tangible

benefits in both capex and opex of the data center."

'Stalwarts preparing the industry for tomorrow' LtoR: Robert Faber Jr RCCD, NTS, & chairman, standards committee, BICSI, USA (standing); Dileep Kumar, country chair, BICSI India, & director, product management, ADC KRONE; Vinne Mehta, executive director, MAIT; Vekat Kedlaya, senior chiarman , MAIT; and Ninad Desai, secretary, BICSI India

Kenelm Lopes, product manager, enterprise networks, ADC Krone focused on the

next-data center to understand and prepare for tomorrow's technologies. He said,

"Unforeseeable data explosion and consequent bandwidth needs in the present and

in the coming days warrant infrastructure upgrades. Tomorrow the trend will be

technologies that support 10G Ethernet, and later it will go beyond 40G and 100G

as the standards are also under development by the Institute of Electrical and

Electronics Engineers. Fiber cabling solutions are forming another hot

unavoidable trend. Green initiatives and energy efficiency will be yet another

major trend in the coming days as they are already getting attention of the

industry."

S Venkatraman, VP, enclosure solutions and technical services, APW President

Systems dwelt on data center last mile challenges from a rack perspective. The

focus of his presentation was on achieving significant energy savings through

thermal management and planning, with special reference to cooling and air-flow

in modern data centers. He said, "For low-and-medium heat densities, air-flow

management is the key, since any amount of cooling capacity additions for hot

spots will result in higher energy consumption without much benefit in cooling.

In high heat density situations, chilled water cooling solutions are ideal,

since water has 3,500 times higher density (hence higher heat absorbing

capacity)."

Kandasamy Ganesan, RCDD/NTS, MD, Topnet Distribution FZCO, highlighted the

importance of BICSI training for ITS professionals. He said, "BICSI-a

professional association supporting the ITS industry with information, education

and knowledge assessment for individuals and companies-leads the ITS industry

with excellence in publications, education, and knowledge assessment. It also

advances our members' ability to deliver the highest quality products and

services; and provides our members with opportunities for continual improvement

and enhanced professional stature among other things."

A Sitaramaiah, director, sales and marketing, Fluke Networks India focused on

the theme 'moving up the value chain to beat the recession by getting closer to

customers'. He outlined a framework of how cabling integrators can connect back

with end-users who appreciate value and drive such practices that enhance the

value. LAN validation and auditing services framework can bring the joy of

cabling. "The recession, as well as the growth of IT in India, are together

leading to the flocking of all cabling OEMs into India. Further, cabling

integration services companies are proliferating in the absence of any

specialized skills. By gearing up to provide differentiated services, Datacomm

installers can expect to move up the value chain, get closer to the end customer

without intermediaries, and see higher returns for their services, thus

surviving to thrive. Fluke Networks, a trusted partner of DCIs for years, can

help DCI acquire such skills and lead the market to offer differentiated and

value-added services," suggested Sitaramaiah.

John L Seger, RCDD/WD, principal engineer, Leviton Manufacturing focused on

what component compliance means for Cat 6A performance. "When combining

standard-compliant Cat 6A hardware-that meets component specifications-with

compliant cable, the result should be an optimized system. The technologies in a

Leviton-based Cat 6A solution enable the highest performance at full channels

and links as short as 3m."

Deepak Jagtiani, regional sales director, India and ASEAN, Premise Networks,

Molex India, addressed the expected growth of 10G Ethernet in the coming years

and implementation of the same over copper based cabling systems. "The preferred

copper cabling system for deployment would be based on the Cat 6 augmented

standard. This standard is fairly nascent for which TIA has provided component

specifications. The most challenging factor in deployment of a Cat 6 augmented

system is Alien Crosstalk. The best way to address these issues is to use

shielded or screened systems. Shielded systems are far more efficient in

handling ANEXT," he said.

Srikant Telharkar, GM, product management, ITS, DIGILINK focused on an

important area of market potential-residential premise cabling. "Today's new

generation is looking for lifestyle residential premises as they consider

technologies like high-speed Internet, video entertainment, home automation,

surveillance, fire alarm system, etc, to enhance their lifestyle. We rigidly

follow ITS standards in commercial complexes, essentially to allow flexibility,

interoperability, and scalability. We also have very effective standards for

residential ITS infrastructure; EIA/TIA 570." Robert J Kleinschmidt, RCDD, MD,

Asia Pacific & Japan, Panduit, Singapore, spoke about high-speed data transport

through both copper and fiber medium like Cat 6A, SFP+, InfiniBand, OM3, and OM4

for speeds above 10G," he stated.

Kannan K



kannan@cybermedia.co.in