STRUCTURED CABLING: Look Ma, New Wires!

Not many industries have mastered the art of survival-and growth-as

admirably as the structured cabling industry. There have been times when

skeptics predicted a dead end for the industry, but innovations always sprung up

to put apprehensions to rest.

A few years ago, people would bluntly remark: Huh. What structured cabling?

After all, they are just another set of wires.

Slowly, the change in mindset set in, induced by the spread of awareness, and

of course, the hard-learned lessons that followed network-related fiascos.

Structured

cabling is a fairly sophisticated area now, thanks to the multi-million dollar

R&D spends by the leading global vendors in the domain.

Vendors' spends and efforts have not gone unrewarded. Prasanna Kumar V,

sales director, Systimax Solutions-India and Saarc, reveals, "From

responses of CIOs and IT heads who attended our recently concluded seminar

series, we were able to infer that 44 percent of organizations recognize the

importance of upgrading their networks and are planning to future-proof their

backbone cabling infrastructure using the latest 10G Ethernet infrastructure

within the next two years."

Enterprise Broadway



Continuous improvements in structured cabling systems have ensured that

campus-wide networks are always ahead of any other network in terms of speed and

bandwidth. Recent and ongoing tech developments are further ensuring that.

It's been a while since fiber became the near default medium on the campus

backbone and Cat 5e and Cat 6 were used in the horizontal. The developments have

ensured a scenario where 1Gbps in the backbone and 100 Mbps for the desktop are

norms for all new installations.

It is anticipated that newer, video-intensive communication trends at

enterprises will demand 1G-to-the-desktop in the next couple of years. The

structured cabling industry is already in a position to support such demand.

Bala K Chandran, MD, Krone India, says, "Traditionally, passive

constituents have always been ahead of active constituents. For example, Cat 5e

cabling for 1G Ethernet entered the market during 1995. It was not until 1999

that 1G active hardware hit the market. 10 Gig UTP cabling is expected to be

supported by active hardware in a similar pattern."

Not everybody sees a quick uptake for 10G UTP in the pre-standard stage. SA

Mohan, general manager, sales and marketing, Molex India sees only a niche

market for 10G. He explains, "Even 1G in the horizontal is not commercially

practical due to the high cost of 1000BaseT ports. This essentially leaves

building and campus backbone for high-speed connectivity where the preferred

media is fiber due to its longer distance support and immunity to interference.

Hence, 10G over copper, when approved by standards may have its niche

application and is unlikely to replace fiber."

Nevertheless, a speedier ratification of the 10G UTP standard-which is

likely to be called Cat A6-can change the outlook.

Hand in Hand with Wireless



Only until a year ago, fears hovered over the structured cabling industry

that the march of wireless would flatten the latter's business.

Dark clouds quickly gave way to plenty of silver.

Far from being a competing technology, wireless is turning out to be a

complementary one. It has already expanded the market.

Also, with the power-over-Ethernet (PoE) technology coming into play,

wireless access points and other such devices will need structured cabling as

the underlying infrastructure.

The technology works by injecting DC-converted power over the spare

pairs of Cat 5 and above cables. Various WLAN equipment and end-user devices

including laptops and VoIP phones can then be plugged into the cable to draw DC

power.

The technology, as one can see, converges not just telephony and Internet-but

also power-on a single medium, copper.

This will also address the problem of an IP call getting disconnected in the

event of a power failure.

The Outlook



Already, structured cabling deployments in existing areas like telecom, BPO

and education have registered good growth. Also, newer areas, especially

multi-facility buildings, have exhibited a strong demand.

While IT/software companies are likely to be the early adopters of new

technologies, as has traditionally been the case, data centers will also

discover their importance before long.

Storage area networks could turn out to be one of the biggest consumers of

10G-over-copper, once vendors like Cisco, Enterasys, Nortel, Foundry Networks,

Extreme Networks, et al come out with port support for 10G copper.

That could bring prices down to as much as one-fourth of the existing

fiber-channel port prices. The existing ports pushes SANs in a bracket that's

beyond the reach of most of the enterprises today.

Cheaper technology will expand the market and open up newer streams too, in

the interest of all-structured cabling vendors, active component makers, and

user organizations.

The ball, however, is in the active gear makers' court at the moment. Will

they love to have a long rally?

Deepak Kumar

Tuning into the Building Industry

India is the newest BiCSi District, with over 100 members

from structured cabling and telecom Industry coming together to join the

movement. The mission is to promote and educate users on networking and

telecommunications issues.

Founded in the US in 1974 to serve the telecom and networking

company building industry consultants (BICs), BiCSi has become a worldwide

non-profit telecom association. It serves over 25,000 members from nearly 90

countries, and its programs cover a broad spectrum of voice, data and video

technologies. BICs are responsible for design and distribution of telecom

cabling for commercial and multi-family buildings.

BiCSi is an independent body not affiliated to any vendor.

Forming a BICSI District: A

country or a group of countries becomes a district when their membership reaches

100. The district then becomes a region when and if the membership of that

district reaches 500.

Once the district achieves regional status, a special

election will be held and a regional director will be elected by members of the

region. This director will serve as a full member of the BiCSi board of

directors.

Training Activities: BiCSi

offers a number of courses for the design and installation of low-voltage

systems. Many of these courses can be licensed to local firms for delivery. It

is also possible for BiCSi to offer courses directly, should demand warrant it.

BiCSi offers a number of registration programs such as the

Registered Communications Distribution Designer (RCDD), LAN Specialist, and the

various levels within the installation program.

Source: BiCSi

"Speed and tech innovation will push usage of copper"

Bala K Chandran, managing director, Krone India

Will speed alone give copper a long lease of life,

or will innovations like power-over-Ethernet (PoE) will provide the bigger push?

I think it will be a combination of both and some other technologies

too. While in the short term, the potential to achieve higher speeds over copper

is yet to be exploited, in the long-term technologies like PoE, VoIP and grid

computing will undoubtedly push the use of copper beyond the perceived limits of

copper's proficiency.

For example, ADC-Krone has globally launched CopperTen that can transmit 10G

Ethernet over a full channel distance of 100m over UTP.

More so, with new encoding technologies like PAM 5 that allows higher data

transmission at lower frequencies, the perceived limitations of copper can be

overcome.

PoE is widely adopted in the VoIP, wireless LAN and IP security markets where

it saves up to 50 percent of the overall installation costs by eliminating the

need to install separate electrical wiring and power outlets.

What if support for high-speed copper in active

components (switches, etc.) comes too little too late?



Traditionally, passive constituents have always been ahead of active

constituents. For example, Cat 5e cabling for 1G Ethernet entered the market

during 1995. It was not until 1999 that 1G active hardware hit the market. 10

Gig UTP cabling is estimated to be supported by active hardware in a similar

pattern.

Bala K Chandran

In fact, there are already reports of 10G chips designed by companies like

Solarflare.

In case of 10G, it is already an adopted solution in storage area networks

and building backbone markets. The only difference is that this 10G uses fiber

as the transmission medium. The introduction of CopperTen is largely intended to

bring down the infrastructure costs by migrating from fiber to copper in a 10G

network.

What percentage of your business comes from new

technology areas? How conscious is the effort to improve that percentage?



We have always been involved in new technology R&D. This

commitment towards new technology solutions has led us to some very innovative

products in the structured cabling segment (e.g. CopperTen and products in the

carrier space). Over 10 percent of our revenues here are driven out of new

technologies areas both in carrier and enterprise markets. With our lead in the

10G-over-copper area, we are very positive that this percentage will soon go up.

What difference has the ADC takeover made to the

spirit of innovation? Is there any change in organizational culture and its

impact on Indian operations?



The ADC acquisition of Krone is a relationship that complements each

other's product and market spaces. Consolidating repeat business, gaining

market share, capturing opportunities in adjacent markets are corporate goals

driven by innovation. This can be achieved only with aspirations to have access

and competitive leadership/advantage in emerging markets like India. This is

fully recognized at the corporate level of ADC.

"Future-proofing of backbone using 10G will begin soon"

Prasanna Kumar V, sales director, Systimax Solutions-India and Saarc

First Avaya, next Systimax, then Commscope...you

have successfully managed so many brand changes in India...



Systimax as a brand has been in India since the early 90s. However, from
AT&T to Lucent technologies to Avaya till recently, Systimax was a part of

the enterprise business group during each spin off. As you are aware, CommScope

acquired Systimax in February 2004. For the first time ever, cabling is the core

business of the parent company.

When is your 10G UTP solution going to hit the

market? How big a market do you anticipate for the technology?



Our 10G-based UTP solutions will be available soon and before 2005

year-end we will be having installations running on them. Well...it is the

latest solution at the moment and is difficult to estimate a market size.

However, from responses of CIOs and IT heads who attended our recently concluded

seminar series we were able to infer that 44 percent of organizations recognize

the importance of upgrading their networks and are planning to future-proof

their backbone cabling infrastructure using the latest 10G Ethernet

infrastructure within the next two years, while 12 percent have already done so

or are upgrading to 10G Ethernet now. Of the total respondents 31 percent have

plans to extend 10 G Ethernet into the horizontal within the next two years, and

71 percent within five years. When questioned about the most influential factors

for investment in a new cabling infrastructure, performance was top ranked at 57

percent, whilst reliability also scored a high 21 percent.

Which wireless solutions have you introduced in

India? Have they complemented-and grown-your structured cabling business?

Prasanna Kumar V

Our AirSpeed WLAN solution is fully compatible with latest IEEE standards

like 802.11a/b/g, 802.11i and 802.3af and is available globally. It will soon

hit the Indian market.

What percentage of your business could WLAN

solutions be forming in the near future?



We strongly believe that wired and wireless technologies will

co-exist and complement each other. Sales of the AirSpeed solution will

therefore increase in line with increased cabling sales and will take an

important position in the our product portfolio.

The builder community is yet to grasp the importance

of deploying standards-compliant cabling solutions. What measures should the

industry be taking to educate them?



We are building a community called ACE that has members from the

fraternity of architects, builders, consultants, engineers, etc. We intend to

provide training to ACE members that will enable them to understand the latest

cabling trends, latest methods of installations, information on manufacturing

and quality standards better. We have frequent programs for the community,

including factory visits and training seminars. One such event is in progress at

our factory in Brisbane, Australia, which has a strong Indian delegation

attending it.

"Multi-facility buildings present a strong growth potential"

SA Mohan, general manager, sales and marketing, Molex India

What's the nature of the Molex tie-up with EMS

provider Elcoteq, which set up shop in India and is strengthening its presence

here? In what areas are you working together?



Elcoteq is a global customer to Molex for various types of connector products.
We are working with them on several areas with main focus on the telecom space.

Do you have any expansion plans? What kind of

investment are you looking at?



We are strengthening our presence in north and west by establishing

assembly infrastructure to service customers in those regions. This also allows

us to assemble and offer products closer to points of consumption, thereby

reducing overall applied costs to our customers. Investments on infrastructure,

new products and equipment are continuing based on market needs. We have

increased our focus on the automotive segment.

What are going to be the growth verticals for the

industry?



The growth verticals for the structured cabling business are services

(comprising BPO, ITeS and software), telecom and education.

What potential do multi-facility buildings hold for

the structured cabling business?



There is a strong potential for SCS in multi-facility buildings-both

residential as well as commercial. Most of the facilities e.g. security,

building automation, access, broadband connectivity (for residential

applications) are moving to a four-pair system.

Which verticals are at the forefront of adopting new

technologies?



In software services, servers and storage devices need high-speed

connectivity. Hence, may review new technologies viz. 10G on fiber/copper, etc.

SA Mohan

ITeS/BPO set-ups need future proofing for applications like VoIP and hence

need to evaluate new tech.

Various telecom companies are evaluating broadband to the home on Ethernet

with 100 Mbps connectivity to the home. This would mean deployment of high-speed

servers.

Education has always experimented with new technologies.

Do you see 10G-over-copper slowing down the march of

fiber?



IEEE has set up a working group, 802.3an, to oversee the

implementation of 10G over copper. This is still in draft stage, with the stated

objective of the group being 55m over class E (Cat 6) and 100m over class F

(Cat7).

The significance of this is that 10G requires a high-end copper system,

ratified to 600 MHz to support 10G on the horizontal, which rules out 10G being

implemented in the horizontal for a long time. Even 1G in the horizontal is not

commercially practical due to the high cost of 1000BaseT ports. This essentially

leaves building and campus backbone for high-speed connectivity where the

preferred media is fiber due to its longer distance support and immunity to

interference. Hence, 10G over copper, when approved by standards may have its

niche application and is unlikely to replace fiber.

"Builders know why to make intelligent buildings now"

Vikas Pinjarkar, general manager, sales (SCS), D-Link India

Currently, what percentage of D-Link's revenues

comes from the passive component business? Do you see a change in that over a

period of time?



Passive component business is contributing more than 17 percent of

the total turnover of D-Link India and is growing rapidly. We are individually

monitoring this business and trying to take away a much bigger market share this

year. We have also launched some new product ranges this year. All this will

help improve the passive component sale, thus improving its percentage

contribution to D-Link's business.

Structured cabling is a high growth segment for us.

You also play a key role at BiCSi these days. What

kind of synergies does the movement offer to the structured cabling industry in

India?



BiCSi is a worldwide association that offers various educational activities to
the industry. It was established in India to educate people on positives and

negatives about information carrying systems. D-Link is a founder member of

BiCSi in India and has been taking active participation in its activities,

including the upcoming conference in Bangalore on 9 December.

What measures will BiCSi and cabling industry

jointly take to improve the communications infrastructure of commercial and

multi-facility buildings?



The strength of any communication infrastructure, be it a commercial

or multi-facility building, depends on how the network is designed. It's

important that the implementation of the project is done in accordance with the

international standards, that the right products are selected, and that the

correct installation practices is adopted.

Vikas Pinjarkar

This is where the cabling industry needs to be guided properly. System

integration is a highly skilled job and one has to undergo proper training for

conducting such installations properly so that the infrastructure is strong

enough to seamlessly handle various applications simultaneously. Worldwide,

BiCSi assures education of this nature to its members by conducting various

trainings programs and conferences.

Why will builders be interested when setting up of

networking infrastructure is the responsibility of companies that take up

premises on rent, as per the prevailing practice?



This trend is changing very fast in India. Builders have understood

the importance of offering an intelligent building to customers rather than

selling a dumb building. In many projects, it is seen that builders outsource

the communication infrastructure part to experts-like SIs. With the broadband

fever picking up, builders see to it that they bring the fiber and copper cables

either outside the building or inside the building so that it's easier for

companies to extend their networks in shortest possible time. It helps builders

to sell or rent out the space more easily.

How is D-Link gearing up to address the new

opportunity?



We are working closely with some of our technology partners to offer

innovative technologies to broadband players. We are also conducting various

training programs for our system integrators, particularly for broadband kind of

environments.

"The multi-facility building segment is here to stay"

Prasad L, country sales manager, Panduit India

Copper and Ethernet are a formidable combination, as

far as structured cabling is concerned. Do you see that changing in the near

future?



Not in the near future. Copper will continue to be preferred medium

for Ethernet, at least in the work area, due to its lower cost and ease of

installation as compared to fiber. Fiber as a medium for Ethernet will continue

in the backbone.

In how much time could 1G-to-the-desktop be a

reality in India? What measures does the structured cabling industry need to

take in this regard?



It depends on what kind of applications customers would want to

deploy on their networks. As applications become more and more bandwidth hungry,

we will see implementations of gigabit to the desktop in India. But, I don't

anticipate this happening in the immediate future. The structured cabling

industry already has solutions for gigabit to the desktop.

Which have been high-growth segments for the

industry over the last few quarters? How promising is the multi-facility

building segment and why?

IT/ITeS/BPO have been the high-growth segments for the industry over the last

few quarters. Of late, we have seen a lot of reputed builders offering

ready-to-use facilities, including aircon, structured cabling, furniture,

security systems, etc. The multi-facility building segment is here to stay as

most customers, especially in the BPO space, prefer to outsource a completely

ready-to-use facility from reputed builders. Of course, quality is paramount

when companies seek to outsource ready-to-use facilities. As long as the

builders are able to offer good quality services, they will continue to attract

customers.

The fear of WLAN killing the structured cabling

business has been unfounded. Where are the equations between the two

technologies/businesses headed for?



In my opinion, WLAN was never a competitive technology to structured

cabling as both address different requirements of customers. Wireless LAN is a

good solution for customers wanting to implement mobility-based network

connectivity. Wired LANs cater to customers wanting to implement fixed network

connectivity. Wireless LANs and wired LANs are complementary technologies and

will co-exist in futuristic networks.