STRUCTURED CABLING : Strengthen Your Backbone

Enterprise data is growing exponentially, and would continue to grow in the
future. This is particularly true for India. This data explosion will only
multiply in the coming years owing to growing business needs. According to a
recent NetApp-Nielsen survey titled, 'Data Explosion in India: Trends and
Challenges', IT applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) emerged as the topmost factors for the
avalanche of data. The study indicates that 24x7 data access (31%) and data
proliferation (15%) are the major business challenges arising out of data
explosion.

The underlined point is that although mass enterprise IT adoption is a
welcome trend, enterprises run the risk of an IT infrastructure breakdown if
they do not choose the right cabling solutions depending on the different kinds
of requirements for data transport.

With structured cabling forming the foundation of any network, it is
important for enterprises to meticulously design their networks at an early
stage. The cabling is usually concealed within the building and it is difficult
to make changes once the network has been implemented. Unlike other active
components, cabling cannot be changed at will. So it is necessary to plan early
and ensure that cabling is able to support at least three generations of active
network infrastructure.

Golden Rules

Cabling infrastructure will outlive the rest of the information transport
systems. A typical lifespan of the cabling infrastructure is 20-25 years.
Seventy percent of the network downtime is attributed to poor cabling.
Investment for a cabling infrastructure is less than 5% of the overall IT spend,
but this investment ensures that the remaining 95% is protected. Hence, it is
important to evaluate the product offerings of vendors and choose the right
solution meeting product quality, installation/customer references, etc.

Experts panel

Dileep Kumar, director, product management, ADC KRONE DS Nagendra, general manager, LAN, Nexans Singapore Ispran Kandasamy, VP & MD, solutions division, Asia Pacific, CommScope Enterprise KK Shetty, director, sales, India and SAARC, AMP NetConnect/TOSP, Tyco Electronics Kannan Rangamani, country manager, Anixter Ketan Kothari, MD, Sigma-Byte Milind Tamhane, VP, manufacturing, Digi-Link Rajesh Kumar, country manager, Siemon Rajesh Shenoy, business head, South Asia, CDT Belden SA Mohan, regional sales director, India & ASEAN Region, Molex James Bundey, marketing manager, Asia Pacific, Molex Shajan M George, technical director, India, Reichle & De-Massari (R&M) Subhashini Prabhakar, chief technology manager, Dax Networks Satish Rao, national business development manager, VDI, Schneider Electric India

Selection is a long and sensitive process that ends with purchasing.
Typically, purchasing decisions are valid when commodities are involved and
unfortunately, many consider cabling a commodity while it is not. Cabling is a
system and, therefore, all elements must be evaluated with competence that
generally does not belong to only one individual. An enterprise building
construction should start from designing and installing fundamentals like
cabling infrastructure for the enterprise. Most of the time cabling is
considered at the end and sometimes, not even considered as a part of IT.

As structured cabling is the backbone of the information system, enterprises
should discrete while choosing, installing, and maintaining the right cabling
solutions. According to industry experts, there are three golden rules while
choosing cabling solutions-future proof investment, scalability, and security.

When cabling solutions are being selected and installed, it must be noted
that the network will last at least fifteen years of active network
infrastructure. This is to ensure that the cabling remains effective and can
support changes in active network infrastructure. While the solution should last
for at least fifteen years, it should also be chosen in a way that it supports
speed requirements for at least six years. Then, with scalability feature, the
solution can be upgraded for further speed requirement and data needs.

When the CIO/CTO chooses a cabling solution, they need to look not only at
meeting the standards but also to exceed the parameters defined in the
standards. The standards only prescribe minimum set-up parameters that could be
matched by most vendors. By exceeding the standards, cabling solutions will
provide peace-of-mind to CIO/CTO in supporting current applications, as well as
future applications and technologies.

While enterprises consider these aspects, they must not forget one more
important point-enterprises must not settle for a solution just because the
solution is cheaper in the market. Cost is an important but not the decisive
factor. The cabling must first satisfy the performance requirements. A good
quality and properly designed product will help a CIO/CTO reduce opex on repairs
or maintenance in the long run. Apart from this the solution should comply with
industry standards such as TIA/EIA and ISO. And an open architecture (standards
based) rather than proprietary will help reduce opex.

Points to Analyze

A complete analysis has to be carried out to see if the solution under
consideration will meet current and future requirements. A solution should be
chosen depending on the kinds of applications enterprises run on the network.
Ten gigabytes solutions on copper or fiber optic cabling are recommended if your
enterprise network demands are high-speed and data-intensive applications. As
most enterprises have the requirements for 7x24x365 availability of network,
reliability, continuous monitoring, fast installation, data center solutions
with plug-and-play factor, and pre-terminated and pre-tested structured cabling
products are generally recommended. Intelligent infrastructure management
systems have now become a key trend among enterprises that need to monitor MACs
and other network status constantly to avoid any down-time.

Choosing a new infrastructure is not always about choosing the latest and
greatest. It is about understanding which system best suites your company needs.
A network infrastructure is a long term investment, and it is vital that you
make the right decision from the start. Otherwise, an expensive upgrade could be
due sooner than expected.

For a CIO/CTO, the following aspects are important while choosing a cabling
solution:

• The number of transistors in a chip doubles every eighteen months
• Memory usage doubles every eighteen months
• The value of the network is proportional to the square of total users.
  

Enterprises should see whether a cabling system can support minimum gigabyte
throughput and future applications. The cabling system should provide zero bit
error-free performance. Another basic factor enterprises should consider is
obtaining performance warranty from vendors. The warranty-clause provided by the
vendor, and components covered under them have to be carefully considered.

Application guarantee, easy administration, and availability of managed
solutions from a vendor will be of great help for enterprises. Enterprises
should also see availability of certified cabling resources, test and
measurement equipments, and financial capability from system integrators.
Despite these crucial considerations, a vital factor is choosing the right
implementation partner, who needs to be someone recognized by the OEM and
certified in their technology.

The most important aspect is to ensure that site-certifications and warranty
is provided directly by the OEM for implementation done through their recognized
partners and integrators. It may also help to demand assurance on the support of
applications that vendor claims to meet, and not just a product warranty.

Enterprises should opt for vendors that are technically very strong. The
company that provides the best after sales support, using the right production
methods in manufacturing, having technical innovations in designing networks, a
complete product portfolio and flexibility must be considered.

The vendor should offer end-to-end solutions-both active and passive
solutions-and provide 24x7 support for enterprises. Reference sites by vendor
will be an added advantage for enterprises. Selecting standards-based solutions
backed by a single vendor is also important. Enterprises should ensure that
performance specifications given by vendors are backed by independent agency.

It is safer to ensure that reference checks are done before selecting a
vendor. Enterprise CIO/CTO needs to consider the credentials of the vendor
before they settle for choosing the right cabling. This becomes very relevant
considering that vendors are said to be substituting copper with other cheap
metals to maintain the gauge of the cable.

Choosing Integrators

Proper installation by trained personnel is crucial for reaping maximum
benefit out of the chosen solution. Proper installation is as important as
choosing the right solutions and therefore integrator's reputation and
experience should be considered. Shortage of well-trained engineers for
structured cabling installation has always been an issue in the SCS market.
Proper training is highly critical for people who install SCS networks because
quality of interconnections and the way cables are laid is directly proportional
to quality of bandwidth that a network delivers. Poor connections result in less
bandwidth that slows down the speed of network applications that run on it. For
installing high performance cable infrastructures such as 10G/Cat-6A/Cat-7
cables as well as Drop Wire FTTH cables, installers need good training. In other
words, inadequately trained installers can ruin the performance of an otherwise
capable infrastructure.

Partners should be able to understand the technical requirements of the
customer, only then will they be able to suggest the right solution. Partners
should be able to understand why the company requires a network and what type of
load it will carry. Secondly, the partner should understand what will be the
lifetime of the deployment. The customer should specify whether he intends to
remain in the premises for a short or a long period of time, and accordingly
suggest solutions.

Simple things like unpacking a cable box without creating knots, that can
affect the performance of the cable, the number of bends that you can have in a
segment, the amount of unsheathing of cable at termination points, etc are
taught installation engineers.

Cabling Trends

Though it is a growing economy, India has always been very unique in the
development and deployment of structured cabling solutions. While many
developing countries continue to plan structured cabling solutions on a 3-5 year
basis, Indian customers have always planned for the long term, investing greater
sums in their networking infrastructure.

The copper medium has seen a definite shift from 100 Mbps transmission to 1
Gbps and now to 10 Gbps. In terms of the current trend in technology adoption,
Cat-6 continues to be the leading choice for most enterprises. Cat-5E cabling
has become almost negligible as Cat-6 cabling is still the de facto medium.
Cat-6A (STP) implementations were limited to data center projects especially in
the network backbone. On the UTP side, Cat-6A following its ratification by the
ISO and EIA is expected to gain momentum.

Another key trend in India, as compared to developed countries, is the far
wider use of fiber cable solutions, in both single mode and multi mode fiber
cables. FTTH is primed to become a reality and many top vendors have the entire
end-to-end solution in this space. Bandwidth and speed hungry networks are
shifting to fiber optics. Fiber optics deployments as the backbone for both
campuses and buildings is being witnessed. The good news for enterprises is that
cost of fiber optic deployments is almost equal to that of copper solutions as
the price of active fiber equipment has dropped.

On the fiber front, the number of fiber installations and ease of
installations is increasing tremendously. Though fiber optics sales to
enterprises have not been very high, they have contributed to about 8-10% of the
overall structured cabling business.

There has been a mental block among installers that the installation
techniques for fiber cabling solutions are complex. Today, the fear psychosis
has definitely died down and the fiber cable finds increasing acceptance.
Pre-polished connectors, pre-terminated fiber, and MPO fiber plug-and-play
connection systems decrease the complexity of installing fiber cabling with
reduced risk of error. Though fiber optics is gaining importance and is mainly
used in the case of large campus installations, trained/competent workforce is
still a stumbling block in its growth.

Intelligent cabling solution or IIMS is making its presence felt in large
networks where efficient network management, fault detection, and documentation
are basic requirements to reduce down time and save costs. Specialized cabling
solution for data center is another development in structured cabling. Many
vendors are having a dedicated portfolio for data centers. Another interesting
trend is the proliferation of green solutions in structured cabling. While
cost-cutting and cost saving is the new mantra, especially in these times of
recession, this environment-friendly green solutions offer energy efficiency and
conserve energy that result in reduced opex.

Role of CIOs

CIOs today are assuming much more importance with the changing economic
scenario. They are looked upon for cost-cutting initiatives and at the same time
are asked to cut down IT expenditure, which puts them on a double edged sword.
In such a scenario, CIOs are implementing a hybrid solution which is cost
effective and can run applications without any compromise on quality or output.
CIOs are serious about RoI in word and spirit. The hybrid solution could
probably mean a combination of fiber for high-end/bandwidth-hungry application
and a vanilla Cat-5e solution for normal office applications.

In the earlier days it was believed that fiber was the only option for high
bandwidth application or for high data speeds. But today with the advent of
Cat-6A and Cat-7, which can achieve data speeds of 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps on
copper, CIOs have a clear-cut cabling choice. In fact Cat-7 offers more
flexibility to run some of the applications that we could never think of
earlier.

With all the above advantages of copper cabling solutions, CIOs still prefer
fiber in many cases as it offers unlimited bandwidth compared to copper
solutions. Installers are also geared up to install fiber with ease due to
techniques like splicing. Nowadays fiber installations are made easier with
products like pre-terminated fiber, and MPOs used in the network also
offers-plug-and-play flexibility to users.

Future Outlook

Cat-6 UTP will dominate the market, however there would be definite increase
in 10G UTP, 10G STP as well as Halogen free cables this year. We might witness
further advancement in 10G solutions. In fiber, while single mode would increase
its presence in LAN environment, new fibers such as bend insensitive fibers-
Clearcurve from CORNING as an example, would find their place in the FTTH
environment.

In multi-mode fiber, though the price would be an effective driver but
OM3/Laser optimized fiber seems to have an edge over OM1 and OM2 types. FTTX for
first mile and last mile connectivity has become a necessity due to increased
demand for bandwidth. Enhancement of low-loss fiber and security-solutions in
structured cable networks could be there for us to see in the future. And, the
market is likely to witness an increase in residential and industrial structured
cabling solutions.

While it is difficult to predict what technology trends would exactly
prevail, if the market picks up, we might see data center technologies gaining
newer dynamics with solutions including integrated data center emerging. It
would be worthwhile to note that Hi-D cable management systems that reduce real
estate footprint for SCS would be very relevant in today's scenario for all
verticals because they would help maximize real estate costs.

Through sheath sharing technology, four pairs can be used for multiple
applications simultaneously. In CAT-7, since the cable is a shielded solution, a
sheath sharing implemented could use two pairs for data; one pair for voice, and
another for an IP application (phone/surveillance) or video, etc.

Pre-terminated fiber and Multiple Point Outlet (MPO) will become more suited
for data center applications where there might be the need to provide
flexibility to users for creating a work group. The MPO in combination with the
pre-terminated fiber offers a solution that is flexible and can be implemented
quickly.

The trend of implementing intelligent infrastructure management systems has
been increasing. It will gain further impetus as CIOs are realizing the benefits
of this as it offers easy administration, easy to implement, adds moves and
changes, IT asset management, sending alerts via SMS to network administrators
among other benefits.

Growth Drivers

The key growth drivers will be data centers and verticals like telecom and
government. The basic criterion for driving the growth would be the need for
high data transport speed and evolution of bandwidth. There is a definite
increase in Internet traffic. New applications coupled with the growth of
Internet users are driving the need for increased bandwidth. Innovative
solutions by structured cabling vendors and increase in data applications will
drive the growth of structured cabling industry.

Nowadays it is expected that enterprises will increasingly use data intensive
applications like videoconferencing. 3G and WiMax services also will offer data
intensive applications once they are rolled out. Will enterprises and service
providers require different cabling solutions, increasing the business for
structured cabling market?

In an ideal situation, and going strictly by the expectations this could
really happen. However, the market scenario is far from ideal. Data intensive
applications like videoconferencing are yet to take off in a big way and require
huge amount of investments both on active and passive devices. With the current
slowdown, businesses are being very cautious in terms of investing even in
technology.

Increase in such demand for high bandwidth cabling solutions would increase
the demand in 10 Gb cabling systems. High-end applications cannot be supported
on conventional cabling and will require a complete structured cabling
infrastructure. To achieve the measurable performance for high-end applications,
specific cable such as HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coaxial), Long Haul Fiber, etc, will be
adopted by the service providers.

Telecom operators are creating kiosks for videoconferencing in multiple
locations within the city and in their operational regions. They also contribute
to the cabling growth. Effective structured cabling solution would handle triple
play far more effectively than before. This means offering new applications such
as videoconferencing, public address system, and IP telephony using the common
infrastructure. This has definitely increased the growth potential for
appropriate structured cabling solutions.

Data intensive applications including videoconferencing require highly
bandwidth-intensive networks with reliability and redundancy. The LAN cabling
depends on the applications used, which will only be more demanding in
tomorrow's enterprises. With the specified technologies requiring higher
bandwidth on WAN, there is definitely a need for higher bandwidth on the LAN as
well. This is further emphasized with progressive and demanding applications
that require not only higher bandwidth, but also reliability and redundancy with
future-proof networks. These requirements can only be achieved with high-end
structured cabling solutions that offer the flexibility to support future
applications and technologies with very high reliability.

As applications become increasingly data intensive, Quality of Service will
be a priority. Nowadays there is a move toward providing multiple applications
like data, voice, video, videoconferencing, IT applications etc, and hence there
is a need for robust networks. These networks have to be properly planned and
implemented. In cabling, the focus will be on QoS which will provide the
required data rates for these applications.

Data center remained the toast of the SCS market and of the IT segment as a
whole, but the last two quarters saw substantial decrease in demand of new data
center projects or even in expansion of existing ones. There has been good
traction in SOHO projects from B and C class cities across the country. Telecom,
transportation, hospitality, healthcare, and real estate verticals will adopt
deployment of structured cabling solutions, giving more and more business
opportunities.

Class Solutions

While fundamentally the solution remains the same for all three customer
classes viz, SOHO, SME and large enterprises, only the scale changes. In SOHO,
the same infrastructure is expected to transmit voice and data whereas in large
enterprise there would be two distinct solutions for voice and data. Similarly,
data integrity becomes the key parameter for large enterprises.

Each vertical needs a solution which could be marginally different or could
be drastically different. This difference could be in terms of solution or the
type of products that need to be used. SOHO, SMEs and large enterprise will
require different kinds of solutions keeping in mind complexities of large
setup, scalability, cost, etc. For example, SOHO will not require a solution
that is scalable while large enterprises would require completely scalable
solutions.

SMEs and large enterprises will go for Cat-6 or Cat-6A and fiber cabling
products in their campus. Customers with high bandwidth requirements usually opt
for 10 Gb cabling. In the SOHO sector, for broadband usually Cat-5e is used.
However, as the cost difference is not significant, there can be a move toward
Cat-6.

For various large-enterprise consumers and data centers, including
progressive industry verticals, the structured cabling solutions required will
be similar in technology and quality; with a need for high-performance,
flexibility, and future-proof technology. But there could be a variation in
their mix of various high-end products, depending on specific requirement.

The major differentiator for SOHO and SME segment could be the choice of
technology and quality, owing to their scale of operation and investments that
are generally in short-term infrastructure for a flexible manpower and temporary
location. However, in case of long-term investments, the need for higher
performance and flexibility will drive them to deploy high-end solutions from
reliable vendors.

Kannan K

kannan@cybermedia.co.in