The Ethernet Alliance has named Peter Jones of Cisco Systems, as their new Chairman. The former chair of the NBASE-T Alliance, which merged with the Ethernet Alliance in 2019, and an active member of multiple Ethernet Alliance committees, Jones assumed his new role in late 2019.
The easiest way to test shield integrity is with a DC continuity test. Put a voltage on the cable at the near end, and if it shows up at the far end, it is assumed to be connected properly. While that is true for the conductors in the cable, it’s not necessarily true for the shield. That’s because the shield is connected to the exterior of the connector, and the connector is in physical contact with the rack panel.
It’s hard to believe but 10Mb/s Ethernet is becoming a very hot topic in the industry again. I get asked “Why are we going back to the 1980s?” There is a simple answer, and to those of us in the industry at that time, it’s very familiar. In that era before Ethernet became ubiquitous, networking truly was the wild west. Everyone had their own protocols, physical layers, connectors etc. However, since then IT has converged a core set of technologies, with Ethernet leading the way, that provides seamless connectivity to billions of people.
For the second consecutive year, Cabling Installation & Maintenance is teaming up with Fluke Networks to administer a salary and compensation survey for professionals in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry in the United States. The survey will stay open through the end of 2019 and into the first couple weeks of January 2020. All individual data collected in the survey will remain anonymous. You can take the survey here.
Fluke Networks demonstrated a prototype single pair Ethernet (SPE) adapter for its DSX-8000 at the Rockwell Automation Show. SPE is making waves in the industrial-automation world as a potential replacement for fieldbus architectures. The adapter is being made in very limited quantities and is currently only available to industrial automation and cabling manufacturers for their use in labs but has been released with the expectation that SPE will become widely adopted.
High-power PoE, ratified a year ago, enables more devices, such as digital displays, laptops, televisions, wireless access points and advanced IP cameras, to be powered through the network cable versus having to connect with other cables and to an AC outlet. Think of the freedom! Think of the cost savings! So, what’s the downside?
The choice for data center media will always be a contentious topic, especially in networking a purpose-built facility like data centers. Building a data center architecture using both fiber and copper or selective use of both depends on a variety of criteria.
Power over Ethernet has become the new power grid in buildings. With new standards that allow up to 99W to be delivered, PoE has grown up and is ready to power connected devices throughout the office building, school, and hospital. Panduit’s latest ebook, The Role of PoE in the Modern Connected Enterprise, explores infrastructure considerations and emerging solutions for extending the distance of PoE delivery.
Panduit’s twisted-pair copper connectors meet the specifications of the IEEE 802.3bt standard for Power over Ethernet published in January 2019. That standard defines a maximum of 90 watts. While the standard itself is recently updated, Panduit’s certification to the higher loads has been in place since August 2016.
A recent technical application guide composed by Cisco, Panduit and Rockwell Automation describes how “Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) is the underlying architecture that provides standard network services for control and information disciplines, devices, and equipment found in modern industrial automation and control system (IACS) applications.”
