Quiet Light for Future Data Centers

Bringing the speed, high data capacity and low-energy use of light (optics) to advanced internet infrastructure architecture, the FRESCO team aims to solve the data center bottleneck by shortening the distance between optics and electronics through co-integration, while also drastically increasing the efficiency of transmitting extremely high data rates over few fibers using the extreme stability of “quiet light” used at the transmitting and receiving end of the interconnect.

Industrial focus: Deploying fiber-optic physical infrastructure within CPwE architectures

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.”

The Future of Transportation

With anticipation building for autonomous vehicles, buzz around a hyperloop that can travel as fast as 800 miles an hour, and the growing presence of transportation devices that have an ability to communicate with each other, this article explores the way technology is changing the future of mobility. Throughout history, mobility has been an important driver for societal development: enabling economies to boom by facilitating faster, more reliable trade, higher standards of living, international investment, and larger globalized business operations. The future of transportation is set to deliver all these outcomes and more. As the world becomes increasingly connected, so do transportation assets and devices, empowering communities and citizens around the world.

On brief: Procedures & precautions for cutting and re-spooling fiber-optic cable

A recent evergreen technical brief, authored by Corning Cable Systems and distributed by eAnixter, takes as its premise the reality that improper use of a cable re-spooler can cause damage to fiber-optic cable jackets or, in tight buffered cables, result in wavy fiber due to cable crossovers or excessive tensile loading. The document provides a recommended procedure for cutting and respooling fiber-optic cables.

2020 National Electrical Code® and data/comm cables

The National Electrical Code® (NEC®) is published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) with the revisions on a three-year schedule. The 2020 NEC, which replaces the 2017 NEC, was issued by the NFPA in August, 2019. This article provides the reader with a guide to the key changes in the 2020 National Electrical Code that are of interest to manufacturers, installers, distributors and users of data/comm cables.

Connected security in smart buildings

Tomorrow’s challenges can only be solved with intelligent, networked buildings, so called smart buildings. Networking encompasses all parts of a building – from the electricity supply, taking account of regenerative energy (smart grid), via safety and security technology and operational regulation through interconnected building-automation systems, to control via mobile devices. The prerequisite for all this is systems interoperability, the only way network risks can be mastered.