Issue: August 2006
By: Frank Bisbee

Bisbee's Buzz

Connections…

Everything seems to be connected in some fashion.  One event affects another and a huge chain reaction of CHANGE begins to take place.  Today we see so many rapid changes in technology that we seem numbed by the speed of the process.  Every once in a while it may be appropriate to look back in time to appreciate the changes that are ahead.

What’s new since 1906?

The year is 1906

The year is 1906.
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year

************************************

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.
Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.
There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only 144 miles of paved roads.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.
With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!
The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.
The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at HOME.
Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard".
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30!!!!
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.
here was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.A.

… Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

It boggles the mind to try to identify the “CHANGES” that have transpired in the past 100 years. Send us your top ten “CHANGES” during the past 33 years. info@wireville.com

See you at BICSI in Las Vegas in September 2006. It will be a good conference with a powerful program. www.bicsi.org

But that’s just my opinion.

Frank Bisbee

"Heard On The Street" Monthly Column
www.wireville.com
4949 Sunbeam Rd, Suite 16
Jacksonville, FL 32257
(904) 645-9077 offfice
(904) 645-9058 fax
frank@wireville.com

Preformed Line Products Announces Financial Results For The Second Quarter And First Six Months Of 2006

Preformed Line Products Company (Nasdaq: PLPC - News) reported financial results for the second quarter and the first six months of 2006.

Net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 was $3,545,000, or $.61 per diluted share, compared to $3,696,000, or $.64 per diluted share, for the comparable period in 2005. Net sales in the second quarter 2006 were $56,098,000, an increase of 6% from last year's $52,692,000.

Net income for the six months ended June 30, 2006 was $6,029,000, or $1.04 per diluted share, compared to the prior year's $6,924,000, or $1.20 per diluted share. Net sales increased 5% to $108,733,000 for the first six months of 2006, compared to $103,464,000 in 2005.

Rob Ruhlman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Sales improved for the quarter by 5% and for the first six months by 4%, excluding the favorable impact of currency. These sales increases were driven by our foreign operations. Our domestic sales in the first half were lower than last year due to an exceptionally strong first quarter in 2005. Our costs and expenses continue at a higher rate due to rising raw material costs, the cost of energy, higher product testing costs, compliance costs, and our continued investment in our employees.

Sales were more than 6% higher than the previous quarter while our costs and expenses remained relatively flat. Our domestic sales improved 2% over the first quarter due to continued strong sales in the energy market and improvement in fiber-to-the-premise sales.

We expect to recover a portion of the rising costs through price increases effective in the third quarter. Our progress on a new production process and alternative raw materials continues to move forward, although we do not expect to fully benefit from these improvements until next year."

Founded in 1947, Preformed Line Products is an international designer and manufacturer of products and systems employed in the construction and maintenance of overhead and underground networks for energy, communications and broadband network companies.

Preformed's world headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Company operates three domestic manufacturing centers located in Rogers, Arkansas, Albemarle, North Carolina, and Asheville, North Carolina. The Company serves its worldwide market through international operations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Thailand.

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 regarding the Company, including those statements regarding the Company's and management's beliefs and expectations concerning the Company's future performance or anticipated financial results, among others. Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in those statements. Among other things, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements include the strength of the economy and demand for the Company's products, increases in raw material prices, the Company's ability to identify, complete and integrate acquisitions for profitable growth, and other factors described under the heading "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Company's Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 15, 2006. The Form 10-K and the Company's other filings with the SEC can be found on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

Force10 Networks Chief Security Scientist Explores Changing Requirements For Securing 'high-speed networks at the edge'

To effectively protect the high-speed WAN edge requires a different type of security appliance that can provide visibility into traffic as well as filter traffic at 10 Gigabit speeds, Force10 Networks Chief Security Scientist Livio Ricciulli said today at the ESCC/Internet2 Joint Techs Workshop.

"With the growth in 10 Gigabit Ethernet adoption, security appliances designed for Gigabit Ethernet, or even slower networks, can no longer keep up, leaving the network edge open to security breaches," said Ricciulli.

"To ensure security at the frontline of high speed networks, the flexibility to set and order rules as demanded by the network or traffic composition is essential to ensuring security without compromising performance."

Traditional security appliances have been defined by a rigid rule ordering logic that has prevented network operators from tailoring them to meet their needs. According to Force 10, at higher speeds, security appliances must embrace a greater degree of flexibility that lets network operators choose between policy control, ordered rules or summed outcomes.

"While flexibility is critical to providing security at 10 Gigabit speeds, the increasing sophistication of attacks is creating a requirement for greater transparency at the network edge," Ricciulli said. "A security appliance in a high-speed network must look and operate almost as if invisible to the network while providing deep packet inspection from Layer 2 through Layer 7 to eliminate unwanted, harmful traffic."

ADC Wins 2008 Olympic Venue Renovation Project; Olympic Softball Stadium in Beijing Implements Company's TrueNet Structured Cabling Solutions

ADC  (www.adc.com), a leading global infrastructure equipment and services provider, announced that its TrueNet(R) Structured Cabling Solutions have been installed at China's Olympic Softball Stadium, as part of the first venue renovation project in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. The cabling solutions provide the infrastructure for efficient data sharing during softball games that will be viewed across the world.

The Fengtai Softball Field is the first of 11 Olympic venues in Beijing to undergo renovation. The project was completed the end of June 2006 and is the site for the World Softball Championship in August 2006, as well as the Olympic softball games in 2008. ADC's TrueNet solutions span the more than 143,000 square foot field and an expanding floor measuring approximately 95,000 square feet. The renovated areas include the stadium, two playing fields and two practice fields.

"When planning the network infrastructure design for the Fengtai Softball Field, we considered the benefits of a variety of solutions and found ADC's TrueNet Unshielded Twisted Pair cabling to be both economical and easy to install," said Jianying Yan, general manager of Xi'an Si Lian, main contractor of the Fengtai Softball Field. "With the completion of this project, we anticipate that ADC's solutions will meet the high-demand performance requirements of the network."

The Olympic Softball Stadium selected ADC's international standardized modular jacks (RJ45) installed on telecommunication outlets, as well as patch panels and patch cords. All ADC telecommunications outlets are connected by a high-performance structured cabling system, creating an information freeway with efficient transmission capabilities. The system allows for information sharing among various computer networks within the stadium and also seamlessly connects internal systems to external high-speed broadband technologies. In addition, the flexibility of the ADC TrueNet solutions ensures room for future growth and system upgrades, protecting the current hardware and cabling investment.

"ADC's TrueNet Solutions are designed to exceed the internationally recognized ISO 11801 specifications," said Jaxon Lang, director of product management, structured cabling, for ADC. "Our end-to-end solution maximizes data throughput and provides room for future technologies operating beyond one Gigabit. We are pleased to partner with the Olympic Games and Xi'an Si Lian to fit Fengtai field and stadium for optimal data transmission and performance. This is truly a state-of-the-art venue."

The project was installed and tested by ADC partner Xi'an Si Lian Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd.

ADC TrueNet Structured Cabling System

The TrueNet Structured Cabling System, a highly reliable, end-to-end system, is designed to meet the unique network infrastructure needs of enterprises, backed by the industries only true Zero Bit-Error Warranty that guarantees signal integrity and network throughput. Featuring proven cable, connectivity, and cable management solutions for Fiber, 10 Gigabit Ethernet over UTP, and Category 6/5e from the data center to the desktop, TrueNet is installed in high-performance networks worldwide. Learn more at www.adc.com/truenet.

About ADC
ADC provides the connections for wireline, wireless, cable, broadcast, and enterprise networks around the world. ADC's innovative network infrastructure equipment and professional services enable high-speed Internet, data, video, and voice services to residential, business and mobile subscribers. ADC (NASDAQ:ADCT) has sales into more than 140 countries. Learn more about ADC at www.adc.com

SCTE Board’s Standing

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers (SCTE) proudly announces the names of the dedicated individuals who will serve as the chairs of the standing committees of the SCTE Board of Directors during the 2006-’07 term.

SCTE Chairman of the Board Yvette Gordon-Kanouff, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for SeaChange International, has appointed the six chairs. The standing committees and their newly named chairs are:

Engineering Committee—Charlie Kennamer, Comcast Cable Communications

Finance Committee—Bob Macioch, Time Warner Cable, SCTE Region 4 Director

Membership Committee—Frank Eichenlaub, Scientific Atlanta, A Cisco Company, SCTE Region 2 Director

Operations Committee—Tom Gorman, Charter Communications, SCTE Director-At-Large

Planning Committee—Dermot O’Carroll, Rogers Cable, SCTE Director-At-Large Canada

Professional Development Committee—Gene White, Bright House Networks, SCTE Region 9 Director

The charters of the standing committees and the complete lists of standing committee members for the coming year are listed at www.scte.org in the About Us section.

Hubbell Premise Wiring And Mitel Join Forces To Address Physical Infrastructure For IP Voice

Hubbell Premise Wiring, a global provider of 10 Gigabit and Power-over-Ethernet structured cabling solutions, today announced that it has formed a marketing alliance with MitelÒ to address the physical infrastructure requirements of enterprise IP communications deployments.

By working closely with Mitel, Hubbell will be able to offer customers and resellers access to cost effective and easy to manage infrastructure solutions designed to enhance the flexibility, accessibility, and physical security of Mitel IP voice applications.

“A lot of attention gets focused on mating a voice solution to the switching network. Hubbell is working with Mitel to go one step further by addressing the need for integration at the physical, power and asset management level. In fact, a planned approach to the physical environment is a critical element in any enterprises’ communications strategy”, said John Szupiany, VP Product Marketing for Hubbell.

In an effort to provide resellers and customer’s access to high performance infrastructure components, the Hubbell Premise Wiring PowerTracâ PoE patch panel has been tested and verified by Mitel as a mid-span panel solution for use with the Mitel 3300 IP Communications Platform (ICP). To enable customers to see Hubbell and Mitel products working together in a live environment, Hubbell is installing its infrastructure solutions at select Mitel demonstration centers, including Mitel’s Costa Mesa, CA, Atlanta and Vancouver, Canada offices. Hubbell will also offer an extended 25-year warranty on its connectivity products for Mitel systems that utilize Hubbell solutions.

“This is yet another example of recognized industry leaders working with Mitel to bring best-of-breed IP communications solutions to the enterprise,” says Mitel COO Paul Butcher, “By taking advantage of Hubbell’s Intelligent Infrastructure approach, customers can maximize the advantages of their Mitel IP voice solution.”

Hubbell is a member of Mitel MiSolutions Network (MiSN), a comprehensive global third-party developer program enabling world-class companies to successfully create products and services that complement the Mitel portfolio. MiSN is designed to ensure that third-party products and services can be quickly and easily integrated with Mitel’s product portfolio. Hubbell’s MiSN membership helps ensure Hubbell customers a more seamless integration with the Mitel 3300 ICP.

"The MiSolutions Network is an important resource for Mitel consultants, distributors and resellers who are searching for ways to improve their solution portfolio," added Bob DeRosa President of Bridging-The-Gap-Through-Communications consulting firm in Westchester County, New York.  "Hubbell’s membership in MiSN provides an additional resource for companies by enhancing the management and integration process of their Mitel telephone system in an IP environment."

Hubbell Premise Wiring’s PowerTrac and high performance cabling solutions are available through Hubbell’s domestic reseller channel. On an ongoing basis Hubbell Premise Wiring will provide end-user customers, VAR’s, certified installation partners and consultants with the latest information regarding emerging VoIP and structured cabling technologies and applications.

About Hubbell Premise Wiring
Hubbell Premise Wiring, a division of Hubbell, Inc. (Delaware), is a leading manufacturer of structured cabling systems, enclosures and accessories, providing a comprehensive solution of seamless infrastructure for the total enterprise. Hubbell’s broad offering includes high-performance jacks, patch panels, patch cords, racks and cabinets, raceway and delivery, cable, cable management accessories, and fiber optic products for commercial, industrial, and residential environments. The division is located in Stonington, Connecticut and has sales offices worldwide. For more information please visit www.hubbell-premise.com.

About Mitel
Mitel is a leading provider of integrated communications solutions and services for business customers. Mitel’s voice-centric IP-based communications solutions consist of a combination of telephony hardware and software that integrate voice, video and data communications with business applications and processes. These solutions enable our customers to realize significant cost benefits and to conduct their business more efficiently and effectively by enabling enhanced communications, information sharing and collaboration within a business and with customers, partners and suppliers. Mitel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices, partners and resellers worldwide.

NEMA Names Whitman As Vice President Of Medical Products

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that it has named Andrew Whitman as vice president of medical products at NEMA. Whitman will replace Robert Britain, who is retiring after 21 years of service. Whitman comes to NEMA from Carmen Group, Inc., a government relations firm in Washington, D.C., where he served as the senior associate for healthcare practice representing healthcare providers on Capitol Hill and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Andrew brings an in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry and federal regulatory issues that can affect the electroindustry,” says NEMA President Evan Gaddis. “I am confident that he will do an outstanding job leading the medical products department and that his experience will be an asset to NEMA and its members.”

Prior to working at the Carmen Group, Inc., Whitman served as deputy director, regulatory affairs, and special counsel for the American Psychiatric Association, where he directed and managed the federal regulatory and healthcare policy agenda. His work included contact with high ranking government officials in Congress, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Food and Drug Administration. He also previously worked as senior counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Counsel to the Inspector General, and served as senior corporate counsel for Integrated Health Services, Inc. He has practiced healthcare law at several law firms, including Reed Smith, LLP and Grove, and Jaskiewicz and Cobert. Whitman holds a Juris Doctor from American University and a bachelor of arts, cum laude, from Hamilton College.

NEMA is the trade association of choice for the electrical manufacturing industry. Founded in 1926 and headquartered near Washington, D.C., its 430 member companies manufacture products used in the generation, transmission and distribution, control, and use of electricity. These products are used in utility, medical, industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential applications. Domestic production of electrical products sold worldwide exceeds $120 billion. In addition to its headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia, NEMA also has offices in Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Mexico City.  www.nema.org

Area Communications Sets It sights On Fastest Growing Business Partner Award For Avaya

Avaya recently selected 26 of its 1300+ business partners nationally for it’s prestigious “Partners for Growth” program.  Area Communications is excited to be the only dealer in Florida selected.  Area Communications, a Jacksonville based communications firm and Avaya Business Partner, has climbed to the number 2 overall Business Partner in the state of Florida over the past year.  Now, Area is aggressively pursuing the top growth spot nationally among Avaya Business Partners.  

“Our focus on Training and Business Development has put quite a bit of wind in our sails” says Area CEO Brian Chancey.  “Last year, we deployed a Learning Management System and authored a series of web based training courses that allow our customers to certify their employees on the use of the Avaya IP Office.  Both basic telephony and advanced communications training programs are available.  Now our clients can certify employees on the use of the communications technology even before it is deployed.”

This year Area is rolling out a new program called Savvy Business Development Systems™.  It is a program that uses modern communications technologies (IP Telephony, Recording, Call Center, Call Accounting, Customer Relationship Management and Multi-Site Networking) combined with the sales training program that is guaranteed to produce results.  “We have seen increases in client revenue ranging from 10% to over 40%.  It is an awesome program,” says Chancey.  “Partnering to help companies grow their revenues is much more rewarding that simply installing a phone system, and we have a very unique program to do just that”.

In order to manage this sales growth, Area has appointed a new Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  Rocky Nightingale assumed this position early in May of this year.  “I have managed as many as 300 Avaya Sales Associates in my years in this business, but never have I had had such a powerful offering, or opportunity for that matter.  We plan to expand the sales force state wide, recruiting only top Avaya sales talent,” say Nightingale. 

Stand by for liftoff...

www.areacom.com

TIA/EIA Emerging Standards – Let’s Review

By Lee Badman

BIG things are afoot in the world of standards. There are various working groups shaping cool and powerful notions into documented standards, at differing stages of completion. Other groups are recently finished, and basking in the glow of jobs well done as the industry gets its arms around the latest standards. Sure, this snapshot of sorts is nothing new – like the sun coming up and the seasons turning, the steady and reliable progression of technologies and ways to leverage them is something long-timers in the data world know well. But every once in a while the planets align just right, and the “what’s in the pipe” factor gets pretty darn exciting from the perspective of emerging standards. Fortunately for network environments of all sizes, we all stand together at just such a juncture. Recently released and soon-to-be ratified standards form a powerful tapestry of documents that enable, and will enable further, powerful changes in the networking arena. Here’s another CBM update.

Yesterday’s Pipe Dream

Topping the discussion, who’d have thought ten years ago that we’d be looking at putting 10 Gb/s over copper wiring? It’s easy to appreciate the power of optical fiber, but 10 Gig over copper? It is an impressive goal, and is the bread and butter of the IEEE 802.3 working group, also referred to as the 10GBASE-T group.  And as impressive as 10 Gig seems as a shear quantity of bandwidth, it makes sense that fiber and now copper options will be available to support aggregation and backbone connectivity for enterprises that take Gigabit connectivity for granted. But pushing copper to these extremes presents challenges, as the working group finishes up a 10GBASE-T PHY spec and makes it’s case for using nothing less than Category 6 cable.

 “While the use of 10 Gig is currently anticipated in the data center or campus backbones, one of the rules of networking is that the demand for bandwidth is not going to decline and the widespread deployment of high-throughput technologies like 10GBASE-T is coming,”  comments Hugo Draye, Fluke Networks’ marketing manager for certification tools, in regards to the pending 802.3an standards. “The use of copper cabling offers a significant cost advantage when the distance or link length allows it. Copper cabling does not require expensive optoelectronics the way fiber does.  And there are many more installers who are familiar and comfortable with installing UTP.” One of the obvious questions is how Fluke Networks is getting ready for the tentative summer of ’06 release of 802.3an, and it’s biggest challenge – Alien Crosstalk. According to Draye, “Alien Crosstalk can be very difficult to test.  It’s a phenomenon where every cable in a bundle can affect every other cable.  This leads to many measurements, a very large number of calculations and huge data files. Fortunately, Fluke Networks’ DTX 10 Gig solution offers a simple, standards-compliant test setup, with the DTX AxTalk Analyzer™ software handling all the complex calculations.”

But as with all high-speed data technologies, the onus is still very much on the installer to produce a quality product as the cabling system is installed. Draye reminds us, “The workmanship of the installation is going to play a very significant role in assuring that the cabling installation will support this super fast new network technology flawlessly.  And field certification of both the in-channel performance and of Alien Crosstalk will be the only way to assure that the cabling system will support 10 Gig Ethernet.” Look for more on 802.3an later in the summer. And keep an ear pealed towards the end of this year for more on Category 6A, or Augmented Cat 6 (terminology depends on who’s marketing you’re reading), also being formally worked towards raising the performance bar for the likes of 10GBASE-T. This is truly big stuff.

And in the home?

Today’s homes are smarter than ever, with a powerful collection of technologies in the walls and on shelves enabling multimedia entertainment systems, control, security, networking, telephony, and all sorts of overlap between these. The TIA-570B Residential Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard has been with us for two years, and is doing wonders for elevating system quality in individual residences and multi-tenant buildings by specifying specific cable types, system design parameters, and more – resulting in a holistic approach to home technology. Installers and residents, alike, are also reaping the benefits of a recent breed of test equipment geared towards supporting TIA-570B. From Fluke Networks, the CableIQ leads the small-but-growing pack of “qualification testers” that perform a battery of performance measurements to “qualify” a given cable, versus “certifying” the same cable with the more beefy (and costly) full-blown Level III and IV testers. As more builders and buyers get wise to the importance of “doing it right the first time,” we’ll continue to see TIA-570-B make an impact, with further refinements almost guaranteed.

Ah, Wireless…

You simply can’t discuss emergent standards without getting into wireless. Wireless is popping up everywhere, it’s evolving, and discussion of standards in development could fill an entire issue of CBM. Let’s look at the tip of the wireless standards iceberg… The topic of mesh wireless networking is becoming a media darling. Philadelphia, San Diego, New Orleans, and the whole state of Rhode Island are just some of the major locations that are looking at getting in on this thing called “mesh.” But just like the word “line” in the telephone world, “mesh” is getting a reputation for being over-applied. But take a look at the goings-on of the 802.11s working group, and you’ll get to the bottom of “official” efforts towards wireless LAN mesh networking. Mesh wireless is essentially a dynamic, self-determining wireless “backhaul” system that takes the wiring of individual access points out of the middle of the equation– both access and connectivity across the network is wireless, eventually reaching a connection to the wired network. But mesh networks play in some pretty polluted spectrum, when you consider all the competing wireless devices in a given city. The 802.11s group has it’s work cut out for them, but hopes to have something to offer by 2008.

And what do you know of TIA/EIA’s TSB-162, which is an add-on to the TIA/EIA-569-B standard? I’m embarrassed to say that I knew nothing of it until I spoke with Bob Jenson, standards development and technology manager at Fluke Networks. Bob clued me in to the Telecommunications Cabling Guidelines for Wireless Access Points, and as a wireless “pro,” I was surprised at how this one got by me, After reading over TSB-162, I can appreciate that the document is trying to help standardize designing wireless cells from the cabling perspective, but am not sure if it goes too far in implying that all radio cells are created equal (or close to it). But, from a planning and budget perspective, TSB-162 is a good addition to today’s cabling standards, and further reflects the impact that wireless networking is having on the data world.

But wait – there’s more…

Actually, there’s a lot more. In the next year or two, look for refinements and modifications to the reigning Big Daddy of the cabling standards, TIA/EIA-568-B. Watch for more developments on ISO Class F (marketed in the U.S. as Category 7). In the world of wireless, pre-standards 802.11n product is selling big in the residential market, but where it goes in the enterprise remains to be seen- some of the “big guys” are planning for it in their product lines, others are saying it will make crowded spectrum worse. But with promised throughputs better (sometimes much better) than 108 Mb/s, 802.11n will certainly stay on people’s minds as it meanders through the standards process. Then there’s WiMax (802.16) that is also shipping early product for wireless broadband. And the list goes on… as individual standards and proposed standards gain significance and traction, watch for CBM to keep you posted.

Printed with full permission of Cabling Business Magazine www.cablingbusiness.com

June Issue 2006

Rexel Set To Nearly Double U.S. Sales With GE Supply Acquisition

Rexel announced that it is in the process of buying GE Supply for $725 million.  It’s not the first acquisition by the French-based distributor this summer, but it certainly is the largest.  In 2005, Rexel reported sales of $2.5 billion; GE Supply’s 2005 sales were given as $2.2 billion—or combined, the merged entity would have had 2005 sales of $4.7 billion.   

The transaction is set to be complete in August, at which time Rexel could potentially become the largest seller of electrical products in the U.S.  Rexel also noted that this acquisition "continues" its leadership role in consolidation, which could be taken to mean there are even more acquisitions in store. 

After the acquisition, Rexel said it plans to operate in the U.S. through a dual-banner strategy, benefiting from GE Supply’s large project management experience and national footprint, as well as its GE Supply Logistics and GE Production Services divisions.  Dick Waterman, executive vice president and CEO of Rexel will oversee the group, and Jeff Schaper, senior vice president of GE Supply will continue to operate that business, according to Rexel. 

In its press release, Rexel estimated the U.S. electrical products market at $64 billion.  With $2.5 billion in U.S. sales, Rexel commanded a 3.9 percent share of the total market in 2005.  Logically, then, Rexel could command roughly 7.8 percent of total industry sales in 2006.

According to a report on Bloomberg.com, "GE decided to sell its electrical-parts distribution unit in November last year, people briefed on the plans said at the time. The U.S. company aimed to raise as much as $700 million, said the people, who declined to be identified." 

For the record, GE Supply facts were given as follows:  $2.2 billion in annual sales; 2,500 employees; 150 locations; HQ in Shelton, Conn.; established in 1929. www.rexelusa.com

ACUTA Fall Seminars

October 22-25, 2006
Portland, Oregon
Marriott Downtown Waterfront

The best in professional networking, practical educational sessions, and one-on-one interaction with vendors in exhibit hall.

Track 1. New and Evolving Technologies
Learn how technology is bringing innovation to campus: VoIP, Unified Messaging, Wireless thin/hybrid AP
VoWiFi and WiMAX, IM and storage networks.

Track 2. Chargeback and Cost Models
Hear how university information and communications technology units are funding their services: Fee structures, contract negotiations, tax assessments, debt financing, billing systems, and cost analysis.

To get more details or to register, visit the website at http://www.acuta.org .

TriNet Named Sales Channel For Hitachi GPON Fiber To The Premises Product Family

Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc. announced that TriNet Communications, Inc. of Livermore, California, has been designated a sales channel for Hitachi's AMN1220 Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON) product family. GPON enables service providers to deliver multiple services, including RF and IP video, high-speed data, and voice over a single optical fiber connected directly to the home or business. GPON is an attractive solution for telecommunications service providers wanting to offer triple play services (video, data, voice), and for cable TV Multiple System Operators (MSOs) who are facing bandwidth constraints with the accelerating adoption of high definition TV, or who want to add new revenue sources by offering business services.

Hitachi's AMN1220 full-rate GPON system operates at 2.4Gbps downstream and 1.2Gbps upstream, providing plenty of bandwidth to deliver multiple simultaneous HDTV streams. Service providers also benefit from the flexibility to provide both RF and IP video services - simultaneously if needed. For enterprise users, the Hitachi AMN1220 supports DS1 services in native format through GPON Encapsulation Mode (GEM), allowing businesses to continue to use customary T1 services and to use existing PBX telephone systems that are connected by T1 on the trunk side.

According to Rick Schiavinato, director of technical sales and marketing at Hitachi Telecom, "TriNet Communications is an award-winning supplier to RBOCs, independent telcos and MSOs. We are pleased to have their extensive experience and breadth of market coverage on our side."

"Hitachi is one of the few companies with the product line and corporate stability to support the wide range of customer types that we serve," said Jason Skeoch, TriNet vice president, sales & marketing. "We look forward to offering Hitachi's advanced GPON solutions throughout our client range."

About Hitachi's AMN1220 Product Family
The AMN1220 FTTP platform is a family of high-performance GPON products that provide ultra high bandwidth communication services to residential, business and institutional subscribers using a single optical fiber direct to the subscriber's premises. Compliant with ITU-T G.984 standards, the AMN1220 provides data rates of 2.488Gbit/s downstream and 1.244Gbit/s upstream. Standards compliance provides assurance that service providers will have maximum flexibility in implementing FTTP solutions as applications and services are added in the future. Legacy TDM services such as T1 are seamlessly handled in their native formats using GPON Encapsulation Mode (GEM) framing.

The AMN1220 consists of a centrally located Optical Line Terminal (OLT) connected via single-mode fiber optic cable to Optical Network Terminals (ONT) at the subscribers' premises. The OLT is equipped with a hybrid Layer 2/3 + TDM switch fabric for flexible traffic management and consolidation. ONTs include the GST, a single family / small business unit, and the GMT, a configurable multi-dwelling/multi-business ONT. All ONTs can provide a Gigabit Ethernet line rate interface to the subscriber, enabling a wide range of business applications today and providing future proofing for both residential and business networks.

About Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc.
Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., a subsidiary of Hitachi America, Ltd., develops, manufactures and markets telecommunications equipment for the North American market. The company offers ITU-compliant 'triple play' systems for Fiber-to-the-Premises applications, and ultra high-speed optical networking equipment such as DWDM and SONET systems. For more information on Hitachi Telecom (USA), Inc., visit http://www.hitachitelecom.com.

Hitachi America, Ltd., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., markets and manufactures a broad range of electronics and semiconductors, and provides industrial equipment and services throughout North America. For more information on Hitachi America, visit http://www.hitachi.us.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 356,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2005 (ended March 31, 2006) consolidated sales totaled 9,464 billion yen ($80.9 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at www.hitachi.com.

Limited Combustible Cable

Don Hall
Corning Cable Systems
don.hall@corning.com

Introduction

National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes and standards are consensus documents issued by a private organization and not regulatory tools; therefore, they may be adopted in part or in their entirety by local authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ). Where NFPA codes and standards or the information in this paper conflict with local regulations, the local regulations take precedence. This paper discusses the treatment of limited combustible cable by the relevant codes and standards of the NFPA.

About the NFPA

The NFPA is a nonprofit organization, which develops and publishes codes and standards intended to minimize the possibility and effects of fire. NFPA codes and standards are developed through an open, consensus-based process that allows for thorough public review and comment. NFPA codes and standards are developed by technical committees (called code-making panels in the case of the National Electrical Code®) whose volunteer members come from a broad cross-section of companies and industry organizations. The activities of these committees and panels are overseen by the NFPA Board of Directors through the appointment of a 13-person Standards Council which is ultimately responsible for the issuance of all such documents. The NFPA defines the terms as follows:

Code. A standard that is an extensive compilation of provisions covering broad subject matter or that is suitable for adoption into law independently of other codes and standards.

Standard. A document, the main text of which contains only mandatory provisions using the word “shall” to indicate requirements and which is in a form generally suitable for mandatory reference by another standard or code or for adoption into law. Nonmandatory provisions shall be located in an appendix, footnote or fine print note and are not to be considered a part of the requirements of a standard.

In practice, this means that codes are documents that a local or state jurisdiction can adopt and make into regulation. Standards, which give greater detail but have less of a broad view, are referenced in the codes.

Corning Cable Systems Whitepaper

Limited Combustible Cable

In 2002, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) developed testing criteria for the listing of a new cable type known as “Limited Combustible.” UL Subject 2424, Outline of Investigation for Cable Marked “Limited Combustible,” requires that these cables meet the following criteria with respect to their flame and smoke characteristics:

Cables shall have a maximum potential heat value of 3500 BTU/lb when tested in accordance with the Standard Test Method for Potential Heat of Building Materials, NFPA 259 (2003)

Cables shall have a maximum smoke developed index of 50 and a maximum flame spread index of 25 when tested in accordance with the Standard Test for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials, UL 723 (NFPA 255)

The surface burning test must be conducted on slit and unslit cable samples, and the worse performing of the two sample types must then be burned following prescribed environmental exposure conditions. Cables listed to this fire hazard classification are marked as “Limited Combustible FHC 25/50.” The cables must also meet the fire test requirements for standard plenum cables as defined in NFPA 262.

Relevant NFPA Codes and Standards

There are three NFPA documents frequently cited when arguing for of the use of limited combustible cable. These documents are:

NFPA 70: The National Electrical Code

NFPA 90A: Standard for the Installation of Air-Conditioning and Ventilating System

NFPA 13: Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems

Only NFPA 90A uses the term “Limited Combustible” as a cable designation, and none of the documents mandate the use of limited-combustible cables or cables listed to the requirements of UL 2424.

The following discussion provides a review of each of these documents, with a focus on the portions frequently relied upon for promotion of limited combustible cables.

NFPA 90A: Standard for the Installation of Air-Conditioning and Ventilating System

NFPA 90A was last revised in 2002. This document is responsible, as prescribed by the NFPA Standards Council, for developing requirements for materials contained in ducts and plenums associated with the air conditioning and ventilating system. NFPA 90A only contains explicit requirements for cables installed within ceiling cavity plenums and raised floor plenums, with these spaces described in section 4.3.10. The requirements for cables installed in ceiling cavity plenums are as follows:

4.3.10.2.6.1 Electrical wires and cables and optical fiber cables shall be listed as noncombustible or limited combustible and have a maximum smoke developed index of 50 or shall be listed as having a maximum peak optical density of 0.5 or less, an average optical density of 0.15 or less and a maximum flame spread density of 1.5 m (5 ft) when tested in accordance with NFPA 262, Standard Method of Test for Flame Travel and Smoke of Wires and Cables for Use in Air-Handling Spaces.

The requirements for cables installed in raised floor plenums are identical and are indicated in 4.3.10.6.5.1.

It is important to note that the language above allows for either of two types of cable, namely traditional plenum cables, tested to NFPA 262 and “listed noncombustible or limited combustible cables.” Thus, traditional plenum cables are still permitted, just as they were in prior editions of NFPA 90A. The 2002 edition of NFPA 90A added limited combustible cable as a permitted cable type.

As NFPA 90A completed its 2002 revision cycle and entered the 2005 revision cycle, the NFPA Standards Council issued an important directive to the Technical Committee for Air Conditioning (TCAC) responsible for NFPA 90A. This directive instructed the committee to make revisions to address what it perceived to be two alternative minimum requirements for the same plenum application spaces. This subject proved to be very controversial, with some arguing that limited combustible cable should be the new single minimum requirement while others pointed to a lack of technical substantiation for such a sweeping change. At the 2005 national meeting of the NFPA membership, the TCAC presented its revision of NFPA 90A with limited combustible cable as the new single minimum; however, a majority of NFPA members present found the new document unsatisfactory and by majority vote recommended that the document be returned to committee. The Standards Council, ultimately responsible for issuing the new document, acted upon the recommendation of the NFPA membership and declined to issue the new document. Consequently, the 2002 edition remained in effect and the NFPA 90A was placed on a new 2008 revision cycle.

During the 2005 revision cycle, a great deal of promotional publicity was generated based upon anticipation of a new NFPA 90A requirement establishing limited combustible cable as the single minimum performance requirement for cables in plenum spaces. With the failure of the TCAC to produce such a document, much of the literature which has been circulated on this subject is incorrect or misleading.

NFPA 70: The National Electrical Code (NEC)

The National Electrical Code (NEC) is a code familiar to those in the building industry and widely adopted by almost all AHJs as a basis for inclusion into their fire and building codes. The NEC reflects the requirements of other NFPA Standards, which may be considered to have primacy within specific areas of application. For example, NFPA 90A provides requirements for cables installed within spaces used for the handling of environmental air, such as the area above a drop ceiling. If the NFPA 90A requirements change, the NEC will be expected to appropriately revise requirements reflecting the NFPA 90A changes in its next revision cycle.

The NEC provides requirements for the installation of various cable types. Chapters 7 and 8 contain requirements for several low-voltage or non-current-carrying cable applications, which are subject to fewer requirements than power distribution cables.

Among these applications, the ones related to plenum cables are:

Article 725: Applies to Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3 remote-control, signaling and power-limited circuits

Article 760: Applies to fire alarm cables

Article 770: Applies to optical fiber cables

Article 800: Applies to communications circuits, e.g. telephone circuits

Article 820: Pertains to coaxial cable employed for CATV service

Article 830: Pertains to network-powered broadband cables

To date, the various articles above state that cables installed within plenum spaces (which are actually called “other space used for environmental air” in section 300.22 of the NEC) must meet the traditional plenum cable requirements of NFPA 262. No mention is made of limited combustible cable. During the 2005 NEC revision cycle, which was completed in 2004, numerous proposals were submitted to the various code-making panels of the NEC related to limited combustible cable (also called by various other names such as duct cable, air duct cable and 25/50 cable). Because the revision cycle of NFPA 90A slightly lags that of the NEC and because the NFPA 90A is supposed to lead the NEC with respect to cables in plenum spaces, the Standards Council issued a directive to the NEC code making panels that it should refrain from considering proposals related to cables in plenum spaces until NFPA 90A had resolved such matters. Presumably, any new requirements related to cables in plenum spaces issuing from the 2005 NFPA 90A would not have appeared in the NEC until 2008, unless the Standards Council were to allow a mid-cycle “Tentative Interim Amendment” to the NEC. In view of the failure of the TCAC to produce an acceptable version of the 2005 NFPA 90A, the directive of the Standards Council appears to have been wise.

Though not apparently obvious in its relation to the use of cables within plenum spaces, the following fine print note (FPN) was introduced into the portions of Articles 770, 800 and 820 related to cables in plenums in the 2005 NEC:

FPN: See 8.14.1 of NFPA 13-2002, Installation of Sprinkler Systems, for requirements for sprinklers in concealed spaces containing exposed combustibles

Fine print notes are contained throughout the NEC as informational, non-mandatory text, which cannot be enforced. In the present case, the FPN is strongly suggestive of the possibility that cables installed in concealed spaces require sprinkler protection, a suggestion that is actually misleading.

As the NEC entered its 2008 revision cycle, which will be completed in 2007, the issue of two alternative minimums for cables within plenums is still unresolved. Therefore, the Standards Council has restated its directive that all proposals for the NEC 2008 related to cables within duct spaces and plenum spaces must be rejected, i.e. dismissed, without consideration. Proposals for limited combustible cables have been introduced again, and another new designation was proposed: concealed space cables. In January 2006, the relevant code-making panels rejected all the proposals dealing with these cables.

NFPA 13: Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems

As the title suggests, NFPA 13 is a standard pertaining to the installation of sprinkler systems and has no relation to electrical circuits or cables. However, proponents of limited combustible cable have pointed out a portion of text, which seems to provide a promotional opportunity for limited combustible cable. Section 8.14.1 addresses sprinkler installation in concealed spaces. This section indicates that concealed spaces concealed wholly or partly by exposed combustible construction shall be protected by sprinklers except in concealed spaces where sprinklers are not required to be installed by 8.14.1.2.1 through 8.14.1.2.15. The following clauses are relevant to the issue.

8.14.1.2 Concealed Spaces Not Requiring Sprinkler Protection

8.14.1.2.1 Non-combustible and limited combustible concealed spaces with no combustible loading having no access shall not require sprinkler protection. The space shall be considered a concealed space even with small openings such as those used as return air for a plenum.

8.14.1.2.2 Noncombustible and limited combustible concealed spaces with limited access and not permitting occupancy or storage of combustibles shall not require sprinkler protection. The space shall be considered a concealed space even with small openings such as those used as return air for a plenum.

8.14.1.5 Localized protection of exposed combustible construction or exposed combustibles. In concealed spaces having exposed combustible construction, or containing exposed combustibles, in localized areas, the combustibles shall be protected as follows:

If the exposed combustibles are in the vertical partitions or walls around all or a portion of the enclosure, a single row of sprinklers space not over 3.7 m (12 ft) apart nor more than 1.8 m (6 ft) from the inside of the partition shall be permitted to protect the surface. The first and last sprinklers in such a row shall not be over 5 ft from the ends of the partitions.

If the exposed combustibles are in the horizontal plane, the area of the combustibles shall be protected with sprinklers on a light hazard spacing. Additionally, sprinklers shall be installed no more than 1.8 m (6 ft) outside the outline of the area and not more than 3.7 m (12 ft) on center along the outline. When the outline returns to a wall or other obstruction, the last sprinkler shall not be more than 1.8 m (6 ft) from the wall or obstruction.

According to the argument made by the proponents of limited combustible cable, it follows from these sections that cables that are not noncombustible or limited combustible contribute to the combustible loading or fire load when installed within a concealed space, and therefore the cables must be protected by sprinklers. Moreover, the rest of the argument states that limited combustible cables do not contribute to the combustible loading.

This raises the following questions:

What is a concealed space?

What do the terms “combustible” and “limited combustible” mean according to NFPA 13?

What does “exposed” mean?

Does NFPA 13 actually require sprinklers in plenums containing plenum cables?

The following discussion addresses each of these questions.

What is a Concealed Space?

NFPA 13 refers extensively to “concealed spaces,” especially in 8.14.1, but it does not define the term, leading one to rely upon common usage of the word and context of the standard to define the term. The context of this document leads one to conclude that concealed spaces include, at a minimum, riser shafts, spaces between wall studs, spaces between ceiling joists, and at least some attic spaces. The standard also refers to such spaces as “having no access” or “having limited access.”

“Concealed space” is defined in neither NFPA 90A nor the NEC, although Article 100 of the NEC provides a definition for “concealed” as follows:

Concealed. Rendered inaccessible by the structure or finish of the building. Wires in concealed raceways are considered concealed, even though they may become accessible by withdrawing them.

The 2005 NEC Handbook, published by the NFPA, explains in its commentary to this definition that cables in accessible underfloor areas or attics, or behind, above, or below panels designed to allow access and that may be removed without damage to the building structure or finish, are not considered concealed.

What Does the Term “Combustible” Mean?

NFPA 13 does not define the term “combustible” or “combustible material.” It does, however, define the terms “noncombustible material” and “limited combustible material” as follows:

3.3.16 Noncombustible Material. A material that, in the form in which it is used and under conditions anticipated, will not ignite, burn, support combustion, or release flammable vapors when subjected to fire or heat. Materials that are reported as passing ASTM E 136, Standard Test Method for Behavior of Materials in a Vertical Tube Furnace at 750°C, shall be considered noncombustible materials.

3.3.14 Limited Combustible Material. A building construction material that does not comply with the definition of noncombustible material that, in the form in which it is used, has a potential heat value not exceeding 3500 BTU/lb (8141 kJ/kg) (see NFPA 359, Standard Test Method for Potential Heat of Building Materials) and that complies with either of the following, (a) or (b). Materials subject to increase in combustibility or flame spread rating beyond the limits herein established through the effects of age, moisture, or other atmospheric condition shall be considered combustible. (a) Materials having a structural base of noncombustible material, with a surfacing not exceeding a thickness of 3.2 mm (1/8 in) that has a flame spread rating of not greater than 50. (b) Materials, in the form and thickness used, other than as described in (a), having neither a flame spread rating greater than 25 nor evidence of continued progressive combustion and of such composition that surfaces that would be exposed by cutting through the material on any plane would have neither a flame spread rating greater than 25 nor evidence of continued progressive combustion.

The term “limited combustible material” is explicitly defined as a building construction material. The NFPA Standards Council has recently upheld the determination that cables are not materials of construction and that future references to the fire performance of cables within NFPA documents shall be expressed in terms of their combustion characteristics such as flame and smoke propagation, not by terms such as limited combustible. This does not prohibit commercial use of the term to describe cables and it does not prohibit listing agencies from authorizing use of the term in the cable print statement.

Since limited combustible cables fail to meet either of the NFPA 13 definitions above, they must be considered combustible. They cannot be a limited combustible material because they are not a “building construction material” and they are not a  noncombustible material because they fail the ASTM E 136 test. In fact, it is clear that limited combustible cables contribute up to 3500 BTU/lb toward the combustible loading of any space, including a concealed space.

What Does “Exposed” Mean?

NFPA 13 does not define the terms “exposed” or “exposed combustible,” which leads one to the common usages of the terms. It is reasonable to assume that cables which are enclosed in a manner that prevents them from coming into contact with water from an appropriately positioned sprinkler during a fire would certainly not be considered exposed. It is pointed out by proponents of limited combustible cable that combustible cables installed in metal conduit are not considered to be exposed; however, cables placed in any of the less expensive metallic raceways indicated in 300.22 of the NEC would also prevent the cables from being exposed.

Does NFPA 13 Actually Require Sprinklers in Plenums Containing Plenum Cables?

This is perhaps the most important question. Until recently, there was no discussion of providing sprinkler protection to cables which were installed in accordance with NEC requirements and were listed as being “low smoke producing” and “fire resistant” by a Nationally Recognized Test Laboratory such as UL or ETL. As of the 2002 Edition, NFPA 13 does not make any specific mention of cables within concealed spaces. At the time of this writing, a new edition of NFPA 13 was nearing publication. Based upon the Sprinkler Installation Committee’s Report on Comments, the new edition will provide the following information within the Annex portion of the document regarding treatment of minor amounts of combustible materials within concealed spaces:

A.8.14.1.2.1 Minor quantities of combustible materials such as but not limited to: cabling, nonmetallic plumbing piping, non-structural wood, etc. can be present in concealed spaces constructed of limited or noncombustible materials but should not typically be viewed as requiring sprinklers (see 8.14.1.1). For example, it is not the intent of this section to require sprinklers, which would not otherwise be required, in the interstitial space of a typical office building solely due to the presence of the usual amount of cabling within the space. The threshold value at which sprinklers become necessary in the concealed space is not defined. Annex language, while part of the NFPA 13 document, is also considered to be informational and non-mandatory but may give some insight into the intended application of the document.

Conclusion

At the date of this writing, there are no NFPA documents which mandate the use of limited combustible cable in any application space, concealed or unconcealed. NFPA 13 calls for the localized protection of combustible materials within concealed spaces, but does not identify a minimum threshold for combustible loading. Cables commercially offered as “limited combustible” do not meet the NFPA 13 definition of “limited combustible materials” because they are not building materials and may contribute up to 3500 BTU/lb to the combustible loading of the concealed space. It has been the traditional view of most practitioners and building inspectors that a minor amount of combustibles in concealed spaces, such as communications wiring and nonmetallic plumbing, do not require sprinkler protection. The fact that communications wiring installed within plenums are required to be installed in accordance with NEC requirements and must be listed as being “low smoke producing” and “fire resistant” by a nationally recognized test laboratory has traditionally satisfied most building inspectors.

Belden® Introduces A New Corporate Identity And A Significantly Expanded Master Catalog

Belden (NYSE: BDC - News) announces the launch of an initiative that unifies its corporate identity with its flagship brand: Belden. To reflect the company's expanded product position as a supplier of signal transmission solutions, Belden also introduces a new brandline: Belden -- Sending All the Right Signals(TM).

The company is also issuing the 2006 edition of the Belden Master Catalog (in print and at http://www.belden.com ), the industry's most valued resource for wire and cable information worldwide. Besides offering broad and diverse lines of copper and optical fiber electronic cables, the 2006 Master Catalog incorporates new product/system solutions, including data network connectivity, structured cabling systems and services, enclosures and racks, surface raceway systems, cable management accessories, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) systems.

John Stroup, President and CEO of Belden, said, "Extensive market research confirms that the Belden brand is one of our most powerful assets. 'Belden' is synonymous with customer care, application expertise and high quality, reliable products for every market we serve -- from broadcast and entertainment to data networking, industrial networks, security applications and home automation. Our goal is to build on this foundation by bringing a whole new array of signal transmission solutions and services to our global customers."

Peter Sheehan, President of Belden -- Americas, commenting on Belden's ongoing evolution from a wire and cable company to a single-source provider of signal transmission solutions, said, "Belden has a rich, century-long history of customer care, which has spurred the development of innovative products that meet our customers' evolving cabling/connectivity needs. Our new Master Catalog reflects this strong service position, while also revealing that we have significantly expanded our product and service offerings and are now poised to provide solutions to a whole new level of signal transmission needs."

To obtain additional information, please contact Dee Johnson, Belden Investor Relations, at 314.854.8045, or Frank Stone, Marketing Communication Manager, at 765.983.5354. Or visit our web site at http://www.belden.com .

Indicators Of Current And Expected North American Business Conditions Slide In July

NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index for current North American conditions declined for the third month in a row in July, but nonetheless remained above the 50-point growth threshold for a 40th consecutive month. The current conditions index fell to 51.8 in July from the previous month’s reading of 53.6. Meanwhile, the index for future North American conditions slumped to 23.2, the lowest mark in its five-year history, from a value of 27.8 in June.

Current conditions indices for Latin America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region again, as in June, posted healthy readings in the high 50s to mid-60s. The future conditions measure was close to unchanged from June for Latin America at 56.3, while readings for Europe and the Asia/Pacific region dropped sharply, with the value for Europe dipping to the low 40s and Asia/Pacific coming to rest at 50.

For a complete summary of the July 2006 index, including charts and a list of participating companies, visit http://www.nema.org/econ/ebci/upload/07_2006_EBCI.pdf.

The Electroindustry Business Confidence Index gauges the business confidence of the electroindustry in Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America, and is based on the results of a monthly survey of senior managers at NEMA member companies. Those companies represent more than 80 percent of the electroindustry.

NEMA is the trade association of choice for the electrical manufacturing industry.  Founded in 1926 and headquartered near Washington, D.C., its 430 member companies manufacture products used in the generation, transmission and distribution, control, and end-use of electricity.  These products are used in utility, medical imaging, industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential applications.  Domestic production of electrical products sold worldwide exceeds $120 billion.  In addition to its headquarters in Rosslyn, Virginia, NEMA also has offices in Beijing, Sao Paulo, and Mexico City.www.nema.org

FiberOptic Infrastructure Spurring City Economic Development

Carlini’s Comments, MidwestBusiness.com’s oldest column, runs every Wednesday. Its mission is to offer the common man’s view on business and technology issues while questioning the leadership and visions of “pseudo” experts.

CHICAGO – There are some cities quietly revamping their network infrastructures and attracting businesses to locate in them, writes James Carlini.

While some municipalities are fighting AT&T about Project Lightspeed and others are looking at Wi-Fi applications, others are looking at major fiber-optic investments. While these fiber investments have paid off in Utah as we mentioned in last week’s column, there are others that we don’t hear much about in the Midwest. As one CIO in Jacksonville, Fla. wrote back in 2003:

Only 5 percent of buildings and homes worldwide have a broadband connection to the outside. Some forecasters believe the opportunities that fixed broadband metropolitan-area networks (MAN) present will reach all of us [at some point] in the future. Regardless of that reality, for some of us the payback can be much sooner with returns potentially far exceeding the faddish rush to Wi-Fi.

There are even some significant studies out there that support upgrading a municipality’s network infrastructure to fiber and broadband. One study, which was funded by Verizon, contends it would add $400 billion to the U.S. economy if every city deployed broadband services. By the way, let’s be clear that broadband is defined as 1 gigabit and beyond. It’s not 1.5 Mbps.

In Jacksonville, a 2002 report prepared by the Shpigler and Ashby Telecom Groups predicted that a broadband network would provide a potential economic gain of $500 million to that city across the deployment and adoption period. They decided to do something about it and set forth a real initiative.

JAXMAN: A Comprehensive Approach to Infrastructure

Jacksonville has realized the potential of providing a state-of-the-art network infrastructure that provides multiple carriers as well as access to the National LambdaRail (NLR), which is a very high-capacity fiber network. JAXMAN is the city’s MAN and has become a vehicle for helping deliver economic growth. This translates into jobs.

Jacksonville is building a new infrastructure that includes road and infrastructure improvements, environmental preservation and targeted economic development including a new network infrastructure that seems to entice some companies to locate their regional and backup data centers there. This whole infrastructure initiative was approved by the residents with for $2.2 billion.

This was part of a 2002 resolution to position the city as a progressive city that modernized its infrastructure to remain competitive into the future.

In a related area of network development, the development of the Florida LambdaRail (FLR) – a 1,540-mile compliment to the NLR – makes all of Florida’s universities more connected at a multi-gigabit rate. This also provides another network infrastructure attraction for economic development in Jacksonville as well as within the state.

If you look at one of Jacksonville’s Web sites, you can see the impact of its infrastructure attracting businesses to relocate there. This is significant for increasing the viability of the area. Look at the company relocations and job creations. It’s hard to argue with the facts. Jacksonville is ranked second by Entrepreneur Magazine in its “Best Big Cities For Small Business” list. I wonder if this has to do with the city’s network infrastructure.

Get Going or Get Lost

If you’re a municipality and haven’t really implemented anything at this point, you should be looking at 40-gigabit speeds for your network infrastructure backbone. As the industry is already talking about 40 gigabit as the new standard for backbones, only delivering 1.5 Mbps to the user seems very antiquated especially on networks that remain to be built.

While 1 gigabit to the doorstep sounds quite fast, it’s just a starting point when you think of the applications. What about all the gamers out there? Though you might be too old to appreciate this, there are many people who play games on the Internet and the demand for bandwidth is growing with this segment.

This is not a small or specialized segment of consumers when you figure that games cost as much if not more to produce than a major motion picture. The gaming industry has actually surpassed the major motion picture industry in terms of as revenues. In 1999, the gaming industry had as much sales as the motion picture industry (or $7.4 billion).

I would think the network planners at the major carriers would understand this demand for bandwidth. Instead, they are looking at delivering megabit speeds into the next several years when more people are looking at California’s initiative of 1 gigabit or bust by 2010 and saying that isn’t a bad benchmark to adopt.

They definitely don’t understand the market. In fact, they are probably putting this country in jeopardy from a global competitiveness standpoint. Put the bandwidth out there and people will use it.

Economic development and the ability to attract and maintain first-class companies will be the key ingredient to a municipality’s ability to thrive and even survive in this 21st century global economy. Obsolete network infrastructures will help companies make a quick decision to pass over your community and you will get lost in the shuffle.

As I said in Business 2.0 back in Dec. 2004, the old real estate adage of “location, location, location” has to be updated to “location, location, connectivity”. If you don’t believe that, just check out Jacksonville.

Carlinism: Location, location, location has become location, location, connectivity.

On Sept. 18, 2006, the ninth-annual Global Technology Invitational will be held
at South Hills Golf Course in Racine County, Wis. Details can be found here.
Please call James Carlini for information and registration at 773-370-1888.

Check out the blog of James Carlini at http://www.carliniscomments.com.

James Carlini is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University. He is also president of Carlini & Associates. Carlini can be reached at james.carlini@sbcglobal.net or 773-370-1888.
Click here for Carlini’s full biography.

Copyright 2006 Jim Carlini

AMD To Keynote AFCOM’s Fall 2006 Data Center World™, Discuss Power-Consumption Issues Driving “The Green Grid”

Industry’s Premiere Educational Conference and Expo Comes to Orlando, FL (Sept 10-13, 2006)

WHAT:       AFCOM, the leading association for data center professionals, brings its Fall 2006 Data Center World Conference and Expo to Orlando, Florida.  Considered one of the industry’s premier educational events, Data Center World provides training, information, and networking opportunities to the data center community. 

WHY:          In a special keynote, Kevin Knox, Vice President, Worldwide Commercial Business, AMD, will present “Tackling Power Consumption in the Data Center.”  As data center power consumption becomes a growing concern on both a business and environmental level, IT and corporate leaders have identified energy efficiency as an important factor in IT decisions.  Knox will discuss emerging trends in the development and implementation of energy efficient solutions for data centers and information service delivery.  AMD is one of 12 founding members of The Green Grid, a global consortium dedicated to developing and promoting energy efficiency for data centers and information service delivery.

                  Furthermore, Data Center World’s educational agenda, Expo, and high concentration of data center professionals present an unparalleled opportunity to gather intelligence on the people, trends and technologies revolutionizing the data center industry.

Expo Highlights:

§                                             Power Distribution Inc. to Introduce Improvements to Static Switch, Branch Circuit Monitoring System, and Power Distribution Units  [Booth #312]

§                                             Innovative Research to Release New Version of TileFlow Software for Computer Modeling of Airflow and Temperature Distribution  [Booth #412]

§                                             Lee Technologies to Announce Tiered Infrastructure Maintenance Standards for Data Centers (TIMS)  [Booth #509]

§                                             AFCO Systems to Unveil New AIR Cooled Extreme High Density Enclosure [Booth #322]

§                                             Berk-Tek & Ortronics/Legrand to Introduce an Interactive Tool for Designing 10 Gbps Fiber Optic Systems [Booth #422]

WHEN:       September 10-13, 2006

WHERE:     Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center – Orlando, Florida

HOW:         Registration is free for media.  To register or secure additional information, please visit www.datacenterworld.com or contact Layne Maly at lmaly@afcom.com.

About AFCOM:
AFCOM (www.afcom.com) is a leading association for data center professionals, offering services to help support the management of data centers around the world. Established in 1980, AFCOM currently boasts more than 3,000 members and 20 chapters worldwide, and provides data center professionals with unique networking opportunities and educational forums and resources through its annual Data Center World™ Conferences, published magazines, regional chapters, research and hotline services, and industry alliances.

About AMD:
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of innovative microprocessor solutions for computing, communications and consumer electronics markets. Founded in 1969, AMD is dedicated to delivering superior computing solutions based on customer needs that empower users worldwide. For more information visit www.amd.com.

About The Green Grid:
The Green Grid (www.thegreengrid.org) is a global consortium dedicated to developing and promoting energy efficiency for data centers and information service delivery. Founding members include AMD, APC, Cadence Design Systems, Dell, Egenera, HP, IBM, Rackable Systems, SprayCool, Sun Microsystems, and VMware.

TiVo and BellSouth to Co-Market TiVo DVR and DSL Internet

TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO - News), a creator of and leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), and BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS - News), announced a co-marketing agreement to promote the stand-alone TiVo® Series2(TM) box and service in conjunction with BellSouth® FastAccess® DSL.

Beginning this week, BellSouth and TiVo will launch the first of a variety of co-marketing initiatives that leverage product synergies between BellSouth FastAccess DSL and TiVo in order to drive additional distribution of the respective services. Through the agreement with TiVo, select FastAccess DSL subscribers will receive special pricing on the TiVo box and service. These customers can further enhance their already reliable, high-speed Internet service with TiVo's broadband applications, including online scheduling, TiVoToGo transfers, TiVo Guru Guide recommendations, streaming radio, movie browsing, and TiVo's easy-to-use Home Media features. TiVo's home media features allows subscribers to receive broadband delivered video and view personal music and photos on the TV set not just the PC. Subscribers will also receive the newly released TiVo KidZone as well as the traditional features for finding, recording and watching their favorite TV shows, such as Season Pass(TM) recordings and WishList® searches.

"TiVo is pleased to work with BellSouth on this powerful marketing initiative," said Naveen Chopra, vice president of business development at TiVo. "With its strong southeastern presence and renowned customer satisfaction, BellSouth is uniquely positioned to market the benefits of a broadband-connected TiVo Box. Together, we can turn a DSL Internet connection into a pipeline for video content delivered directly to the television."

Although specific marketing tactics were not disclosed, TiVo and BellSouth will leverage each other's marketing efforts in key Southeastern markets. They will also offer special incentives to customers who subscribe to both services.

"BellSouth is excited to offer TiVo's unique broadband applications to our FastAccess DSL customers," said Joey Schultz, vice president of marketing for BellSouth Retail Markets. "TiVo's leading DVR service and powerful consumer brand helps us differentiate our DSL Internet offering by providing our subscribers exciting and entertaining ways to enhance their television and online experience." http://www.bellsouth.com.

NetClear Copper Cabling Solutions Compliant To Recently Ratified IEEE 802.3an For 10 Gigabit Ethernet Systems

Ortronics/Legrand and Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company, have confirmed that both of their 10 Gigabit copper channel solutions, NetClear GTX and NetClear GTS comply with the recently ratified Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.3an 10GBASE-T standard supporting a full-duplex transmission rate of 10 Gb/s. 

As IEEE members, Ortronics/Legrand and Berk-Tek provided early input to the IEEE P802.3an task group to define the original performance requirements for 10 Gigabit Ethernet over twisted pair cable media.    A major contribution to this task group was made by the Nexans Data Communications Competence Center (DCCC), located at Berk-Tek’s New Holland, PA headquarters.  The DCCC defined the 6-around-1 test method now used by the industry to characterize near end (PSANEXT) and far end (PSAELFEXT or PSAACRF) alien crosstalk in the channel.   “The test represents a worst-case scenario, so we were able to provide IEEE and TIA with valid, real-life installation and channel performance data that contributed to the ratification of the 802.3 an standard,” states David Hess, technical manager, standardization and technology for Berk-Tek, who was actively involved in the IEEE Task Group.

As cabling industry leaders, Berk-Tek and Ortronics/Legrand were the first to guarantee two complete copper channel solutions for compliance to the 10GBASE-T channel specifications identified by the IEEE.  The NetClear 10G copper solutions include the NetClear GTS (FTP), introduced in January 2005, and NetClear GTX (UTP), introduced in May 2005.  Both systems have guaranteed 10GBASE-T support since their launch. 

The shielding in the NetClear GTS system virtually eliminates external noise in the channel and provides alien crosstalk performance unparalleled by any UTP 10G system.   The system includes Berk-Tek’s LANmark-6 FTP cable with Ortronics’ Clarity 6 FTP Category 6 patch panels with TracJacks, patch cords and modular jacks and outlets. NetClear GTX includes Berk-Tek’s LANmark 10G Augmented Category 6 UTP cable together with Ortronics Clarity 10G UTP patch panels with patch cords, modular jacks and outlets and provides a full 625 MHz of usable bandwidth. 

“One of the unique features of both NetClear 10 Gb/s systems is that the Ortronics Clarity patch cords are stranded and available in any standard length. This eliminates the restriction imposed by some manufacturers requiring the use of long length patch cords to achieve the desired channel performance, providing for easier cable management and better flex life,” states Gregg Lafontaine, senior copper products manager for Ortronics/Legrand.

“Both of the NetClear 10G copper cabling solutions have been selected and installed to meet the current and future needs of some of the most demanding customer applications in the world,” stated Todd Harpel, Director of Marketing for Berk-Tek.  “We believe that the NetClear solutions provide our customers with the highest performance and greatest flexibility when it comes to preparing for the 10-Gigabit world.”

About NetClear Solutions
NetClear solutions are the result of a Technology Alliance between Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company, and Ortronics/Legrand to further advance their enhanced copper and fiber cabling solutions by co-engineering innovative, high capacity, error-free data transmission systems.  They consist of enhanced Category 5e, Category 6 and optical fiber channels - all backed by a 25-year warranty.  The complete family of NetClear solutions include the NetClear GT, NetClear GT2, and NetClear GT3 high performance copper solutions, as well as the XG LAN solutions for 10 Gigabit Networks, which include NetClear GTX, NetClear GTS and NetClear MM1, NetClear MM10, and NetClear SM fiber optic solutions.  NetClear solutions encompass all horizontal and backbone systems including high-performance interface cords, workstation outlets, cross-connect panels and enhanced performance horizontal and backbone cabling. NetClear solutions assure maximum dynamic performance for real world networks.

About Berk-Tek, A Nexans Company
For more than 45 years, Berk-Tek has been a leading manufacturer of more than 100 different network copper and fiber optic cable products. The company has led in the development of high-performance and enhanced fiber optic and UTP cables designed to transport high-speed data and voice transmissions. Berk-Tek has major manufacturing facilities at New Holland, PA, Fuquay-Varina, NC and Elm City, NC. For more information, visit www.berktek.com.

Berk-Tek is a division of Nexans, a worldwide leader in the cabling industry including copper and fiber cables used in telecommunications and energy networks, aeronautics, automobile, railways, building, petrochemical and medical applications. With an industrial presence in 29 countries and commercial activities worldwide, Nexans employs 20,000 people and had sales in 2005 of $6.5 billion. For more information, visit www.nexans.com.

About Ortronics//Legrand
Ortronics/Legrand, headquartered in New London, Connecticut USA, is a global leader in commercial Category 5e, Category 6 and 10 Gig copper, fiber optic, wireless and residential/MDU high performance, high capacity structured cabling systems, including patch panels, patch cords, workstation outlets, physical support solutions, 110 cross-connect systems and more. Ortronics/Legrand also offers engineering and technical support, systems planning, training programs and a 25-year extended products warranty and applications assurance warranty program.

Ortronics/Legrand is a subsidiary of Legrand (www.legrandelectric.com), the world specialist in products and systems for electrical installations and information networks, offering solutions for use in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Operating in over 60 countries with sales of $3.8 billion, it employs about 31,000 people and its catalogs list more than 130,000 products. At Legrand, innovation drives growth: with nearly 5% of sales invested in R&D every year, the group brings out a steady stream of new, high added-value products.

City Of Phoenix Selects NetClear GT3 Cabling System For Their New Convention Center

The City of Phoenix has selected a NetClear GT3, an enhanced Category 6 high-performance horizontal structured cabling system from Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company, and Ortronics/Legrand, for their data, voice and video applications for the first phase of their new two million square-foot convention center.  The Phoenix Convention Center is a $600 million expansion project that will triple the size of the current facility and will include a high-speed network for the exhibit floor, lecture halls, meeting rooms and for retail services. 

The cabling system includes both copper and fiber channels, with the ability to provide up to 10 Gb/s to the desk, depending on the media. “The Phoenix Convention Center caters to all industries, including high tech, and we wanted to assure that we could enable a customized environment to suit all types of exhibitors and applications, including VoIP phones, high-speed Internet and intranet and video, without having to change the infrastructure,” states Roy Hughes, Deputy CIO for the City of Phoenix.  Phase One, which includes the new West building, is nearing completion while Phase Two will expand the current North and South buildings, and is expected to be ready by 2009.

To deliver multimedia services to each location, Berk-Tek provided a spiral-wrapped cable bundle, which included multiple LANmark-2000, enhanced Category 6 cables. In some locations, up to four strands each of laser optimized multimode and single-mode fiber cable were deployed.  In Phase One, the LANmark-2000 cable was terminated onto Ortronics Clarity 6 patch panels in the 14 telecom closets. At the workstation, Ortronics developed a unique Fib-or-Cop faceplate, which can accommodate up to 12 TracJack outlets including six copper cables and a combination of 12 fibers (single-mode and multimode) with LC connectors. “The bundled cable that was installed saved us $300,000 in labor alone, which was a 30% savings in the entire Phase One. The innovative solutions from Berk-Tek and Ortronics validated our reasoning to keep NetClear as the City’s standard,” states Jason Crandell – Manager of ENTI (Enterprise, Networking and Telecommunication Infrastructure) for the City of Phoenix. 

About NetClear
NetClear offers end-to-end co-engineered solutions for enhanced Category 5e, Category 6, Augmented Category 6 – 10 Gigabit and optical fiber channels - all backed by a 25-year warranty.  NetClear solutions include the NetClear GT, NetClear GT2 and NetClear GT3 high performance copper solutions, as well as a complete range of solutions for 10 Gigabit Networks, which include NetClear GTX and NetClear GTS copper channel solutions and NetClear MM1, NetClear MM10, and NetClear SM fiber optic solutions.  NetClear solutions encompass all horizontal and backbone systems including high-performance interface cords, workstation outlets, cross-connect panels and enhanced performance horizontal and backbone cabling.

About the NetClear Alliance
NetClear is a Technology Alliance between Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company, and Ortronics/Legrand to further advance their enhanced copper and fiber cabling solutions through NetClear, an innovative, high capacity, clear data transmission system.  NetClear assures maximum dynamic performance for real world networks.

About Berk-Tek, A Nexans Company
For more than 45 years, Berk-Tek has been a leading manufacturer of more than 100 different network copper and fiber optic cable products. The company has led in the development of high-performance and enhanced fiber optic and UTP cables designed to transport high-speed voice, data and video transmissions. Berk-Tek has major manufacturing facilities at New Holland, PA, Fuquay-Varina, NC and Elm City, NC. For more information, visit www.berktek.com.

Berk-Tek is a subsidiary of Nexans, a worldwide leader in the cabling industry including copper and fiber cables used in telecommunications and energy networks, to aeronautics, automobile, railways, building, petrochemical and medical applications. With an industrial presence in 29 countries and commercial activities worldwide, Nexans employs 20,000 people and had sales in 2005 of $6.5 billion. Nexans is listed on the Paris stock exchange as NEX. For more information, visit www.nexans.com.

About Ortronics//Legrand
Ortronics/Legrand, headquartered in New London, Connecticut USA, is a global leader in commercial Category 5e, Category 6 and 10 Gig copper, fiber optic, wireless and residential/MDU high performance, high capacity structured cabling systems, including patch panels, patch cords, workstation outlets, physical support solutions, 110 cross-connect systems and more. Ortronics/Legrand also offers engineering and technical support, systems planning, training programs and a 25-year extended products warranty and applications assurance warranty program.

Ortronics/Legrand is a subsidiary of Legrand (www.legrandelectric.com), the world specialist in products and systems for electrical installations and information networks, offering solutions for use in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Operating in over 60 countries with sales of $3.8 billion, it employs about 31,000 people and its catalogs list more than 130,000 products. At Legrand, innovation drives growth: with nearly 5% of sales invested in R&D every year, the group brings out a steady stream of new, high added-value products.

Para Systems, Inc. Announces line of Minuteman® UPS Power Distribution Units

Building on its experience and expertise of developing and manufacturing power protection products under the Minuteman(r) UPS label, Para Systems, Inc. is releasing its new line of power distribution unit (PDU) products. Four products of the entire new PDU family are now available for sale and distribution.  Deliveries are already in progress. The products now shipping include:

·       MMPD815 - 8 outlets, 15 amp power distribution unit, available with all hardware included multi-form factor mounting (vertical and horizontal)

·       MMPD1415 - 14 outlets, 15 amp power distribution unit, available >with all hardware included for multi-form factor mounting (vertical and horizontal)

·       MMPD1020 - 10 outlets, 20 amp power distribution unit, available with all hardware included multi-form factor mounting (vertical and horizontal)

·       MMPD1420 - 14 outlets, 20 amp power distribution unit, available with all hardware included multi-form factor mounting (vertical and horizontal)

The full line includes additional Minuteman(r) PDU products to be announced within sixty days will include a PDU with 30-amp/15- amp output to accommodate new 30-amp server requirements while allowing 15 amp equipment to be connected to the same PDU. Unique to the UPS industry, these units have features previously available only through significantly more expensive and/or custom-built products. These features include:

·       Longer power cords (15-feet) and increased number of outlets at a lower or same price as competitive units

·       Mounting versatility - 1U products ship with a standoff-mounting bracket, at no additional cost, that allows for 0U installation on most racks and enclosures.

·       Improved user access by having outlets available on both sides of most units.

·       Compliant with the new higher UL-60950-1 standards.

·       Designed with higher reliability, its switchless design provides greater MTBF.

Lower costs, with the features above, makes Minuteman(r) PDUs the most cost-effective, feature-rich PDUs in the industry. The Minuteman(r) PDU has been priced with a MSRPs between $35 and $65. The initial Minuteman(r) PDUs are in stock and ready for immediate delivery.

[Photos of the new PDU products available from our website at: www.minutemanups.com

AI Now Shipping 15A Relay Switch s Part Of Its HAI Lighting Control (HLC) Product Line - Only UPB Relay Switch On Market

Home Automation, Inc. (HAI), leading manufacturer of integrated security and home control products since 1985, is now shipping a 15A Relay Switch, Part number 40A00-1 as part of it's award-wining HLC line.  HLC "smart" switches let homeowners easily set elegant lighting scenes for individual rooms, without the use of complicated software programs. 

All HAI Lighting Control Products are UL-Listed and use a digital communications standard for lighting and home control called Universal Powerline Bus (UPB) that ensures superior reliability.  HAI's 15A Relay switch is currently the only UPB relay switch on the market and is intended primarily for control of fans and florescent lighting, including compact fluorescents.   They are shipped in white with color change kits (Part number 35A14) available in almond, ivory, black, brown, and grey.  The 15A Relay switch is compatible with HAI's Auxiliary Switch (Part number 37A00-1) for 3 - or 4 - way applications.

HAI's HLC line is a fully two-way communicating lighting control system. It has big-system features while being cost effective and installable on a modular basis.  Homeowners can have sophisticated lighting control in a home theater or living room and add rooms as needs grow. Additionally HLC switches can be tied into an HAI home control system or any UPB compatible automation controller for full fledged integrated lighting control coordinated with other events, such as time, motion, security modes, etc.

HLC products are extremely easy to install - no modifications to the home are required. These plug and play products are an easy way to add a touch of class to any home.www.homeauto.com

Retail Certified Technician – For Low Voltage

Where are we going to get the people who will install and service the needs of Retail industry’s Low voltage requirements?  The retail industry is going mad.  Often a company puts up a store, and then almost overnight, a competitor will put one up “next door”. 

Where are the trained people to handle this specialized work?   We are talking about a technician who knows a fiber connector from a coax connector.   Have you noticed that when you walk into a Grocery Chain, Merchandise Marts, Sport Center Stores, Hardware Centers, Do-It Yourself Centers, and Drug Stores etc?  There are several systems that keep a retail business going, such as CCTV and CCTP, Structured to LAN Network Cabling, Fiber Optic, Voice Communications, Paging and Intercommunications, Electrical Convergence of POS Hardware and Cabling Configurations. 

Cabling America has put together a powerful training program: Retail and Commercial Hardware and Cabling Program.  This is a self-study program and when completed students can earn a Retail Certified Technicians certificate from the Association of Cabling and Hardware Professionals.  This training program is a proven program and has a very reasonable price tag.  For more information go to Cabling Americas website www.cablingamerica.com and see what its all about.

Providence College’s Carmine Piscopo Is New ACUTA President For 2006-2007

Carmine Piscopo, telecommunications manager at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, is the new president of ACUTA, the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education.

Piscopo takes office at the close of the 35th annual ACUTA Conference here this week; where representatives of hundreds of U.S. and Canadian higher education institutions have gathered to focus on technologies and communications strategies that can best fulfill their organizations’ missions.

ACUTA is the only national association dedicated to serving the needs of higher education communications technology professionals, representing some 2,000 individuals at 825 institutions.

Leading ACUTA for 2006-2007, Piscopo is joined by two other newly elected officers: Dr. Walt Magnussen of Texas A&M University, president-elect, and Harvey “Buck” Buchanan of Florida State University, director-at-large. Diane McNamara of Union College was recently re-elected to a second term as director-at-large, and John Bradley, retired from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will serve as the board-appointed director-at-large.

Other current officers are Riny Ledgerwood of San Diego State University, secretary-treasurer; Patricia Todus of Northwestern University, immediate past president; and Corinne Hoch of Columbia University and Randal Hayes of the University of Northern Iowa, directors-at-large.

Piscopo, an RCDD (Registered Communications Distribution Designer), is in charge of the communications network at Providence College. He has been an active ACUTA member since joining the organization in 1985. He has spoken at numerous ACUTA conferences and seminars, held the office of secretary-treasurer, chaired the Program Committee, and served on the Higher Education Advisory Panel.

 “ACUTA as an organization is more important than ever in supporting its members in contributing to their institutions’ strategic missions,” Piscopo said. “By continuing to address today’s and tomorrow’s technologies and emphasizing the many networking and information sharing opportunities we offer, I want to make sure ACUTA remains the number one resource for our members.”

About ACUTA
ACUTA, the Association for  Communications Technology  Professionals in Higher Education, is an international non-profit educational association serving colleges and universities.  Its core purpose is to support higher education communications technology professionals in contributing to the achievement of the strategic mission of their institutions. ACUTA represents nearly 2000 individuals at 825 institutions of higher education, with members ranging from small schools and community colleges to the 50 largest U.S. institutions.  ACUTA’s Corporate Affiliate members represent all categories of  communications technology  vendors serving the college/university market. For more information, visit www.acuta.org 

Independent Support Clip (IDS) Series From ERICO® Expanded To Accommodate Taller T-GRIDS

The CADDY^® IDS series of Independent Supports Clips from ERICO^® has been expanded to accommodate 1½” and 1¾” tall ceiling substructures (T-grids). Independent Supports Clips are required by NEC^® Article 410.16-C as a way to provide a separate means of support for fixtures. Article 410 states that framing members of suspended ceilings used to support lighting fixtures (luminaires) need to be securely attached to the building structure at appropriate intervals. CADDY IDS clips, with a static load limit of 65 lbs, are an ideal way to comply with this standard.

No installation tools are required to install CADDY IDS. The clips are packaged with mounting hardware included. Optional barrel nuts are available for low-profile track lighting.

ERICO expanded the CADDY IDS series to meet changes made by certain manufacturers of T-grids, who are now manufacturing taller grids. The extension of the series will enable the CADDY IDS clips to fit all commercially available T-Grids in a code-compliant manner. This will alleviate the need for end users to clip the bulb off of the T-grids and thus compromise its integrity to allow for installation of a support clip. 

www.erico.com

DuPont's 2nd-Quarter Profit Declines

Chemical maker DuPont Co. said Tuesday its second-quarter profit declined 4 percent on higher energy costs and lower revenue.

Net income dropped to $975 million, or $1.04 per share, compared with $1.02 billion, or $1.01 per share, during the same period last year. Excluding significant items, earnings were $1.01 per share in the most-recent quarter compared with 90 cents per share in the prior year.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 93 cents per share.

This year's results were hurt by higher energy and ingredient costs, the company said. Better local pricing and increased volumes offset a significant portion of increased raw material costs.

"Essentially, we executed our growth strategy across all business segments," said Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Keefer.

Company officials noted that a 3-year program to reduce fixed costs by $1 billion remains on track, as does a multi-billion-dollar share repurchase program.

Keefer noted that the company's fixed costs declined by $80 million compared with the second quarter of last year, down 0.7 percentage point to 39.8 percent of sales.

"Our second-quarter results and how we got there are very much aligned with our growth strategies and performance improvement initiative," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Holliday Jr. ".... As I said in April, I'm pleased with our performance and results, but not satisfied."

Revenue dipped 3 percent to $7.84 billion from $8.12 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts expected revenue of $7.85 billion in the latest quarter.

Consolidated net sales dropped from $7.5 billion to $7.4 billion, led by year-over-year declines in the agriculture and nutrition and performance materials segments.

DuPont said energy and ingredient costs increased by about $200 million in the quarter. Raw material costs are expected to remain higher in the second half of the year compared with 2005, but at a smaller increment than seen in the first quarter, the company said.

"On the challenges side, we expect raw material costs to remain high," Holliday said.

Wilmington-based DuPont maintained its full-year earnings outlook of about $2.85 per share, excluding significant items of 2 cents per share. Analysts expect earnings of $2.86 per share.

"While we expect challenges, we are determined to deliver significantly higher earnings in the second half compared to last year," Holliday said. "Our first half performance provides more positive momentum for our company."

Anixter International Inc. Reports Second Quarter Net Income Of $1.15 Per Diluted Share On Sales Of $1.24 Billion

Anixter International Inc. (NYSE: AXE - News), the world's leading distributor of communication products, electrical and electronic wire & cable and a leading distributor of fasteners and other small parts ("C" Class inventory components) to Original Equipment Manufacturers ("OEMs"), reported results for the quarter ended June 30, 2006.

    Second Quarter Highlights

    -- Record quarterly sales of $1.24 billion, including a combined

       $74.8 million from the acquisitions of Infast Group plc ("Infast") in

       July 2005 and IMS, Inc. ("IMS") in May 2006, rose 32 percent compared

       to sales of $936.1 million in the year ago quarter.

    -- Record quarterly operating income of $91.0 million reflected a

       97 percent increase from the $46.2 million reported in the second

       quarter of 2005.

    -- Net income in the quarter increased 102 percent, to $49.4 million, from

       $24.4 million in last year's second quarter.

    -- Diluted earnings per share rose 89 percent to $1.15 per share from 61

       cents per share in the prior year quarter.

    -- Second quarter copper prices averaged $3.39 per pound versus $1.53 per

       pound in the year ago quarter. This increase added an estimated

       $48 million to sales, $16 million to operating profits, $10 million to

       net income and 24 cents to earnings per share as compared to the year

       ago quarter.

    Financial Highlights

    (In millions, except per share amounts)

                               Three Months Ended        Six Months Ended

                             June 30, July 1, Percent June 30, July 1, Percent

                              2006     2005   Change   2006     2005   Change

    Net Sales               $1,239.8  $936.1   32%  $2,310.3  $1,812.6   27%

    Operating Income           $91.0   $46.2   97%    $150.6     $85.8   75%

    Net Income                 $49.4   $24.4  102%     $80.7     $44.8   80%

    Diluted Earnings Per

     Share                     $1.15   $0.61   89%     $1.89     $1.12   69%

    Diluted Weighted Shares     42.9    40.1    7%      42.6      40.7    5%

Robert Grubbs, President and CEO, said, "We were very pleased with our results, with sales in the most recent quarter reflecting a significant acceleration of the trends of the past several quarters. We experienced very solid, broad-based sales growth in nearly all of the end markets we serve and we made continued progress on our initiatives to grow our security business and supply chain service offerings. Second quarter growth was particularly strong in the electrical and electronic wire & cable market due to strong end- market customer demand, global expansion of the markets served and higher copper prices. Our success in these areas during the second quarter led to record quarterly sales and operating performance for the company."

Second Quarter Results

For the three-month period ended June 30, 2006, sales of $1.24 billion produced net income of $49.4 million, or $1.15 per diluted share. Included in the current year's second quarter results were sales of $74.8 million from the Infast and IMS acquisitions, which were completed in July 2005 and May 2006, respectively. In the prior year period, sales of $936.1 million generated net income of $24.4 million, or 61 cents per diluted share.

Operating income in the second quarter increased 97 percent to $91.0 million as compared to $46.2 million in the year ago quarter. For the latest quarter, operating margins were 7.3 percent as compared to 4.9 percent in the second quarter of 2005.

First Half 2006 Results

For the six-month period ended June 30, 2006, sales of $2.31 billion produced net income of $80.7 million, or $1.89 per diluted share. Included in the 2006 six-month results were sales of $144.9 million related to the acquisitions of Infast and IMS. In the prior year period, sales of $1.81 billion produced net income of $44.8 million or $1.12 per diluted share.

Operating income in the first six months of fiscal 2006 increased 75 percent to $150.6 million as compared to $85.8 million in the year ago period. Operating margins in the first six months of 2006 were 6.5 percent as compared to 4.7 percent in the prior year period.

Second Quarter Sales Trends

Commenting on second quarter sales trends, Grubbs said, "Sales in the second quarter grew at a 23 percent organic rate year-over-year after adjusting for the Infast and IMS acquisitions and the favorable foreign exchange impact of $14.0 million on second quarter sales. This was one of the highest quarterly organic growth rates in the company's history, even after allowing for sharply higher copper prices, and clearly exceeded our target organic growth rate of 8 to 12 percent."

Grubbs continued, "The factors driving our strong organic growth were consistent with those we have seen the past few quarters, although at a significantly accelerated pace. In the most recent quarter, we saw very strong growth in larger project business particularly as it relates to data center builds in the enterprise cabling market and with natural resources customers within our electrical and electronic wire & cable market. At the same time, we have seen continued strong growth in security product sales. Lastly, rising copper prices again contributed to our organic growth in the most recent quarter. During the quarter, market-based copper prices averaged approximately $3.39 per pound, compared to $1.53 per pound in the year ago second quarter and $2.25 per pound in the first quarter of 2006. We estimate that the higher copper prices accounted for an estimated $48 million of our year-on-year increase in sales within the electrical wire & cable market in the second quarter. Taking the impact of copper prices, acquisitions and foreign exchange out of the mix, however, we were still able to grow by nearly 18 percent over the prior year second quarter."

"Specifically, in North America we saw year-on-year sales grow by 31 percent to $922.7 million in the most recent quarter. In addition to strong end-market demand, North American sales were up $14.7 million due to the stronger Canadian dollar, $9.4 million due to the acquisitions of Infast and IMS, and an estimated $43 million due to higher copper prices," commented Grubbs. "Outside of North America, we saw sales climb by 46 percent in Europe as compared to the year ago quarter. The major factor driving European sales growth, with exchange rate differences in the quarter being immaterial, was the July 2005 acquisition of Infast, which added $65.5 million to European sales in the quarter. Adjusting for the Infast sales, European sales grew by 6 percent as compared to the year ago quarter. Most of the increase is attributable to a combination of market share gains and higher copper prices, which added an estimated $5 million to sales in the electrical wire & cable business in that area."

"In the emerging markets of Latin America and Asia Pacific, we saw a 13 percent increase in year-on-year sales, with a negligible impact from currency exchange rate effects. The primary driver of the overall revenue increase was very strong year-on-year sales growth of 29 percent in Asia Pacific," continued Grubbs.

Second Quarter Operating Results

"As a result of very strong sales growth, second quarter operating margins were a record 7.3 percent as compared to 4.9 percent in the year ago period," said Grubbs. "In North America, the 31 percent sales growth resulted in better operating leverage that generated operating margins of 8.3 percent as compared to 5.4 percent in the prior year second quarter. While strong market conditions and market share gains were the primary drivers of the sales growth and improved profitability, copper prices also played a major part in the strong second quarter operating results in North America. Record copper prices added an estimated $43 million to the sales of our North American electrical wire & cable sales. At the same time, the quick run-up in copper prices during the quarter significantly raised gross margins on electrical wire & cable sales from the sell-through of lower cost inventory. All in all, this year's second quarter North American operating profits benefited by an estimated $15 million due to the volume effects of higher copper prices combined with the gross margin effects."

Grubbs added, "In Europe, operating margins in the most recent quarter were 4.3 percent as compared to 3.4 percent in the year ago quarter. This improvement reflects a combination of organic sales growth, tight controls that resulted in a reduction of expenses, excluding expenses from the acquired Infast operations and an estimated $1 million benefit from higher copper prices. Organic sales growth in Europe continues to be a challenge given general economic conditions. Nonetheless, we were encouraged by the results in the most recent quarter because we achieved not only year-on-year sales growth but also significant quarter-on-quarter organic sales growth in our largest end market - enterprise cabling and security solutions."

"Operating margins in the Emerging Markets in the second quarter were 5.5 percent as compared to 4.4 percent in the year ago quarter. Continued sales growth throughout these markets has allowed us to better leverage infrastructure costs and improve operating margins," added Grubbs.

Cash Flow and Leverage

"Given the incremental working capital requirements that accompany strong organic sales growth, as expected we reported negative cash flow from operations in the second quarter of $52.5 million," said Dennis Letham, Senior Vice President-Finance. "When the second quarter negative cash flow is combined with the positive cash flow from operations in the first quarter, our year-to-date cash flow from operations is a negative $39.6 million. Despite the incremental borrowings to support the increased sales-volume-driven working capital requirements and to fund the purchase of IMS, strong net income performance has created a slight reduction of our debt-to-total capital leverage ratio from 47.0 percent at year-end to 46.2 percent at the end of the second quarter."

"For the second quarter our weighted average cost of borrowed capital was 5.3 percent compared to 5.1 percent in the year ago quarter. At the end of the second quarter, 66 percent of our total borrowings of $704.4 million were fixed, either by the terms of the borrowing agreements or through hedging arrangements. We had $230.2 million of available, unused credit facilities at June 30, 2006. These available, unused credit facilities provide us with the resources to support continued strong organic growth and to pursue other strategic alternatives, such as acquisitions, in the coming quarters."

Business Outlook

Grubbs concluded, "The first half of 2006 has been a record-setting period of revenue growth and operating profitability for Anixter. This record performance is the result of strong underlying market fundamentals, solid progress on our strategic initiatives to build our security business, additions to our supply chain services offering, expansion of our product offering and the benefits of increased copper prices. As we enter the second half of the year, our ability to continue to execute our strategic initiatives, together with further progress on the integration of recent acquisitions, will be the keys to our success in the coming quarters. Matching our revenue growth rate from the second quarter is unlikely; however, assuming a reasonable level of successful execution on our part and barring a dramatic drop in copper prices or significant overall economic softening, we do expect to generate solid year-on-year earnings growth resulting from organic revenue growth that will likely exceed our annual target of 8 to 12 percent through the balance of the year."

Second Quarter Earnings Report

Anixter will report results for the 2006 second quarter on Tuesday, July 25, 2006, and broadcast a conference call discussing them at 9:30 am central time. The call will be Webcast by CCBN and can be accessed at Anixter's Website at http://www.anixter.com . The Webcast also will be available over CCBN's Investor Distribution Network to both institutional and individual investors. Individual investors can listen to the call through CCBN's individual investor center at http://www.companyboardroom.com, or by visiting any of the investor sites in CCBN's Individual Investor Network (such as America Online's Personal Finance Channel and Fidelity.com). Institutional investors can access the call via CCBN's password-protected event management site, StreetEvents ( http://www.streetevents.com ). The Webcast will be archived on all of these sites for 30 days.

About Anixter
Anixter International is the world's leading distributor of communication products, electrical and electronic wire & cable and a leading distributor of fasteners and other small parts ("C" Class inventory components) to Original Equipment Manufacturers. The company adds value to the distribution process by providing its customers access to 1) innovative inventory management programs, 2) more than 325,000 products and over $800 million in inventory, 3) 204 warehouses with more than 5 million square feet of space, and 4) locations in 227 cities in 46 countries. Founded in 1957 and headquartered near Chicago, Anixter trades on The New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AXE.

Safe Harbor Statement

The statements in this news release that use such words as "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "contemplate," "estimate," "plan," "project," "should," "may," or similar expressions are forward-looking statements. They are subject to a number of factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from what is indicated here. These factors include general economic conditions, technology changes, changes in supplier or customer relationships, commodity price fluctuations, exchange rate fluctuations, new or changed competitors and risks associated with integration of recently acquired companies. Please see the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings for more information.

     Additional information about Anixter is available on the Internet at www.anixter.com.

New Construction Of Adventum™ Indoor/Outdoor Fiber Optic Premises Cables Is Smaller And Lighter

Copper and fiber optic cabling technology and solutions leader Berk-Tek, A Nexans Company announces improvements to its Adventum family of indoor/outdoor fiber optic cables.

Adventum cables now feature a 19 percent reduction in the overall diameter and up to a 38 percent reduction in weight, due to the removal of unnecessary space holders previously used to maintain a round design. The new patent-pending Dual-Unilite™ constructions provide a 50 percent smaller cross-sectional area than comparable cables.

“The improved physical characteristics of this cable design make it the perfect choice of cable for data-centers,” stated Beni Blell, RCDD, fiber optic product business manager at Berk-Tek. “These new Adventum cables are much lighter and more flexible than anything else on the market and offer 50% or better performance in bend radius over traditional high-fiber ribbon cable constructions,” Blell added.

In data center applications, Adventum cables can help prevent cabinet congestion, enhance airflow, and facilitate more efficient cooling. The smaller design and flexibility of the cable makes installing, terminating and sub-routing easier, providing exceptional value in building backbones, campus environments, data centers and SANs.

The new line of Adventum cables is now available through distribution with riser and plenum ratings and in multimode or singlemode fiber constructions up to 216 fibers. The cables feature GIGAlite™ fiber, the industry’s highest performing laser optimized 50- micron fiber. Adventum cables incorporate the industry’s original all-dry water-blocking technology, allowing for significant cost reduction over traditional indoor/outdoor installations methods. The cables are available in pre-terminated cable assemblies with multifiber MTP/MPO connectors or single-fiber type connectors such as SC, ST, or LC.

www.berktek.com   www.nexans.com

Berk-Tek Cable Products Comply To RoHS/WEEE Initiative

Copper and fiber optic cabling technology and solutions leader Berk-Tek, A Nexans Company announced that all optical fiber and copper cable products manufactured in its Fuquay-Varina, NC, and New Holland, PA facilities are fully compliant with the RoHS (Restriction of the use of Hazardous Substances) directive requirements.  This directive bans any new electrical and electronic equipment product marketed within the EU (European Union) that contains more than specified trace levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) starting July 1, 2006. The directive is also associated with the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) initiative that sets minimum levels for recovery, reuse and recycling of ten categories of products, including telecom equipment, which will go into effect December 31, 2006.

The RoHS Directive aims to protect human health and the environment through the restricted use of certain hazardous substances.  It sets Maximum Concentration Values (MCV), which apply to “homogenous material,” defined as a material that cannot be mechanically separated.  This distinction is critical for manufactures to provide “due diligence” in their efforts towards RoHS compliance.

Under the RoHS directive, hundreds of thousands of components currently produced and marketed within the EU could become unmarketable, forcing electrical and  electronics manufacturers to redesign their products to remove certain toxic materials. Companies not in compliance will not be able to sell their products into EU countries. “As a leader in communications cabling technology, Berk-Tek embraced the challenge of compliance with the RoHS initiative very early on.  All of our major products have been compliant with this directive for many months.” states Paul Trunk, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Berk-Tek.  “The RoHS standard provides a benchmark by which our industry can now measure ourselves.”

About Berk-Tek, A Nexans Company
For more than 45 years, Berk-Tek has been a leading manufacturer of more than 100 different network copper and fiber optic cable products. The company has led in the development of high-performance and enhanced fiber optic and UTP cables designed to transport high-speed data and voice transmissions. Berk-Tek has major manufacturing facilities at New Holland, PA, Fuquay-Varina, NC and Elm City, NC. For more information, visit www.berktek.com .

About Nexans
Nexans is the worldwide leader in the cable industry. The Group brings an extensive range of advanced copper and optical fiber cable solutions to the infrastructure, industry and building markets. Nexans cables and cabling systems are used in every area of people's lives, from telecommunications and energy networks, to aeronautics, automobile, railways, building, petrochemical and medical applications. With an industrial presence in 29 countries and commercial activities worldwide, Nexans employs 20,000 people and had sales in 2005 of $6.5 billion. Nexans is listed on the Paris stock exchange as NEX. For more information, visit www.nexans.com.

Installer Certification – Mississauga Training Consultants

Our next   FIBER OPTIC  Installers Certification course in Mississauga will be  August 7th - 11th., 2006.   

This five-day installers certification program takes the student from the point of knowing absolutely nothing about
 optical fiber to the point where they can Install, Connectorize, Fusion Splice, Test and document a fiber
 optic system and to industry standards.
 
Cost of this course is  $989.00 + 59.00 GST  =  $1,048.00  CAD (about 900.00 US). 

Students receive the FOA certification (CFOT) as well as  35 BICSI CEC's
 http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/courses.html

FIBER TO THE PREMISES / HOME   (CFXT)  CERTIFICATION PROGRAM   1st.  in Canada

Our 1st Canadian  FTTX  program   will be August 14 and 15th., 2006.  We have been developing this program for some time and in March of this year the Fiber Optic Association officially announced the FTTX certification program through the media and at the OFC in Anaheim in March where 80% of venders were marketing FTTH products.

The program is 2 days and is an add-on for the certified installer (CFOT).  That is the prerequisite for this course.

On conclusion of this course the student will have a thorough understanding of the various technologies enployed for fiber to the home deployment as well as being capable of installing, testing and troubleshooting these systems.

Cost for this two day course is  $590.00  +  $35.40 GST    =  625.00 CAD   ( about 570.00 US)

Students receive the MTC as well as the Fiber Optic Association  Certified Fiber To The X Certificate (CFXT) 

Voice  Data  Video  Network Cabling Systems Inspection
 
Our next   VDV Network Cabling Systems Inspection   course
 in Mississauga Will be  August 1, 2, 3rd., 2006.  
This intensive 3 day program covers all the codes and
 standards involved with the installation of any Voice,
 Data, Video network cabling system.  We recommend  that
 information in this course be initially used in the system
 design stage.   Not including standards in the original
 specifications can cost untold dollars during the
 commissioning and future maintenance stages.  You can't inspect what you have not
 specified. 

Cost for this course is  690.00 + 41.40   = 731.00 CAD  (about 630.00  USD).

Students receive the MTC Network Cabling Systems Inspection certificate as well as 
21 BICSI CEC's .

http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/courses.html

Grounding,  Bonding  And  Harmonics  Techniques 

This One Day Course  will be conducted in Mississauge on   August 4th., 2006   This one day course

is Intended For Those Persons Who Install And Maintain Electrical Systems In Commercial, Industrial And

Residential Installations.  It Is Also of Special Interest To Those People Who Install And Maintain  Electrical Installations

Serving Data Communications Equipment In Offices, Plants, Telcos And Cable And Satellite Television Installations. All are
locations that suffer the effects of electrical noise and harmonics and must have installations above the C.E.C. Standards.                     

Subjects Included In This Course Are:  Electrical Noise, White Noise, Pink Noise, Causes,

Categories, Harmonics, Causes, Effects and Solutions.  Tingle Voltage,  Types Of Grounds,

Shields And Bonds, Method Of Sizing And Installing, The Ground Loop, Ufer, Plate,

Rod And Trench Grounds.  Normal And Common Mode Noise, Signal Grounding, Shielding,

Shielded Rooms, Symptoms, Problems And Solutions, Devices And Remedies,

Effect Of Using Non-Standard Items, Ferrite Cores, Electrical And Magnetic Fields. 

Cost of this course is:  280.00  +   16.80  GST     =   $296.00   (About  $265.00 US)
 
ADDITIONAL COSTS:  All costs are included in course fees.  There are no additional costs.
 
Additional information and registration forms are at:
<http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/courses.html>

Did you know:
 
* * There are over 1650 installers  certified through our Fiber Optic Installers program in Canada and over

16,000 worldwide http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/installersx.html  This is THE  Accepted Fiber Optic Certification in North America

 and the Caribbean.
* * Over  300 students have received our   "Inspector"  certification  for VDV Network Cabling Systems. 

*  We have the first Fiber To The Home/Premise (CFXT) certification in Canada  
*    Our industry partners  support this program and recognize our certificate. 
*    BICSI awards our fiber Optic graduates 35 CEC's towards some of their programs and 21 CEC's for completing our VDV program.
** Over 94% of FOA Certified Canadian installers are graduates of our program 
** Our program is over 60% hands-on 
** Our passing rate for the FOA examination is 98% 
** We also conduct  advanced specialist courses  in Connectorizing, Fusion splicing,  and  Testing. 
** We conduct our courses across Canada, the Caribbean and the US
** The new and popular one day course in Grounding, Bonding and Harmonics was started at the request of
industry partners  and is sucessfully filling a need.
* We have over  170 satisfied companies  in our data base.
<http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/clients.html>
http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/clients.html
 
Detailed course outlines and registration forms are on our
website at http://www.fiberoptictraining.com
<http://www.fiberoptictraining.com/>  

Please e-mail or call me for more information.

Best regards,
 
William Graham,

Certified fiber Optic Specialist/Testing/Splicing/Connectors, 

Certified Fiber Optic Instructor

Certified Communications Cabling Specialist - Province of Nova
Scotia

Master Electrician, Licensed Electrical Contractor # E2224

Hitachi Cable Manchester Celebrates 20^th Anniversary

Hitachi Cable Manchester, a leader in the manufacture of flat and round electronic cable and copper and fiber optic communication cables, will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary in October.  Hitachi’s state-of-the-art 300,000 square foot facility located on the outskirts of Manchester, New Hampshire, produces thousands of different products for customers around the world.  Their engineering department maintains a constant flow of new and technologically advanced products and their dedication to quality ensures their products are of the highest quality.

“In a competitive market, customer loyalty and retention are very important and have been a major factor in the success of Hitachi Cable Manchester,” says HCM’s president, Hideo Kusumi.  “Customers only return if they receive quality products that meet or exceed their expectations.  For the past 20 years, HCM has dedicated itself to being a leader in the wire and cable industry.  The caliber of our customers is an indication of our commitment to quality, superior product performance and the fulfillment of the overall needs of our customers.”

HCM has also led the way in manufacturing products that are component compliant. By providing component compliant products, HCM offers its customers the freedom to use the connectivity of their choice while ensuring worry-free performance.

And, with new products constantly being released, such as their new Supra 10G^TM, a UTP 10-gigabit Ethernet cable, HCM will continue to be a leader in the communication industry.

Supra 10G^TM is now available through HCM approved distributors.  For information on where to obtain the new Supra 10G^TM, contact HCM at 800-772-0116 or visit their website at http://www.hcm.hitachi.com.

Nortel, Microsoft Form New Communications Alliance

Microsoft Corp. and Nortel Networks Inc. today announced a strategic alliance based on what they described as a "shared vision for unified communications.

"The alliance will accelerate the availability of unified communications - an industry concept that uses advanced technologies to break down today's device- and network-centric silos of communication (such as e-mail, instant messaging, telephony and multimedia conferencing) and makes it easy and efficient for workers to reach colleagues, partners and customers with the devices and applications they use most," the two companies said in a joint statement.

Nortel and Microsoft say they will transition traditional business phone systems into software, with a Microsoft unified communications software platform and Nortel software products to provide further advanced telephony functionality.

"This is a gutsy play for Nortel -- accelerating the move of our voice technology into software and working with the world's software leader as part of our broader business strategy to transform the company into a software and services leader," said Mike Zafirovski, CEO of Nortel.

"From this transaction, we believe we can capture well beyond $1 billion in new revenue, ramping up with increased momentum through 2009 via professional services, voice products and applications, as well as data pull-through in the enterprise."

Unified communications will drive the next major advance in individual, team and organizational productivity in today's 24x7, always-connected and increasingly mobile work environment, said Jeff Raikes, president of the Business Division at Microsoft.

ACUTA Hosts Philadelphia Seminar On Convergence On Sept. 12, 2006

ACUTA, the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education, will host a one-day seminar on the convergence of data, video, and voice technologies on Tuesday, September 12, 2006.

Gary Audin of the consulting firm Delphi will conduct the seminar, titled "Making Convergence Work."  It will address the real-world challenges and issues involved with migration to a converged network, such as security, power, and air conditioning, fine-tuning networks to achieve the desired bandwidth and Quality of Service, and staff training.

Audin has more than 40 years of computer and communications network experience, and is a contributor to the ACUTA Journal.

The workshop will be at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. More detailed descriptions of the seminar and online registration information is available at www. acuta.org/?1505.

About ACUTA
ACUTA, the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education is an international non-profit educational association serving colleges and universities.  Its core purpose is to support higher education communications technology professionals in contributing to the achievement of the strategic mission of their institutions. ACUTA represents nearly 2000 individuals at 825 institutions of higher education, with members ranging from small schools and community colleges to the 50 largest U.S. institutions.  ACUTA’s Corporate Affiliate members represent all categories of  communications technology  vendors serving the college/university market. For more information, visit www.acuta.org

Fiber To The Home Certification

Location: Mississauga, Ontario

Date: August 14, 15th

The long awaited Fiber To the Home program is finally launched in Canada. This Fiber Optic Association approved certification program was first launched at the OFC in Anaheim, CA on March 7th., 2006 with the first  FTTH Certification course in Canada to be facilitated by Mississauga Training Consultants on August 14th. And 15th.  The prerequisite for this two day course is the CFOT (Certified Fiber Optic Installer) designation. Mr Graham notes that FTTH allows triple play and speeds more than 100 times faster than existing technologies, and with almost unlimited bandwidth. Mr. Graham can be contacted at 905-785-8012  or mrfiber@canada.com.

Trammell Crow Company Joins CABA Board Of Directors

The Continental Automated Buildings Association (CABA) announced today the addition of the Trammell Crow Company to its Board of Directors. CABA is a trade association that promotes advanced technologies for integrated systems and the automation of homes and buildings.

Trevor Foster, Global Director of the firm’s Management Services Group, will represent Trammell Crow Company on CABA’s Board. He has more than 25 years of experience in property and facility management, for all types of facilities including commercial property, high tech manufacturing and industrial plants.

Foster joined Trammell Crow Company from EMCOR Group Inc., where he most recently served as Vice President of Corporate Development & Executive Vice President of Facilities Services, playing a key role in the expansion of EMCOR’s geographic coverage and market penetration. Foster established the facilities service operations for EMCOR and led the profitable growth to in excess of $1 billion.

Foster previously worked for Johnson Controls in senior management and various operational and engineering positions in Australia, Far East, Middle East, United Kingdom and the United States. He was the Regional Engineer for systems and services in the Far East. The operational assignments included Managing Director of the Middle East assigned to restructure the operations as a result of the Gulf War in 1990 as well as Managing Director for the United Kingdom assigned to expanding the operation into facilities management from 1993 to 1997.

Foster holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Queensland with First Class Honors in electrical engineering and computer science.

Ronald J. Zimmer, CABA President & CEO commented: “I am delighted to welcome Trevor Foster of Trammell Crow Company to CABA and I know that his breadth of experience in multinational companies will be invaluable in achieving the new strategic plan - Vision 2010.”

About CABA
CABA is the only industry association to offer industry intelligence to stakeholders in all areas of home & building automation. CABA's resources cover areas such as HVAC, lighting, security, A/V, communications technologies, energy management and controls. A number of resources are available through the association including iHomes & Buildings magazine, CABA's Summits and Conferences, CABA's monthly eBulletin, Information Series reports, Event Reports and the CABA web site. Please visit www.caba.org for further information.

Connected@Home 2006

October 16 - 18, 2006
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina
San Diego, CA

Agenda Announced

http://www.caba.org/connectedathome/agenda.htm

During times of change and complexity, business leaders are called upon by their companies to provide a clear and responsible direction and competent management concerning the implementation and operation of connected home technologies.

Lead the direction of the industry by being an active participant in following sessions:

--Builders and Smart Communities

--User Interfaces: Bridging the Technology and User

--Retailer vs. Integrator OR Retailer w/Integrator

--IPTV: Landscape Survey

--Home Automation and Controls

--Home Networking and Digital Youth

--In-Home Infrastructure Options

--Standards-Making it All Work

--Non-Traditional Applications

Also, take advantage of the Internet Home Alliance Research Council Collaborative Research Track. This track will explore specific areas of interest, from a collaborative research perspective.

--IPTV Phase II project

--SMB IT Needs Assessment Project

--Subsidized Media and Location Based Advertising

--Senior Living Project

--Digital Kitchen Project

Early Bird Deadline (Save $250.00)

All delegates will receive the following complimentary reports:

1) State of the Connected Home 2005 ($2,100 value)

2) Connected Home Roadmap Executive Summary

3) Connected@Home 2006 Event Report