Cat 6 to rule

Tech & Business Trends 2015

By Martin Isaac

Cat 6 system in copper forms the default choice of the customer with Singlemode and OM3/OM4 will see increased deployment. Data centers are driving the growth for high speed solutions. We also see an increased interest and deployment in intelligent cabling systems. Customers are also aware of the need to deploy higher spec solutions eg., Cat6A to future proof their network for high speed applications such as 10G (on copper).

The Indian market is reviving and has seen growth in the past year. The boom in data centers has also raised the bar on technology. Increased absorption of Cat6A has been seen in such installations.

Telecom and Infrastructure projects have scaled-up in SCS deployments. The older establishments which were on unstructured cabling are migrating to SCS when they renovate or upgrade their facilities.

Uptake of 10G systems is on the increase, generally by the larger enterprises that are looking to implement the latest cabling technology to ensure longevity. PoE is used for security applications but hasn’t been adopted across large enterprises due to its currently limited capacity. We are seeing increased penetration of VOIP over analog phones.

Fiber is still primarily used for backbone applications despite the improved viability of fiber as a to-the-desk solution with the ever decreasing cost of active equipment. However, the continued demand for bandwidth will ultimately lead to increased opportunities for fiber and the development of pre-terminated fiber solutions, where there is no need for on-site termination will no doubt increase uptake. OM3 is a cost effective option for data centers as it delivers 40G under 100M’s. That means OM3 can do 1G/10G/40G. OM4 would be the option to implement if lengths are over 100M’s.

The environment is a continual trend where many questions are still asked which becomes a key factor in the decision making process. The environmental commitment of manufacturers and the environmental friendliness of their products is becoming more important, as people start to design green buildings. With plans underway for great smart cities there is much scope for optical fiber solutions through FTTX.

Technological innovations like virtualization, cloud and mobility have more of an impact on active networking devices like switches, etc., but the SCS industry which is basically passive cabling is not impacted by these technology drifts. As always speed and bandwidth continue to be the key factors influencing this industry. This development will see the next step in infrastructure performance.

Physical layer management is an important area which is evolving rapidly. Customers are looking beyond the ability to manage only the patching field / wiring closet. As ‘size of networks’ grow, and large customers implement offices across multiple locations, management of networks is gaining importance. There will be increased deployment of intelligent cabling systems.

Earlier the systems could not ensure safety of data sharing, etc. With the new advances in technology this is no more of a problem. Systems are in place to trace anything and everything and BYOD will see more deployment. However, the passive part of networking will be less impacted. Devices may move to wireless but you still need the physical connectivity. This is here to stay for sometime until drastic technological advances deem otherwise.

(The author Martin Isaac is Marketing Manager, India/Asean, Premise Networks, Molex India)