My TN Connection

Transition Networks has been a big supporter of the BICSI organization for many years and I recently returned from their fall conference held in Las Vegas during the week of September 10th. If you are not familiar with BICSI, it is a professional trade organization that provides education and certification for individuals working with the infrastructure for telecommunications, audio/video, life safety, and automation systems.

My primary focus at this conference was to work our tradeshow booth during the exhibit portion of the conference. But I also had the opportunity to walk the exhibit hall and attend several of the seminars throughout the week to learn about the latest trends in the Information Transport Systems (ITS) industry.

Maximizing The Cabling Infrastructure in Data Centers

A common theme of this conference was methods for maximizing the cabling infrastructure in data centers with flexible systems that are easy to manage and offer high levels of performance and reliability. One particular seminar that really got my attention was presented by Rick Dallman of CXtec. Rick talked about the needs in data center cabling environments and how new approaches to designing these systems will pay huge benefits in the long term. His main push was on new trunking solutions that move away from point-to-point or “home-run” connections between servers and storage and to a structured cable distribution topology with central patching location that utilized high density, massive parallel optical (MPO/MTP®) connectors. Rick argued by moving to MTP trunking solutions, all moves, adds, and changes can be done above the floor, at a main distribution area, providing a very scalable and future proof solution.

MTP Connectors

MTP connectors can have between 12 and 72 fibers in one MT ferrule. I expect you will see more manufactures supporting MTP style connectors as Transition Networks has done with our new Gigabit Ethernet media conversion modules. These modules were co-developed with Corning Cabling Systems to provide conversion between 12 RJ-45 ports and 2 12-fiber MTP ports, while mounting in Corning’s LANscape® Pretium Solution.

Some Motivation

On a side note, the opening keynote speaker at the BICSI conference was Mr. Stedman Graham. Mr. Graham got everyone motivated for a great conference by providing tips for making things happen and reaching your potential in today’s modern world. He said:

“What is most important is breaking through labels and understanding who you are. Realize that everyone brings uniqueness, talents, and skills that add value to our experiences, work environments, businesses and communities. When you operate from this perspective, you will emerge in the 21st century as a true leader to yourself, to others, and to society.”

Mr. Graham concluded his speech by reciting from a children’s book by D.H. Groberg entitled “The Race” This was a great little story about feeling defeated but not giving up. If you are looking for a little motivation “to rise each time you fall”, I highly suggest you check out this short story so you to can “get up and win the race”.

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