The Cabling Podcast

General Dynamics IT (GDIT) forms government 5G, edge technology coalition

The Cabling Podcast recently sat down with Rob Smallwood, vice president of digital modernization, and Shuaib Porjosh, director for advanced wireless, for General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), to learn more about GDIT's recently announced formation of a coalition with leading U.S. technology and telecommunications conglomerates.

Including the likes of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Dell Technologies, Splunk and T-Mobile, the GDIT coalition's mandate is to accelerate the adoption of 5G advanced wireless and edge technologies across government agencies.

During the interview, Smallwood and Porjosh describe GDIT's foundational Advanced Wireless Emerge Lab and how it operates. We learn how the GDIT coalition is developing technology solutions that will support federal, state and local agencies' unique mission requirements from the enterprise to the edge in a wide variety of applications, including military, logistics and supply chain, healthcare, education and smart infrastructure.

In the podcast, CI&M probes the background of the GDIT coalition's development, and asks whether uniform adoption of 5G and edge technologies has been a challenge in government facilities, or whether the advancements in AI/sensor tech for buildings are such that a technology coalition such as GDIT is now required for federal customers.

CI&M also inquires to what degree the coalition could be involved in physical deployment, installation, maintenance, and monitoring of developed technology solutions, and what the roadmap will be for the rollout of technology solutions developed by the GDIT coalition.

Fiber Endface Cleaning Imperatives with MicroCare’s Liam Taylor

Liam Taylor is European business manager, fiber optics, at Microcare, LLC, global manufacturer of the Sticklers brand of specialist fiber-optic cleaning tools. A long-time participant in information and communications technology (ICT) industry, Taylor is a member of the IES/SC 86B Working Group 4. 

In the latest episode of the Cabling Podcast, Taylor recaps and expands upon the salient points of his recent article for Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine,  "Why fiber network cleaning is essential to colocation space success."

In the course of the discussion, Taylor and CI&M senior editor Matt Vincent also unpack the features and benefits of Sticklers' newly introduced "breakthrough" fiber-optic cleaning tool, the Pro360 Touchless Cleaner.

Designed to quickly and completely clean oils and dust across the entire endface of both male and female fiber-optic connector ends via a single push of a button, MicroCare contends that its Pro360 Touchless Cleaner stands to change the way fiber-optic technicians work, significantly improving fiber cleaning speed and effectiveness. 

"Regardless of where a connector is along the network, contamination always has been and always will be the number one threat to network performance," asserts MicroCare's Taylor. "It's also the cheapest and easiest to prevent."

CWA Fiber Training Apprenticeship Program: Yonah Camacho Diamond, CWA District 9

In this episode of the Cabling Podcast, CI&M senior editor Matt Vincent sits down with Yonah Camacho Diamond, Organizing Coordinator for Communications Workers of America District 9 (CWA District 9) in California to discuss the award of a $5.8 million grant to expand an apprenticeship training program for fiber technicians at the existing CWA training center in San Jose, and at three additional sites across the state. The new program designation for fiber splicing technicians is intended to support the state's federally funded fiber broadband rollout expansion, as part of the BEAD Program. The grant will offer an employer boot camp program as a recruiting tool, where prospective employers can experience the apprenticeship program. CWA is also pursuing funding to reimburse employers for apprentice wages and benefits, and is assisting with providing tools and PPE for program participants. 

CI&M talks with Francois Menard, PulR Technologies

In this episode of the Cabling Podcast, Cabling Installation & Maintenance senior editor Matt Vincent sits down with Francois Menard, founder of PulR Technologies. Francois is the inventor of the PulR, a versatile tool especially designed to solve the problem of pulling bend insensitive, self bend limiting 4.8 mm SC fiber-optic patch cords for small-conduit optical FTTx applications, and other pre-terminated patch cords. The tool will be featured at this year's BICSI Fall Conference (Sept. 25-29) in Las Vegas.

Learn more about the PulR tool.

Drilling Down On Category 6A with CommScope’s Jason Bautista

Cabling Installation & Maintenance recently sat down with CommScope Enterprise Solutions Architect Jason Bautista for a discussion of the finer points of Category 6A connectivity. Cat 6A has been a cabling standard since 2009, but what are the signature contemporary advancements in terms of compatible products and applications, and also the thinking surrounding the technology? Our discussion then touches on the different use cases for Cat 6A shielded vs. Cat 6A unshielded cabling, and what the upper limit of Cat 6A might be in terms of future bandwidth speed and distance. Also on the docket: Notes on the use of Cat 7 and above media in lieu of Cat 6A.

The Cabling Podcast - Spring 2022 Edition

Cabling Installation & Maintenance (CI&M) editors Matt Vincent and Patrick McLaughlin chat about information and communications technology (ICT) segment prospects and news and notes for CI&M within the Spring 2022 timeframe.

The Cabling Podcast Ep. 3 – Cabling Tools Talk w/ Jonard Tools

CI&M sits down for some serious cabling tools talk with Jonard Tools’ Managing Sales Director of North American Operations, Wayne Bunce.

For Episode 3 of The Cabling Podcast, CI&M senior editor Matt Vincent sits down for some serious cabling tools talk with Jonard Tools’ Managing Sales Director of North American Operations, Wayne Bunce.

Wayne talks briefly about his background (00:44), starting with his time as a wire wrangler from an early age, before turning to the meat of the discussion (02:16): ICT job site challenges and the value proposition of certain Jonard Tools products that may prove helpful in the field installer's quest to alleviate such challenges. One of these tools has quite an interesting history which Wayne describes (04:22).

After much cabling tools discussion from an ICT-themed perspective, Matt and Wayne wrap up the podcast with another installment of “Cabling Triumph vs. Cabling Tragedy” (14:23), a discussion of cabling photos as seen on social media, and recently featured on CablingInstall.com.

 

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The Cabling Podcast, Ep. 2

For Episode 2 of The Cabling Podcast, CI&M senior editor Matt Vincent sits down with a longtime friend of the brand, Ethernet Alliance (EA) chair Peter Jones.

The discussion ranges from recent Ethernet Alliance activities (01:13), including the consortium's latest Power over Ethernet Certification program announcement (02:48), and an update on Single Pair Ethernet technology (03:40) with Peter also addressing Ethernet-APL systems technology developments (05:03).

Peter then reflects on the spread of Wi-Fi 6 technology (12:27), before providing a description of the background and development of the technology consortium's recently launched Voices of Ethernet oral archive project (15:43).

An update on the EA's rescheduled High Speed Networking (HSN) Plugfest is then provided (19:35).

The discussion wraps up with the podcast's kickoff round of "Cabling Triumph vs. Cabling Tragedy," a discussion (24:05) of select ICT structured cabling photos as featured in recent articles at CablingInstall.com.

The Cabling Podcast, Ep. 1

In the first episode of The Cabling Podcast, Cabling Installation & Maintenance (CI&M) editors Matt Vincent and Patrick McLaughlin chat about the Fall (Sept./Oct) issue of the magazine (00:42), where the recipients of CI&M's 2021 Cabling Innovators Awards winners are honored (1:01).

As described by Patrick, the issue also covers advancements (2:55) in the areas of fiber-optic end-cleaning; cybersecurity and fiber; optical return loss; as well as Single Pair Ethernet cabling and connectivity.

Patrick also provides his reflections on the theme of 'Then and Now' (5:24) as applied to the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry, when viewed through his lens of a quarter century's experience in the space.

To wrap up (13:36), the editors give a preview of what's ahead in 2022 for readers of CI&M, including a new digital newsletter tightly focused on the Fiber Broadband segment.