Membership: At the previous meeting I reported the m/ship number of 201 (inc. temp members not coverted to full members) - Changes since then:

Transcription

1 FIA Secretariat Report Council meeting Tuesday 18 th March 2008 Actions: Actions completed from previous meeting 1 st February 2008 Membership: At the previous meeting I reported the m/ship number of 201 (inc. temp members not coverted to full members) - Changes since then: 13/02/08 1 x resign Corp B JPR Engineering Srvs (decided not to renew) 20/02/08 1 x resign - Corp A Data Path (pls resign) 13/03/08 1 x resign Corp A CCL Fibres (not payment Oct inv. unable to contact) 13/03/08 1 x resign Corp A Johnson Controls (as above) 13/03/08 1 x new - Corp A A-Tech Data Solutions TOTAL members 198* * Of course this number is somewhat inflated as it still includes 9 TIA-B temp members who have not yet converted to full membership. 4 have paid and become full Corporate members: Major Electrical (7 th Feb) Mills Ltd (7 th Feb) Multinet (7 th Feb) Sharpmark (20 th Feb) I suggest I take the following off the DB next week? Bailey Teswaine Bridon IT Comtec Telecom & Data Ltd. FMS Data Integrated Networked Sols Ltd. Nightlake QNET Group SLData Ltd. WH Good Ltd. PLUS 4 x new members pending pro-formas invoice sent: 2 nd Jan HellermannTyton Data Ltd. CORP C 12 th Feb Wachter Network Services CORP A 22 nd Feb Finevalley Communications Ltd. Corp A 28 th Feb Lectrique Ltd. Corp A FIA General Newsletter: Issue 87 was sent via and in hard copy on 27 th Feb. Presume next issue will appear in May?

2 FIA Qualification scheme: Letters to chase P. Sanders and S. Wheatley (of PR Power Installations Ltd.) Learner No and re unit feedback forms and proof of CPD (awarded Oct 06) And M. Rawlinson, L. Lythgoe and A. Sturdy (of Lythgoes Ltd.) Learner No , and re unit feedback forms and proof of CPD (awarded Oct 06) were sent on 12 th October. Still no replies received to date. I. Watson Learner No proof of CPD accepted and the QS database has been updated. FIA Approved Installer Scheme: application and fee of received 7 th Jan from Hartwood Services Ltd. Only 2 referees details had been completed (both same company) checked with PL who said can be same company but needs to be different installations/projects. I then spoke to J. Moore at Hartwood and he faxed over a new application that listed 4 referees (albeit all the same company). Ack letter sent to Hartwood on 8 th Jan. A letter and questionnaire was sent to all 4 referees on 8 th Jan. To date only 2 of these have been returned. I advised Julian last week and he is chasing up the 2 remaining. Brand Rex application for Approved Training Provider: form and fee received October Asked to now complete and return audit template form. Chased a couple of times and then in July 2006 Sec spoke to Karen Morrey - they want to continue but have a few issues (premises, budget, workload) which they hope to sort out in coming months. sent to Carl Adshead of Brand-Rex on 18 th Feb explaining the situation. NO reply chased him again on 17 th March. Telecoms 2008 Olympia 24 th & 25 th September 2008: I spoke to Ian (Terrington Publications Limited - organisers of the show) on 14 th Feb - 80% of the stands are sold. Costs are 168 per sq. mtr. There are some smaller ones left- 5m x 3m no discounts given to trade associations. FIA Web site advertising: The current adverts expired on 29 th Feb 2008: Advertisers expired: Whole site: Cablenet Trackmaster vat ATP page CTTS vat About the FIA GCL Ltd VAT Join the FIA / Product Reviews / Approved Installers all DMOPTICS total vat A letter to members was sent on 12 th Feb re pages available and costs: Sold to date: Whole site: Cablenet Trackmaster vat ATP page CTTS vat About the FIA GCL Ltd VAT Approved Installers Major Electrical vat Linbrooke - Whole site vat TOTAL income: vat (ads from 1 st March th Feb 09) Meeting dates & venues for 2008: 21 st May prov. booked Leeds. 16 th July. Prov booked London AGM booked for 4 th Dec in Towcester NOTE: I shall be on holiday from Wed 23 rd April Thurs 1 st May ed to Council 17 th March

3 INSTALLATION DIRECTORS REPORT 18 March 2008 Approved Installer Scheme Membership: No new members have taken up the scheme. Hartwood Services are going through the approval process at the moment. Lynx Networks; (members for 12 months) I spoke with Allan Bullen regarding database input from them and as yet they have not instigated the scheme owed to business as usual and a desire to integrate the scheme with their current practices. I shall visit Allan after Easter to see what the difficulties are and how we can help. Allan has asked that their membership be renewed and I suggest we allow renewal but subject to implementation within 6 months. This could be advised along with the renewal invoice. I shall contact Lightguide to ensure that the scheme is in use. Profile: Again I can only repeat that a greater commitment needs to be made by the FIA in raising the profile of the scheme it will never fly.

4 John Marson, Commercial Director - Report to the FIA council Meeting on Tue 18 th March 2008 Actions Promote FIA membership In Progress Suggest ideas for future promo of FIA - In Progress Promotion of membership in progress and completed actions The membership is down at the moment and we do need to raise the profile of the FIA to increase the numbers. I am doing my best to raise the awareness of the FIA to all the companies I come in contact with and would ask all other Directors to do the same, although I m sure you do anyway. We are finding it hard to retain members right now and I do not know why this is they tell me they have no need for the membership anymore but will not give reasons beyond this. I have a meeting with Network Centre on the 14 th April, they have asked me to discuss how the FIA membership can help them and I want to get the sponsorship from them for our seminars this year. My mail shots and cold calling will continue each month. Proposed new actions Promote new membership John Marson Commercial Director.

5 For the attention of THE FIA COUNCIL ϕ The Cabling Partnership The IT cabling infrastructure division of e-ready Building Limited The IT cabling consultants e-ready Building Limited Next generation IT infrastructures REPORT FOR FIA COUNCIL MEETING 18 th March 2008 ACTIONS Date: 13 th March 2008 Our Reference: MG/MG/5234 Your Reference: Completed Remind temp members again re full m/ship - completed Remove temp members (not joining) from web site - completed Organise Newsletter - completed Find Training contact in Brand-Rex - completed Provide Sec with pages available re web site ads - completed Report back to Council after 13 th Feb meeting - completed Underway GENERAL Visit Linbrooke if CT exams are required Include in next NL info re newly formed TIA-B - partial Use JC QS text for p. releases, article and Newsletter - action on John Colton Work with PL and SH re selling new AIS to consultants Ongoing GENERAL Keep Council informed re progress of PSP - see below Organise special Newsletter re PSP - see below Finalise actions etc re PSP - see below Promote FIA membership Re-edit FIA documents - see below Outstanding None FINANCIAL I distributed accounts for February 2008 on 16 th March These show a YTD (February) profit of At the same time last year our loss was Liquidity in February 2008 was c/f in February 2007.

6 WEB-SITE REPORT fia-online.co.uk is functional at a 100% level. Amendments have been made to de-clutter the intro pages If Council Members find pages that require amendment let me know. For the information of Council Members: all Council Meeting Minutes, attachments and lists of actions can be found at fia-online.co.uk/maa.htm; it is no longer possible to access the FIA Members area without the correct password. New levels of protection have been applied to allow subscription or project-based activities to be remain secure. These have been applied to the Corporate and Associate Members access pages. Since 15 th January 2008 a new system of access has been implemented which requires membership number as username and python73 as the password. This allows instant removal of access upon non-payment of fees. These new access schemes will be applied to other areas such as AIS and TIA-B areas in due course. The TIA-B web-site is located at fia-online.co.uk/tia-b (see Annex C). As reported at the last meeting, I have also added a site for the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 at fia-online.co.uk/isoiec. This was intended to be temporary but is a good alternative to the local server and the central IEC web-server during the WG3 meeting. This has the benefit that FIA Council members are able to access discussion documents - and there are a few that affect optical fibre at this time. I have also added a dummy site for the UKCPO at fia-online.co.uk/ukcpo. This demo site was created following criticism of their existing site at a recent UKCPO meeting. This area will be used a s a demo site for the new work being undertaken in this area (see UKCPO). TECHNICAL REPORT TECHNICAL MATTERS Technical Support Guides Finally we have some good news on the matter of MM launch conditions. It would appear that all the ISO/IEC, IEC and US TIA groups have agreed the way forward. We will use encircled flux as the metric and the shape of the encircled flux envelope for 50/125 and 62.5/125 at both 850nm and 1300 nm is now agreed. This affects many things. Firstly it allows the updating of ISO/IEC (Generic cabling - Testing of installed optical fibre cabling) - which started the whole debate. It also allows the publication of IEC which is the most general MM testing document. However, these will not be published until late 2008 (if not 2009) and the industry needs the information now in readiness for the changes to be implemented. Council members will know that the FIA delayed their full support of BS ISO/IEC until these very detailed technical matters were resolved since they affect: the PSP; the production of test cords; the contents of our TSDs and White Papers. I think we are now in a position to move forward and the following actions, already agreed, will now be taken: White Paper and new TSD: What is a test cord? ; to include what we called Reference terminations ; White Paper: Launch conditions for testing installed MMF cabling ; White Paper Test limits ; Contact Andy Hallam regarding EF metric and limits and the Mode Controller (PSP); Re-write TSD changing title Testing MMF : referring to ISO/IEC (inc A.1) and (Ed.2) for MMF; Re-write TSD changing title Testing SMF : referring to ISO/IEC (inc A.1) and (Ed.1). We should get teams together to revise TSD Optical Fibre Cabling: Cable Selection Guide based on the content of our latest articles and White Papers (see below).

7 The re-edit of all documents is underway. TSD : Optical Fibre Cabling: Installation Practice: Splicing is being edited by Richard Ednay and myself; TSD : Optical Fibre Cabling: Polarity Maintenance will be replaced by references to EN in the next few months; I will update:tsd : Optical fibre cabling: LAN Application Support Guide. I am preparing a TSD : Optical Fibre Cabling: Components: Cords as per the FIA Seminar presentation (September 2006) which can be found at ( I am preparing a TSD : Optical Fibre Cabling: Documentation and administration. BS/EN/IEC has been updated and The Health Protection Agency under the control of John O Hagan has been contracted to provide a non-binding guide to the Artificial Optical Radiation Directive for the European Commission. This may include a list of guidance documents produced by specific industries. The HPA are also keen to identify situations where employees are likely to be exposed to (artificial) optical radiation above the exposure levels given in the Directive or where it is felt that employers will not know how to do the assessment required. This could influence the contents of a re-written TSD : Optical power: Safety Levels. This work is summarised in the Table below which allows Jane to monitor progress. White Papers Task Title Action Contact Andy Hallam Mike Gilmore White Paper What is a test cord? Mike Gilmore White Paper Launch conditions for Mike Gilmore testing installed MMF cabling White Paper Test limits Mike Gilmore Update TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Update TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Organise Team TSD Mike Gilmore Update TSD TSD Mike Gilmore/R.Ednay Update TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Update TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Produce TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Produce TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Update TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Minor edit TSD TSD Mike Gilmore Minor edit TSD TSD Mike Gilmore I have prepared two new White Papers and these have been uploaded to the web-site: AN INTRODUCTION TO OM4 UNDERSTANDING OM1, OM2, OM3, OS1, OS2 and more! I also updated/corrected two others PLASTIC OPTICAL FIBRE - IS IT FINALLY BECOMING A REALISTIC TELECOMMUNICATIONS MEDIUM? AN OVERVIEW OF SINGLEMODE OPTICAL FIBRE SPECIFICATIONS I would like to canvass opinion re- a Migration to SMF white paper. White Paper on the general topic of marginal test results is already listed as an action but awaits the revision of TSD and UKCPO I attended a meeting of the UKCPO hosted by the FIA on January 15 th at the Marriott Hotel, Leeds. The management of the Photonics KTN requires the FIA to produce a Standards Digest twice per year. I prepared the last one for the period to 09/07 in September (the 57 page Standards Digest is based on the old Standards Forum documents and is to be found on the Standards Forum section of the web-site - and is therefore available to our members as well).

8 In December 2007 I produced three Standards Activity Update Reports. These are to be found on the Standards Forum section of the web-site - and are therefore available to our members as well. A further three such reports will be prepared by end of March 2007 which will allow the third Standards Digest to be prepared in March These actions and other small matters will allow us to claim our 5000 funding per annum. I joined a separate Working Group to rebuild the UKCPO web-site. This group met on 21 st January No further action taken at this time. TIA-B Project pages have now been completed CMA are on board - Mike Daly has been approached to chair their Forum. However CMA are slow in identifying fourm membership. This is delaying our work and this has been formally advised to Glenn Powell of CMA. A meeting with BICSI took place on 13 th February See Annex B for Minutes. Next main meeting: 16 th April 2008 At the 13/02 meeting it was suggested that the TIA-B offer to organise the Telecomms 08 conference in exchange for a free-stand (to cover CMA, ECA-ITEC and FIA). Contacts have advised that the conference is already some way down the road and this will not be possible this year - but they are interested for next year. Instead I have been asked to present on behalf of the FIA (45 mins) and other speaker will present on behalf of the TIA-B. SEMINARS See TIA-B re Telecomm 08. I spoke at the ANSI/CEN Interoperability Conference in Warsaw in February. However, there was little opportunity to push the FIA. However, some important people were met - useful for the future. I have been asked to speak on behalf of the FIA at the BICSI Conference in Dubai in May. I am to host a Workshop (3 hours) present at the Conference for 1 hour. In the words of the organiser Mike is probably the best speaker that we will have (I am not sure whether that is a compliment to me or an insult to the rest) so I am going to make a special effort in behalf of the FIA before that time. I need to update all the documents and prepare new ones in order to tempt new members for the Middle East sector. Laurent Amestoy (ex Council member) will also be there. EXHIBITIONS I would recommend we book space at the exhibition on behalf of the FIA. However, I need to be sure we can man the stand effectively and present the FIA properly. NEWSLETTER General Newsletter Issue 87 was circulated in late February - its preparation was delayed pending the outcome of the discussion on fibre performance in ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3. ARTICLES Networking+ I have written three more articles for Networking+. See Annex A. Dates for this year are: 08/05/08; 09/06/08; 24/07/08; 08/09/08;

9 02/10/08; 07/11/08; 05/12/08. NCN AIS NTR. APPROVED INSTALLER SCHEME All software fully functional. Following April meeting of CLC TC215, work will have to be done to fully update the supporting help information. FIA QUALIFICATIONS NTR QUALIFICATION SCHEME Web-site complete. The database for trainers, learners etc. has been developed and used to record the early data received.

10 STANDARDS ACTIVITY British BSI STANDARDS MAKER FORUM Last meeting: 11 th September M. Gilmore attended as TCT7 Chairman. Next meeting: tba - M. Gilmore to attend as TCT7 Chairman. BSI GEL 86: TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE: FIBRE OPTICS Next meeting: 12 th March M. Gilmore and S. Reeves attended. Next meeting: 16 th October M. Gilmore attended as TCT7 Chairman. New fibre optics specifications continue to be produced at IEC level. The following Committee Drafts are already on the FIA Standards Forum web-page. CD IEC BSI GEL 86/1: SUB-COMMITTEE: OPTICAL FIBRES/CABLES Safety of laser products Part 17: Safety aspects for use of passive optical components and optical cables in high power optical fibre communication systems Last meeting: 5 th March M. Gilmore attended as FIA representative and TCT7 Chairman. Next meeting: 10 th September - M. Gilmore. New optical fibre and optical fibre cable specifications continue to be produced at IEC level. The following Committee Drafts are already on the FIA Standards Forum web-page. CDV IEC Ed. 3.0 FDIS IEC Ed. 1.0 CDV IEC Ed 2.0 CDV IEC Ed 2.0 FDIS IEC Ed. 2.0 CD IEC Ed. 1.0 Optical fibres - Part 1-47: Measurement methods and test procedures - Macrobending loss Optical fibre cables - Part 2-50: Indoor cables - Family specification for simplex and duplex cables for use in terminated cable assemblies Optical fibre cables - Part 3-10: Outdoor cables - Family specification for duct, directly buried or lashed aerial optical telecommunication cable Optical fibre cables Part 3-20: Outdoor cables - Family specification for self supporting aerial telecommunication cable Optical fibre cables - Part 3-30: Outdoor cables - Family specification for optical telecommunication cables for lakes, river crossings and coastal applications Optical fibre cables - Part 5.10: Family specification for outdoor microduct optical fibre cables, microducts and protected microducts for installation by blowing BSI GEL 86/2: SUB-COMMITTEE: CONNECTING HARDWARE This is a new membership for the FIA. Last meeting: 18 th December M. Gilmore attended. Next meeting: 6 th March M. Gilmore and S. Reeves to attend. New specifications continue to be produced at IEC level. The following Committee Drafts are already on the FIA Standards Forum web-page. CD IEC Ed. 5.0 CDV IEC Ed. 4.0 CD IEC Ed. 3.0 CDV IEC Ed. 3.0 CDV IEC Ed. 2.0 CDV IEC Ed. 2.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Nonwavelength-selective fibre optic branching devices - Part 1: Generic specification Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Mechanical splices and fusion splice protectors for optical fibres and cables - Part 1: Generic specification Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 1: General and guidance Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 2-5: Tests -Torsion/Twist Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 2-48: Tests - Temperature -humidity cycling Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and

11 CD IEC Ed.2.0 CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 measurement procedures - Part 3-7: Examinations and measurements - Wavelength dependence of attenuation and return loss of single mode components Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-9: Examinations and measurements - Crosstalk Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-35: Examinations and measurements - Fibre optic cylindrical connector endface visual and automated inspection CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components Basic test and measurement procedures - Part 3-43: Examinations and measurements - Mode Transfer Function Measurement for fibre optic sources CDV IEC Ed.3.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Fibre optic fan-outs - Part 1: Generic specification CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components performance standard - Part 31-3: Non-connectorised single-mode 1xN and 2xN non-wavelength-selective branching devices for Category U - Uncontrolled environment FDIS IEC Ed. 1.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components performance standard - Part 082-2: Pigtailed single-mode fibre optic 1,31/1,55 µm WWDM Devices for category C - Controlled environment CD IEC Ed.1.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Terminated Cable Assemblies - Part 121-2: Performance standard for simplex and duplex cords with singlemode fibre and cylindrical ferrule connectors for Category C - controlled environment CD IEC Ed. 1.0 Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Terminated Cable Assemblies Part 121-3: Performance standard for simplex and duplex cords with singlemode fibre and cylindrical ferrule connectors for Category U - uncontrolled environment CD IEC Ed.1.0 CD IEC Ed. 1.0 CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 BSI GEL 86/3: SUB-COMMITTEE: SYSTEMS Fibre optic interconnecting devices and passive components - Fibre optic connector interfaces - Part 20-11: Interface standard for LC connectors with protective housings related to IEC Fibre optic connector interfaces - Part 24: Type SC-RJ connector family Fibre optic connector interfaces - Part 24-11: Interface standard for SC-RJ connectors with protective housings related to IEC/PAS Fibre optic connector interfaces - Part 24-21: Interface standard for SC-RJ connectors with protective housings related to IEC Last meeting: 7 th March M. Gilmore did not attend due to travel conflicts. Next meeting: tba - M. Gilmore to attend. New optical fibre system level specifications continue to be produced at IEC level and are logged on the FIA Standards Forum web-page as appropriate. CDV IEC Ed. 2.0 CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 CDV IEC Ed. 2.0 CDV IEC Ed. 1.0 Fibre optic active components and devices - Package and interface standards - Part 11: 14-pin active device modules Fibre optic active components and devices - Package and interface standards - Part 15: Discrete vertical cavity surface emitting laser packages Fibre optic active components and devices - Performance standard - Part 2: 850 nm discrete vertical cavity surface emitting laser devices Fibre optic active components and devices - Performance standards - Part 5: ATM- PON transceivers with LD driver and CDR ICs Optical amplifiers - Part 6-1: Interfaces - Command set

12 BSI TCT7 Last meeting: 5 th December M. Gilmore to chaired, L. Funnell did not attend. Next meeting: 4 th June M. Gilmore to chair, L. Funnell to attend. BSI TCT7/-/1 Last meeting: 8 th January M. Gilmore chaired. Next meeting: 25 th June M. Gilmore to chair. BSI TCT7/-/2 Last meeting: 13 th November M. Gilmore chaired joint meeting with TCT7/-/1. BSI TCT7/-/3 Last meeting: 27 th February M. Gilmore chaired. Next meeting: 29 th April M. Gilmore to chair. Work is underway on BS 8492: Telecommunication equipment and telecommunications cabling - A Code of Practice for fire performance, prevention and protection. Experts are ready to revise both BS 6701 and BIP0007 when EN Ed.2 and EN Ed.2 are ready for publication. European CLC TC215 Next meeting: 9 th April 2008, Brussels, Belgium - M. Gilmore to attend. CLC TC215 WG1 Last meeting: 28 th /29 th January 2008, Darmstadt, Germany - M. Gilmore chaired. Next meeting: 7 th /8th April 2008, Brussels, Belgium - M. Gilmore to chair. CLC TC215 WG2 Last meeting: 30 th /31 st January 2008, Darmstadt, Germany - M. Gilmore attended as Secretary. Next meeting: 10 th /11 th April 2008, Brussels, Belgium - M. Gilmore to act as Secretary. CLC SC64B WG218 Last meeting: 26 th /27 th February 2008, Berlin - M. Gilmore could not attend due to travel conflicts. Next meeting: 10 th /11 th December 2008, Barcelona - M. Gilmore attend. ETSI ATTM (ACCESS, TERMINALS, WG AT2 Last meeting: 7 th February 2008, Turin, Italy - M. Gilmore could not attend due to travel conflicts. Next meetings: 22 nd -24 th April 2008, Location TBA - M. Gilmore to attend. International ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 Last meeting: 7 th September 2007, Jeju Island, Korea. Next meeting: 24 th October 2008, France - S. Reeves to attend for FIA. ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 Last meeting: 18 th /22 nd February 2008, Spain - M. Gilmore attended. Next meeting: 20 th /23 nd October 2008, France - M. Gilmore to attend. Key OF issues in February were: New optical fibre types: see Newsletter 87 and latest articles in Annex A. Agreement of luanch conditions for PDAM of

13 ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 CITG Last meeting: 19th/21st February 2008, Spain - M. Gilmore chaired. Next meetings: 6 th /8 th May 2008, Philadelphia, USA - M. Gilmore to chair. Mike Gilmore

14 Annex A: Articles for Networking+

15 Class E A and F A cabling IS APPROVED BUT IS IT A FALSE DAWN? by Mike Gilmore, Technical Director of the FIA for Networking+ (February 2008) February 2008 heralds the ratification of two important advances in the standardisation of generic cabling. The United States anticipates the publication of ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2 Addendum 10 (also known as B.2-10). This contains Augmented Category 6 specifications for cables, connecting hardware and installed cabling. TIA/EIA-TSB155 showed how existing balanced cabling could be characterised/assessed to determine its ability to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet, whereas B.2-10 defines component and cabling performance that guarantees that support. Internationally, the national bodies of ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 have approved Amendment 1 to ISO/IEC Ed.2 which contains channel specifications for Class E A and F A. Class F A channels go way beyond the existing Class F channels - specified for performance up to 1000 MHz. Class E A channels are essentially equivalent to Augmented Category 6 channels. However, they do differ in one specific characteristic. This renders the ISO/IEC specification more onerous and the guarantor of better performance. Unfortunately, this is confused by the fact that as yet ISO/IEC are unhappy to ratify the specification of both the components required to produce Class E A and F A channels i.e. Class 6 A and 7 A components and the installed permanent links. This will be addressed with the publication of Amendment 2 to ISO/IEC Ed.2 which is hoped to be completed early next year. So, what does the customer who wishes to specify one of these high performance cabling systems today actually write in his tender? The most stringent demand for 500 MHz cabling would be to require components and installed links to at least meet Augmented Category 6 requirements but with a suppliers guarantee that resulting channels (using the correct cords) will meet Class E A. Of course. Central European countries would scoff at this and say one should simply specify Class F, specified up to 600 MHz, a superset of Class E A, standardised since But what will Classes E A, F and F A be used for and do we need them? All three will support 10GBASE-T, so if you want 10 Gigabit Ethernet to the desk or in your data centre then you may take your pick. But beyond 10GBASE-T the situation is less clear. Class F A certainly delivers substantially better performance than either E A or F - but is it necessary? There are some that suggest that broadcast applications are the target audience for such cabling but others see the long-term solution for the delivery of broadcast services to be implemented using existing applications such as 1000BASE-T (supported over Class D channels). In the world of LAN strategies, IEEE are already working on 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet standards which are not expected to be implemented at useable lengths over any type of balanced cabling. It is difficult at this stage to see the killer app that justifies the cost, installation complexity together with the cabling volumes and weights (as most of these cables are of much larger than their predecessors) of these high-end products. Many large corporate users are opting for Class E A cabling (or at least Augmented Category 6) using the principle of you never get fired for buying better than you currently need. However, there are many others who have shunned anything beyond Class D. This latter group feel justified since Class E never delivered the above-mentioned killer app and that 10 Gb/s Ethernet is better delivered using optical fibre. On the basis of current application development it will be at least five years before we find out who was right - and five years is along time in cabling. Further information is available via the FIA web-site at or directly via the TIA-B section at Enquiries can be ed to jane@fiasec.demon.co.uk.or, alternatively, you can contact the FIA Secretariat in

16 NEW CABLED OPTICAL FIBRE CATEGORIES - PART I by Mike Gilmore, Technical Director of the FIA for Networking+ (March 2008) At their February meeting in Barcelona, ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 proposed the establishment of two new optical fibre types or Categories - one multimode and one singlemode. In terms of standardisation, it is unlikely that changes to the list of OM s and OS s will take place before However, it is likely that marketing literature will contain the new designations quite soon and it may be useful to provide advance information for specifiers and installers alike. The multimode variant, currently termed OM4, will provide twice the laser/vcsel bandwidth of OM3 and is targeted to provide greater useable distance and/or lower system implementation costs for the next generation 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet solutions that are currently in development. The FIA article in next months Networking+ will cover this is detail. The new OS, which currently has no designation, provides performance levels somewhere between those of OS1 and OS2 - and is explained below. Optical Fibre Cables : Indoor cables Published cable standards containing OM1, OM2, OM3 and OS1 products IEC :2005 (and BS EN :2005) Detailed specification for simplex and duplex cables for use in premises cabling IEC :2006 (and BS EN :2006) Detailed specification for multi-fibre optical distribution cables for use in premises cabling IEC :2006 (and BS EN :2006) Detailed specification for optical fibre ribbon cables for use in premises cabling Optical Fibre Cables : Outdoor cables IEC :2006 (and BS EN :2006) Detailed specification for duct and directly buried optical telecommunication cables for use in premises cabling IEC :2006 (and BS EN :2006) Detailed specification for optical self-supporting aerial telecommunication cables for use in premises cabling New editions, currently under development, also containing OS2 products Optical Fibre Cables : Outdoor cables IEC Detailed specification for duct and directly buried optical telecommunication cables for use in premises cabling IEC Detailed specification for optical self-supporting aerial telecommunication cables for use in premises cabling The discussions in Barcelona highlighted a number of issues regarding the meaning of the OM and OS terminology. One of most confused areas surrounding the development of new OF types or Categories related to their meaning. Even though they call the OM/OS scheme OF types, the international generic cabling standards make it clear that the designations OM1, OM2, OM3, OS1 and OS2 relate to cable transmission performance. The BS EN series makes it even clearer by describing the OM/OS scheme as optical fibre cable Categories. Both the IEC and EN committees have strengthened this relationship in the production of their cable standards as shown in the inset. It can be seen that OS2 is included only in the new outdoor series standards. This is because OS2 was born in the industrial premises standard, ISO/IEC 24702, to support 5 km and 10 km channels - which are by definition outdoor. More importantly, the low attenuation values of OS2 are only realistic in loose-tube cables in which the original optical fibre performance is almost unaltered by the cabling process (the same could be said of blown fibre ). The new singlemode variant reflects the need for an improved indoor singlemode optical fibre cable that is compatible with the OS2 product. Why is this needed? Firstly, OS1 defines a very old specification - the original performance values came from ISO/IEC 11801:1995 and required the use of an optical fibre compliant with ITU-T G.652a or G.652b (IEC Type B1.1). The designation OS1 was introduced in 2002 but the performance requirements did not change - but OS1 allowed the use of singlemode optical fibre types meeting G.652c or G.652d (IEC Type B1.3). Secondly, by comparison, OS2 introduced in 2006, requires the optical fibre to be compliant with ITU-T G.652c or G.652d only. ITU-T G652c/d optical fibres are low water-peak, suitable for coarse wavelength division multiplexed operation, and specified for transmission at 1310, 1383 and 1550 nm. ITU-T G652a/b optical fibres are not specified at 1383 nm. As a result, the performance of OS1 cables is not automatically compatible with OS2 cables - the jointing of an OS1 indoor cable to an OS2 outdoor cable would result in an unspecified performance of the whole channel at 1383 nm. Therefore a new specification is required for indoor cables that use ITU-T G.652c/d optical fibres. As indoor cables tend to be of a buffered, tight construction, the attenuation performance of OS2 is unlikely to be maintained - hence the

17 new OS designation. It is repeating that the new designation not agreed - it may be that the new designation replaces OS1 and therefore becomes OS1:2009 for example. Further information is available via the FIA web-site at Enquiries can be ed to jane@fiasec.demon.co.uk.or, alternatively, you can contact the FIA Secretariat in

18 NEW CABLED OPTICAL FIBRE CATEGORIES - PART II by Mike Gilmore, Technical Director of the FIA for Networking+ (April 2008) At their February meeting in Barcelona, ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 proposed the establishment of two new optical fibre types or Categories - one multimode and one singlemode. In terms of standardisation, it is unlikely that changes to the list of OM s and OS s will take place before However, it is likely that marketing literature will contain the new designations quite soon and it may be useful to provide advance information for specifiers and installers alike. The new OS, which currently has no designation, provides performance levels somewhere between those of OS1 and OS2 - and was introduced in last months FIA column in Networking+. The multimode variant, currently termed OM4, will provide twice the laser/vcsel bandwidth of OM3 and is targeted to provide greater useable distance and/or lower system implementation costs for the next generation 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet solutions that are currently in development. While there is clear logic for a new OS designation, as discussed last month, the case for a new OM is more to do with state-of-the-art a la Category 6 A etc. It is recognised that while OM3, introduced in 2002, represented a significant development in terms of bandwidth of multimode optical fibre, the performance levels attained by premium products today are significantly in excess of that milestone. Manufacturers have long since been describing their products as OM3+, enhanced OM3 or equivalent. Of course there is no basis for comparison for their individual claims and OM4 would provide a benchmark for such products. That in itself does not always justify a new Category - although it sometimes seems to be enough in the balanced cabling arena. It is also considered important by the cabling standards bodies to offer that performance uplift to an application that can then demonstrate its benefits. This is what happened for OM3 cabled optical fibre performance when IEEE used it as their 300 metre mapping of 10GBASE-SR. In line with that practice, the further improved bandwidth performance designation OM4 has been offered to both IEEE and Fibre Channel. Unfortunately, the questions raised by this offer begin to grow in number as the detail of the offer is analysed. It is generally true that that increased bandwidth would offer greater distances of support for current networks - but that will probably not be of interest to the applications committees who rarely if ever re-visit already published standards (for example we have no standards-based support for 1000BASE-SX over OM3). The main hope is that the new performance specification may be of interest to new applications, currently in development, such as 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet. The benefits may be either that the distance of support over multimode optical fibre may be increased or that the number of parallel optical fibres required (currently four in each direction for the 40 Gb/s application) may be reduced. However, there are many that cast doubt on these hopes, intimating that the equipment providers objective is to reduce the cost of the VCSEL/laser sources, loosening performance tolerances, which may negate any benefit obtained for the higher bandwidth optical fibre cables. Category OM1 OM2 OM3 OM4 Maximum cable attenuation (db/km) 850 nm 1300 nm Minimum modal bandwidth (MHz.km) Over-filled launch Laser launch 850 nm 1300 nm 850 nm Not specified Not specified Nevertheless, history has proved that once a new Category of anything is discussed, even at an elementary level, it will become a reality in due course. The current proposals are shown in the Table above (alongside all the other OM specifications). It has at least been agreed that the new specification products have to be backwards compatible with the existing OMs only the laser launch bandwidth is different - although there may be many twists and turns ahead. Further information is available via an White Paper on the FIA web-site ( Enquiries can be e- mailed to jane@fiasec.demon.co.uk.or, alternatively, you can contact the FIA Secretariat in

19 Annex B: TIA-B

20 Document Source: Mike Gilmore, FIA Date: 15 th February 2008 SUBJECT: MINUTES OF TIA-B DIRECTORS MEETING 13 TH FEBRUARY 2008 LOCATION: ROOM 407 (BOULTON), INSTITUTE OF DIRECTORS, 116 PALL MALL, LONDON, SW1Y 5ED Attendees: TIA-B Nominees FIA: ECA-ITEC: CMA: Mike Gilmore, Technical Director David Stefanowicz: Technical Manager Glenn Powell, Chief Executive Mike Daly: TIA-B Forum leader Others: Andrew Stevens Managing Director CNET Training UK Director of BICSI (attendance related to the BICSI topic detailed below) Agenda The agenda below had been circulated by Mike Gilmore (MG/MG/L5230) and the meeting generally followed the order shown. Time Item Responsible 2.00pm Opening remarks MG, GP, DS 2.15pm The role of the TIA-B re- qualifications MG, DS Update on the internationalisation of BICSI Andrew Stevens TIA-B proposals for national Annex to BICSI qualifications to address knowledge of UK-specific requirements of standards and regulations All - Preparation of Annex - Assessment of competence 3.00pm Other qualification issues All 3.30pm Board members only MG, GP, DS - Any other business - Date of next meeting Details of the meeting Opening Remarks Glenn Powell explained the relationship of CMA within BCS (as the Communications Management Forum within BCS not to be confused with the IT Forum). The Forum Panels within CMA operate as the relevant Forum within BCS. Glenn recalled the success of the previous Networking Forum headed by Barry Kerswell and then introduced Mike Daly as the leader of the CMA Infrastructure Forum. Mike Daly conformed that he would manage the CMA Infrastructure Forum and that he would focus on ensuring that CMA members had appropriate guidance in the development and implementation of contracts at the infrastructure level. One of the aspects of that activity would be to provide input to and review from the TIA-B. Hosted by

21 Glenn Powell and Mike Daly confirmed that the initial activity for the C<MA was to identify those CMA members who had an interest in telecommunications infrastructure and from that group to create a Forum Panel. This should as a matter of course include Alan Bullen who had been Director of the CITA and had joined CMA to attempt to provide continuity for the ex-cita members in the area of telecommunications infrastructure. Mike Gilmore and David Stefanowicz welcomed the decision and looked forward to fruitful relationship with CMA. The role of the TIA-B re- qualifications It was stated by all the TIA-B directors that not was not the intention of the TIA-B to create qualification or qualification systems. However, the FIAS and ECA-ITEC were keen to recognise qualifications where they were deemed relevant. Mike Gilmore explained that the FIA recognised a wide range of existing qualifications within its Qualifications Scheme these ranged from nationally recognised qualification such as C & G through to manufacturer-specific courses. However, the latter were only recognised as part of CPD. An FIA White Paper concerning BICSI qualification placed the BICSI qualifications (specifically the RCDD) in the category of recognised CPD since it was felt there was a gap between what the RCDD qualification provided and the requirements of the base UK and European standards in relation to the installation practice. The FIA hoped that the TIA-B could provide a vehicle for the closing of this gap by the development by BICSI of a national-specific element to their qualification - with which the TIA-B would be keen to assist. This could even act as a template for the BICSI in other countries. Update on the internationalisation of BICSI Andrew Stevens introduced BICSI and recounted the work of Steven Banks (Nightlake) in the area of internationalisation of the BICSI qualifications. TIA-B proposals for national Annex to BICSI qualifications to address knowledge of UK-specific requirements of standards and regulations Mike Gilmore commented that the process of internationalisation was different to that of nationalisation the target of the TIA-B. Andrew Stevens suggested that the TIA-B establish a project team in order to review current and planned RTCDD documentation with a view to submitting comments as part of the Next Generation qualifications. This was agreed to be a useful starting point and that Mike Gilmore would contact Andrew Stevens off-line to determine the exact way forward prior to involving the wider membership of the TIA-B hosts. At this point Andrew Stevens left the meeting in order to allow the remaining business of the TIA-B hosts to be completed. Any other business Item 1: Mike Gilmore advised all that the web-site was receiving hits and that all hosts needs to be happy with the content of their pages. Item 2: Telecoms 08 (24 th /25 th September): Mike Gilmore pointed that the Organisers Plan for the show contains a "Seminar Hall". It was suggested that the TIA-B could run the seminar session for the show (free-of-charge) as part of its annual roll-out of technical presentations for This could therefore be a win-win situation both for the TIA-B and the Telecoms show itself. In an ideal world the TIA-B could obtain a free-stand in return. Initial enquiries had not been favourable to the free stand issue but Mike Gilmore would pursue the issue via Rob Shepherd at NCN (a sponsor of the show). Item 3: Mike Gilmore to re-circulate existing TIA-B sanctioned projects to Mike Daly now that CMA were formally onboard. Date of next meeting No dates were set but it was agreed that regular meetings should be held. Mike Gilmore was asked to act as TIA-B Secretary in order to ensure that progress was maintained across TIA-B and related host activities. The meeting closed at 4.00pm Hosted by