INTELLIGENT CABLING
Cabling market outlook 2020:
Insights into developments in
public, data centre and LAN
R&M, the provider of cabling
systems for high-quality network
infrastructures, presents its market
outlook for 2020. Nabil Khalil,
Executive Vice President of R&M
Middle East, Turkey and Africa,
provides us with his insights.
ntil relatively recently, the public,
data centre and LAN cabling
segments existed side by side
with little overlap. However, as market
segments keep merging, this separation will
all but disappear. These are the trends that
we can look forward to.
U
LAN cabling trend #1: Convergence
Deployments such as cloud, Software-
as-a-Service, 5G, IoT and smart buildings
have changed the network landscape.
Integrated pools of virtualised resources are
increasingly shared across applications.
IP is becoming a common medium for
previously separate systems and structured
cabling will increasingly transport data along
with power, lighting, security and more.
As LANs merge with Building Automation,
a new kind of connectivity is emerging,
requiring high levels of standardisation,
availability and reliability.
An ‘All over IP’ approach facilitates
this, with building technology and building
management devices communicating over
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT
TECH CHANNELS
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Ethernet and IP. LAN provides a physical
layer, with Internet and cloud integrated in
the background.
Ethernet will be increasingly used
to network ever-increasing numbers of
devices, and Power over Ethernet (PoE) will
efficiently and inexpensively power more
end devices over data cables, enabling
advanced lighting and sensor applications.
LAN cabling trend #2: Single pair
Ethernet verses Field Bus
High density, connection speed and ease
of installation – prerequisites for network
flexibility and scalability – can be achieved
by replacing the traditional field bus with
Single Pair Ethernet.
Instead of introducing connectivity for
each application, uniform manufacturer-
independent connectivity can be used. This
simplifies installation and maintenance,
increases the number of possible
connection points and reduces material
and operation costs.
Smart, converged networks support
energy-saving technologies and applications,
such as intelligent management of building
space, resources and lighting. PoE can power
and address LEDs via individual IP addresses
throughout buildings. Infrastructure
companies can integrate more devices in
their systems, leveraging the benefits of a
unified network.
Nabil Khalil, Executive
Vice President of RM
Middle East Turkey
and Africa
Telecom networks trend #1:
Leveraging FTTx
Once rolled out, 5G should be able to
link 100 billion devices. Connecting 5G
base stations using radio links will no
longer suffice – antennas must be
integrated into fibre networks and
connected to edge data centres.
The required small cells, 5G macro
cells and antennas require considerable
bandwidth and low latency. Without
ubiquitous fibre, introducing 5G would
make little sense. Service providers are
combining FTTx and 5G rollouts to benefit
from a common infrastructure that
supports both platforms. In fact, according
to studies by the FTTH Council Europe,
investing in fibre means operators can get
5G practically ‘for free’.
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