Networks Europe May-Jun 2017 | Page 5

The broadband debate... May/June 2017 NETWORKS EUROPE 05 Building for tomorrow... Data centres are at a pivotal point in their history as data rates are set to increase drastically. We’ve heard it all before, but this will ultimately have a knock on effect on everyone involved in the industry. From fundamental elements such as cabling Not a month goes by without someone finding a new to way send vast amounts of data down single fibre, but how will data to centre location; everything will be a affected. ever-present high-speed broadband make a difference to our Internet experience? We could be interconnected with experts from As we look to these developments training and skills development becomes all conceivable professions, accessing scientific and everyday equipment all over the globe, reaching communities of all shapes increasingly Not least to broadband ensure we have high levels of the appropriate and sizes, using all sorts of new applications and services — all in important. real time. High-speed can enable our projects to industry to way help to it move one a thing also have to be adopted across both our business and social lives, skills and in the the only effective deliver forwards. this future But is with fibre we optic-based consider is the IT skills problem facing the UK, which was uncovered by recent infrastructure.Tech investment is hitting record highs in the UK and the essential foundation of this booming growth is access to research by Brocade and is something we’ll be covering in this issue alongside broadband. In an ideal world the whole of the United Kingdom’s telecoms network would be based off a pure fibre optic network, training and development itself. but in reality it makes more economic sense to upgrade what already exists. Convincing stakeholders that fibre is a necessary investment is yet another obstacle. There is a clear role James here for providers to help demonstrate the business case for fibre. The good Abbott optic news is that Fibre all of the major operators are bringing fibre optic cables ever Europe closer to homes, but we need to focus on take-up of Editor – Networks cabling standards superfast broadband by businesses, not just consumers. In ten or twenty years we might be able to replace the last few metres of copper and coax with a true fibre optic connection, but time will tell. The magazine for network and data centre professionals TRAINING & SKILLS SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING HD & EDGE Providing the skills needed by professionals How SDN has made leaps and bounds A flexible upgrade path as data demands grow Enjoy the issue. Nick Wells Editor – Netcomms Europe INTELLIGENT R&MinteliPhy – Automated Infrastructure Management by R&M Manually managed infrastructure data has a 10% error rate*, 20-40% of ports in a network are forgotten over time**. The automated R&MinteliPhy solution continuously monitors each connection in one or more data centres or local networks, a (remote) central server records cabling status. The AIM-based solution has functions for management, analysis as well as planning cabling and network cabinets. R&MinteliPhy is easy to retrofit and can halve network monitoring and management costs. When new devices are integrated or changes made updates are automatically generated. Unused patch panels and ports in active equipment are instantly detected. Data can be traced in real time with a PC or smartphone, faulty connections are located in seconds. More info: [email protected] Convincing cabling solutions * Source: Watson & Fulton ** Source: Frost & Sullivan www.netcommseurope.com www.networkseuropemagazine.com NETCOMMS europe Volume V Issue 3 2015