One of the current issues in terms of transmission is interconnection, today more than ever end users have the power to communicate where, when and how they want, so we present the panorama in terms of transmission.
by Santiago Jaramillo H.
According to Paulo César Mares, regional manager of Inalarm, the most recent thing that can be talked about today with respect to IP transmission (Internet Protocol, for its acronym in English) and the relationship with structured cabling is the capacity that today can be counted on through copper cables.
Also our guest argues that when a few years ago it was believed that what would come were Fiber Optic solutions to the desktop, copper has been revitalized and rejuvenated and today you can count on transmissions of up to ten Gigabit per second in copper and up to 40 -100 Gigabit in Fiber Optics. The dizzying pace of technological advances and transmission bandwidth still holds many developments that will surely surprise us again and, above all, today with the boom of tablets and the constant access to the cloud that every day will make the need for convergence increasingly clear and necessary.
"One of the topics that is in vogue is that of interconnection, today more than ever end users have the power to communicate where, when and how they want it. The amazing thing is that not only between people but now it is very feasible that an individual, from a mobile device can interact with systems previously as distant as: HVAC, burglary and assault alarms, access control, fire detection, CCTV, multimedia and lighting to name a few, all under an IP infrastructure using existing communications networks" says Mares, who at the same time believes that "the result of all this is reflected in substantial savings in operating costs, greater productivity of employees and better safety in buildings".
For its part, according to Andrés Macías, marketing manager of the company Anixter, the main developments in IP transmission systems are pointing to video, because other elements that are an active part in what refers to the security segment such as access control, intrusion or even fire do not generate an apparent problem for this type of transmission due to the low bandwidth they require. In the world of video, something very different happens.
"As well as compression formats, which have evolved a lot, the products are also having an accelerated development, especially in video quality. Already in transmission there are other options such as cabling (copper and fiber optics) and IP, the latter is understood as transmission via the Internet, and GSM, which may be the weakest due to the higher cost currently represented by its use, added to the fact that it still does not have enough bandwidth, so it is used in very specific projects," he says.
So now it is very easy to observe how multiple devices can be interconnected under the TCP/IP protocol with the use of Ethernet-enabled controllers can allow the users of a property to have more control.
All this thanks to the fact that multiple organizations and leading manufacturers of the technological industries are joining efforts to make it easier and more natural to interconnect their devices from a wide range of manufacturers in order to create a supra system easy to operate from the same common platform.
Likewise, the issue of energy optimization is leading to the development of intelligent facilities and solutions which are able to control not only the number of energized devices but even be able to determine some functions of on and off with respect to time to optimize energy, even some manufacturers of lighting systems will soon begin to join these infrastructures since the issue of energy optimization will make it priority is the inclusion of this type of technology.
Referring to the issue of which are the sectors that most use IP transmission and structured cabling and which are beginning to use them and which still do not show interest in implementing them, Mares highlights that "practically all sectors are using today the telecommunications infrastructure as never before seen, even today there are practically some sectors such as obviously the technological or financial where the business as such without the use of this type of infrastructure, and of course, that in a different way but also with an important degree, sectors such as the hotel industry are increasingly incorporating technological infrastructures as part of the same comfort that they are giving to their diners or guests".
Now, regarding what are the most common mistakes that are made in an installation and / or use of systems that use IP transmission and structured cabling, the marketing manager of Anixter affirms that one of the most common mistakes is the standardization of many of the processes according to the characteristics and installation site. Especially in terms of what is done in the transmission via cable vs. IP transmission.
This is complemented by the regional manager of Inalarm warning that although there are several mistakes that are made when carrying out installations, the most common are:
*Not following rules and standards: "For most people, rules, regulations, and standards may seem like a nightmare simply because even the simplest task may involve the installer having to read and understand many pages with written instructions that sometimes use language that the technician does not know, so knowing and applying industry best practices contained in the form of norms or standards implies per se an effort that many installers are simply not interested in making.
Either way, I believe that the days when customers accepted substandard installations are coming to an end, simply because the applications that will run through that facility will increasingly demand better performance."
*Do not ensure that what is installed will solve the initial need: "Unfortunately today most of the existing wiring and active equipment infrastructure in micro, small and medium enterprises was installed by personnel who despite having given their best effort to their client were not qualified to carry out that task, resulting in poor manpower and poor management in connectivity to name a few. This makes the overall network more difficult to operate and less reliable. Despite this, the magnitude of the error is not likely to be immediately apparent as the real problem of performance, scalability and security will be exposed until the poor network is required to comply with it.
Vendors of all kinds of solutions running under the data network often don't stop to ask themselves what is the current state of my customer's infrastructure? And they venture to sell equipment that probably will not work properly because the company did not have the right road where the information has to run. This causes the end user to complain to their integrator and / or manager and IT that no one has told him that before buying the IP cameras or the VoIP system he had to first adapt the data infrastructure. "
*Convergence: "The most recurrent mistake is to misunderstand the concept of Convergence, where because it is believed that there are technologies such as IP telephony, you can then install a single cable for 'everything'. And the concept of convergence is not precisely that; Convergence is to use the same type of infrastructure for my telecommunications needs in this case the Ethernet infrastructure where I can use it for data, voice, video, security, etc.; but that doesn't mean a single cable for everything."
