Testing New Cable Tester in 2017

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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017-Mark Mullins
www.flukenetworks.com 2006-2017 Fluke
Corporation
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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017
It's that time of year again when we take a look
at what we predict to be next year's biggest
trends in testing. Obviously the Internet of
Things (IoT) will continue to be a major driver
in all things network cabling--from the LAN where
we will see more devices than ever residing on
copper twisted-pair network cabling, to the data
center where demand for high speed fiber links
continues to expand as companies are faced with
the need to access, transmit and store more data
than ever before. But what do these changes mean
from a network cabling and testing standpoint?
Let's take a closer look.
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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017
More Power, New Apps in the LAN
A key aspect of the growing number of devices
connected to the LAN is the ability to power
those devices with evolving PoE technology. With
IEEE 802.3bt PoE standards expected to be
ratified next year, we will soon be looking at
Type 3 PoW at 60W and Type 4 PoE at 90W delivered
over all four pairs. While Cisco's UPOE already
delivers 60W, next year's ratified PoE standards
will open up the door for more PoE-enabled
devices than ever before. That combined with
power over HDBASE-T (covered in this earlier
blog) that delivers up to 100W of DC power in
conjunction with video signals paves the way for
PoE LED lighting, LED TVs, digital signage and
more.
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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017
More Power, New Apps in the LAN
At the same time, many enterprise businesses
will strive to make the most of their installed
base to support newer technologies. Approved in
September of this year, the new IEEE 802.3bz
standard for 2.5/5GBASE-T is targeted for
operation over Category 5e and 6 cable, which
still accounts for more than 80 of the installed
base. Primarily targeted to support the latest
802.11ac Wi-Fi applications, these new standards
will pave the way next year for more
2.5g/5GBASE-T products and adoption. From a
testing standpoint, these trends drive the need
for both DC loop resistance and DC resistance
unbalance testing to ensure proper Ethernet
transmission amidst four-pair Type 3 and Type 4
PoE--especially for gigabit Ethernet and beyond.
And for those wanting to deploy the latest
802.11ac Wi-Fi over their installed base of
Category 5 and 6, there will be the need for
testing to the new 2.5/5GBASE-T standard in
existing facilities since not all Category 5e and
6 cables will necessarily support these
speeds. Thankfully the DSX-5000
CableAnalyzer (with the latest firmware) is ready
make all these tests.
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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017
Some New Names in the Data Center
To support the need to access, transmit and
store more information than ever before, many
enterprise data centers are turning to cloud and
colocation facilities with the capacity and
services to help them expand with reduced capital
expenditure, while others are upgrading their own
fiber links. Regardless of the data center type,
both copper and fiber technology are advancing to
support the need. With TIA approving the
ANSI/TIA-568-C.2-1 standard for Category 8
cabling systems, you can be guaranteed that 2017
will bring the availability of Category 8
solutions for use in shorter switch-to-server
data center connections of 30 meters or less.
When those product hit the market, look for Fluke
Network to announce support for these new
standards and a way to upgrade your existing
DSX-5000 to support them.
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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017
Some New Names in the Data Center
And fiber too will see some changes. Wide band
multimode fiber (WBMMF), now referred to as OM5,
will feature bandwidth characteristics at the 953
nm wavelength to support wavelength division
multiplexing, which open the door for running 100
Gig over a duplex fiber connection and future 400
Gig applications over the current 8-fiber MPO
interface. The good news is that testing of new
OM5 fiber (when available) won't be complicated.
It has all the same specifications as previous
multimode fiber with the exception of attenuation
parameters specified for the 953 nm wavelength.
And if you're testing at both the 850 nm and 1300
nm wavelength per the preferred method, you can
continue to do so for OM5.
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Testing New Cable Tester in 2017
Testers Keeping Score
So while we are confident that we've got testing
covered for what's coming in 2017, the testers
themselves are geared up to offer all the
benefits the world is starting to experience with
IoT and cloud computing. As more Fluke Network's
Versiv cabling tester users become familiar and
comfortable with LinkWare Live (nearly three
million results uploaded so far), 2017 will see
an upsurge of test results being uploaded from
any location rather than driving results back to
the office. This will mean overall improved team
productivity and rapid troubleshooting as results
can be shared amongst all the right people --
engineers, installers, project managers and
consultants -- from any place at any time and on
any device. And with remote setup by those most
familiar with the project and asset tracking to
see the geographical location of the testers,
accuracy is improved and time is saved--something
that has always been, and will remain, a trend.
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