Warning: Several doses of unabashed self-promotion follow for the remainder of this page. Read at your own risk.
The editorial staff of this magazine has worked hard over the past several months putting together the program for an event that will run from September 22 through 24 this year. Called the Cabling Systems Conference and Exhibition, the event will be held at the Anaheim (CA) Convention Center.
The lineup of presenters will be impressive; it will include TIA TR-42 Committee chair Bob Jensen, vice president and GM of Genesis Cable Systems John Pryma, and our own monthly columnist Donna Ballast.
While I'm proud to have these and other industry leaders among the conference's faculty, I'm even more optimistic that you will find the content of conference presentations to be meaningful and helpful in your professional endeavors. Among the topics being covered are updates from standards and codes groups, including the TIA, IEEE, and NFPA; infrastructure and component issues regarding Voice over IP (VoIP) and Power over Ethernet; and residential cabling systems.
The conference is being structured with separate tracks for cabling-system contractors and end users. The track for contractors will cover topics such as line protection, firestopping techniques, installing audio paging systems, and high-speed fiber design/install approaches. Meanwhile, end users will see presentations on real-life cable-plant management, alternative system designs that can yield long-term cost savings, and VoIP. A plenary session will include the standards/codes updates that apply to both types of professionals.
Another series of sessions planned for the Cabling Systems Conference will cover residential cabling. It will be open to all conference attendees, and cabling contractors may find it particularly useful. The presentations will cover residential standards and media choices, as well as the products and technologies used in residential systems, and strategies for bidding on residential projects.
The full conference schedule is listed on our Web site, www.cable-install.com.
Speaking of the CI&M Web site, it gives me an excuse for even more blatant self-promotion.
Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine is published by the Advanced Technology Division (ATD) of PennWell, which publishes a couple dozen high-technology magazines in such fields as semiconductor manufacturing, information storage, fiber optics, and optoelectronics. For the past three years, the division has recognized its most outstanding editorial achievements in these high-tech publications with awards that we call the Eddys (short for "editorial" and a rip-off of the Emmys).
This year, Cabling Installation & Maintenance's senior associate editor Brian Milligan won the division's award for his work on the magazine's Web site and e-mail newsletter. Brian writes the vast majority of the news that is posted on our site, and from that news he compiles Cabling News, the e-newsletter that is distributed every two weeks.
If you haven't checked out our site, I encourage you to do so. Its timely news coverage complements the more in-depth and analytical technical information that is printed in our monthly magazine. And if you don't subscribe to Cabling News but wish to, you can do that (how else?) through our Web site as well.
One thing about Brian: he knows a good news story when he finds it. He was a veteran of many years in the newspaper business before he entered the trade-publishing business, and his nose for news is a great asset to us here at the magazine. If you have what you believe is a good news story that the industry should know about, get in touch with Brian.
And if you want more information on the conference coming up this fall, please visit our Web site or contact me directly. I would enjoy the opportunity to speak to you in detail.
Patrick McLaughlin
Chief Editor
[email protected]