Periodically from the CI&M online editorial desk, we amble over to Reddit to check out the social media site's sub-community devoted to sharing photos of information and communications technology (ICT) network cabling excellence (by any other name).
As is so often usual, the first images that hit the cabling connoisseur's eye here are ones depicting the very bread and butter of the ICT network cabling installer's trade.
For instance, what could be more fundamental than an Ethernet upgrade in a school district?
Such rhetorical questions usually beg no answer -- except in the case of the following magnificent "Velcro waterfall" at one of America's great universities.
If the post's description includes the term "comms rack," and there's several before-and-after photos of the deployment, that's your bread and butter as it's being prepared.
Extending the "foodie" metaphor, there can be, in the ICT cabling and connectivity trades, an appetite and a thirst for the work -- especially if long overdue.
This is also a place where cabling before-and-after photos can take on a crusading aspect.
And that's a well-founded comparison, considering how long these networks have been with us.
But getting back to basics: When somebody calls something "the most valuable tool" in this place, one sits up and takes notice.
You bet it's a cable comb, if you're talking about "must-have" tools for those starting out in the trade.
Speaking of cable combs, looks like they employed one here.
And that's no big surprise. It's simply what you do if you want to snap some pretty pictures later, from your bread and butter spot: wherever they keep the data racks.
And should you happen to work in the OSP arena, with your bread and butter taking the form of fiber and power infrastructure going to the top of a wireless tower -- in keeping with our sustenance metaphor, CI&M readers know that's just like an outdoor table at the same restaurant.
