Arlyn S. Powell, Jr.
Group Editorial Director
I suspect that few people in the modern, English-speaking world have not heard these words uttered by one or another of the wacky characters on the British television comedy series, Monty Python`s Flying Circus. The phrase seemed appropriate to me as an introduction to this, our special fifth-anniversary issue, for a couple of reasons.
One reason is that, in this issue, we occasionally abandon our usually serious tone to poke a little fun at ourselves and the cabling industry. We hope you, too, will have fun with these attempts.
A second reason is that this issue, more than others, is about people. It`s not about wacky or laughable sitcom characters, but instead it brings you the cabling contractors, cabling-plant managers, small businesspeople, engineers, and many others--just like you--who make up your day-to-day world.
When we were first planning this special issue, we thought we might profile for you the "top" people in the cabling industry--industry leaders, movers, and shakers, or whatever you want to call them. What we found as we did our background research, however, is that there is not a clearly defined top echelon of leaders yet in the cabling industry--no Andy Grove as there is in semiconductors, or Bill Gates as there is in software.
This is partly because the cabling industry is still in its infancy: It is growing rapidly, and it is jelling, but it is by no means a fully mature marketplace yet. No single figure or small group of figures has emerged to speak for the entire industry.
To my mind, this is a good thing. Instead of having just a few industry leaders, we have many. We make no attempt to rank or rate those whom we are offering you here, because in a very real sense they are your peers rather than your leaders. Each of you can play a leadership role in the cabling industry, and many of you already do. Those names, faces, and biographies in the pages that follow are just a small (but hopefully representative) sampling of all of you.
So, why don`t you sit back and enjoy our little birthday celebration. And now for something completely different....