January 17, 2007 -- The 2007 BICSI Winter Conference will be held January 22 - 25 in Orlando, Florida. General sessions for Tuesday, January 23 are as follows:
8:30 - 8:45 a.m. -- Conference Call to Order and Opening Remarks
8:45 - 9:30 a.m.
Keynote Presentation, by Jim Carroll
A globally recognized business advisor, consultant and international futurist, Business Week recently named Jim Carroll as one of four leading sources for insight on innovation and creativity. With over ten years in studying what makes companies creative, Jim Carroll has diverse and encompassing business experience. The author of over 30 books and 600 articles for a wide variety of national and international publications, Jim enthralls his audiences with personal stories and information relevant to the audience. His key message will provide insight into what the future will hold for your organization in a humorous, motivational and content-rich presentation that encourages you to grab onto the future -- rather than letting it grab you first!
9:30 - 10:15 a.m.
TI&M General Overview, by Dave Labuskes, RCDD/NTS/OSP Specialist, RTKL Associates, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, & Robert Faber, RCDD/NTS Specialist, The Siemon Company, Watertown, Connecticut
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
The Technical Information and Methods Committee is responsible for writing and updating the BICSI technical reference manuals and for the development of additional technical publications including translations. It also informs the RSSC of changes that will affect the RCDD and the Specialty exams. Year 2006 was a very busy year for the TI&M Committee and the BICSI publications staff. Many of the existing BICSI reference manuals were reviewed, edited and some published new editions in 2006. BICSI also published an audiovisual reference manual. TI&M Chair, Dave Labuskes and Vice-Chair, Bob Faber, will recap the 2006 activities and roll out the 2007 technical publications roadmap.
10:30 - 11:15 a.m.
Optical Fiber Field Testing of PC Connectors Utilizing an Interferometer, by Charles C. Lohrmann, RCDD/OSP Specialist, TPM, ITS Technician, Compass Telecommunications Consulting Corporation, Fort Worth, Texas
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
Ever wonder why optical fiber connectors fail for no apparent reason? The most probable cause is the physical connector and how the fiber is retained and polished in the connector body. Until recently, field testing of connector has been limited to using some type of magnifying device, normally a 50 to a 400 power microscope. In reality, what we see is a two dimensional view of a three dimensional object. This presentation concerns the three dimensional field testing of optical fiber connectors using interferometry. Presentation also includes a live demonstration of interferometer testing.
11:15 a.m. - noon
Convergence -- Will You Remain Viable? by Philip Lofgren, RCDD, Senior Associate, WB Engineers, Boston, Massachusetts
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
Nearly every business wants to operate in an atmosphere that promotes the most reliable and up-to-date technological advances. As BICSI members, ITS consultants, integrators, installation firms and manufacturers, we must not only keep abreast of changing technologies and capabilities, we should also be setting the standard for accommodating the most reliable and forward-thinking technologies into our designs and into our installations. ITS convergence is not a future concept; it is here. Technological advances are driving out old school territoriality issues between telephony, IT and facilities departments as educated ITS professionals are able to demonstrate that shared infrastructures need not compromise the operational objectives of their departmental functions. This session addresses what ITS professionals need to know in order to not only remain viable but to assume a leadership role in what seems destined to occur.
1:30 - 2:15 p.m.
Is Your Cabling Getting 'The Shaft'? by Robert Horne, RCDD/NTS Specialist, The Attain Group, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
(1 CEC – ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
Is there a better way to distribute low-voltage backbone cabling in a multi-storey building? Are you struggling with fire-stopping, especially retrofitting or managing existing fire-rated assemblies? If so, then maybe your cabling should be getting "the shaft". This 45-minute interactive presentation will look at innovative solutions to problems that designers, installers, and IT, cable plant and facilities managers encounter on a daily basis.
2:15 - 3 p.m.
HD TV Video -- The Emerging Frontier, by Earl Hennenhoeffer, Z-Band, Inc., Carlisle, Pennsylvania
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
With the advent of HDTV, the advantages of structured cabling are becoming more pronounced. Nevertheless, in order to take advantage of potential opportunities, one must understand the basics of RF video over coax and UTP, IP video and baseband video, and how they do or don't fit into the structured cabling world. Attend this General Session to learn about how HDTV and structure cabling merge to create new business opportunities.
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
First Mile Ethernet Fiber Access and 802.3 OAM, by Arie Goldberg, Omnitron Systems Technology, Inc., Irvine, California (1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
As Ethernet evolves from the Enterprise LAN to the Metro Ethernet Network, Fiber access and its associated Operation, Administration and Management (OAM) tools are evolving to support the demand for carrier-class network reliability and Service Level Agreement (SLA). This presentation provides an overview of Metro Ethernet Networks, reviews the different optical Ethernet fiber access methods and discusses the functionality, benefits and limitations of the IEEE 802.3ah OAM standard.