January 17, 2007 -- The 2007 BICSI Winter Conference will be held January 22 - 25 in Orlando, Florida. General sessions for Wednesday, January 24 are as follows:
8:30 - 9:15 a.m.
Wake-up Speaker: Joel Zeff
Joel Zeff creates energy. His spontaneous humor and vital messages have thrilled audiences for years. As a national speaker and humorist, Joel captivates audiences with a unique blend of hilarious improvisational comedy and essential ideas on work and life. Corporations and organizations nationwide seek him out to motivate and energize their employees on such topics as creativity, communication, teamwork, passion and fun.
A former newspaper journalist and public relations executive, Joel started his own consulting business in 1994. His business initially focused on helping technology and telecommunications companies with marketing, advertising and public relations. As he came in contact with so many corporate cultures, he noticed the glaring need for employees to have more fun and re-energize their creative spirit.
Since 1993, he has performed with Ad-Libs, one of the country's premier improvisational comedy troupes. Joel performs with Ad-Libs at the troupe's theater in Downtown Dallas and across the country for corporate events. As an improvisational actor, Joel studied for a short time at the famed Second City Conservatory in Chicago, Illinois.
9:15 - 10 a.m.
Ribbon Cabling in the LAN & Data Center, by Doug Coleman, Corning Cable Systems, Hickory, North Carolina
(1 CEC – NTS Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
Local area network (LAN) campus and building backbones as well as data center backbones are migrating to higher cabled fiber counts to meet system bandwidth needs. Ribbon cables are now being deployed to meet this need, as they provide the highest fiber density relative to cable diameter, maximize utilization of pathway and spaces and facilitate ease of termination. This presentation will discuss the utilization of ribbon cable in the LAN and data center with a focus on cable design, MPO field and factory array connectors and MPO connector polarity solutions.
10:15 -11 a.m.
Everything You Thought You Knew About Cooling Your Data Center Is Wrong, by Ian Seaton, Chatsworth Products, Inc., Georgetown, Texas
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
As heat densities continue to rise, more eager vendors jump in trying to exploit the situation and the proliferation of misinformation continues to pile up. This presentation will identify several items of current conventional wisdom, explain how those commonly held beliefs are not accurate, and replace them with sound principles based on scientific knowledge and empirical observation.
Noon - 1:30 p.m. - Conference Attendee Region Luncheons
1:30 - 2:15 p.m.
Information Transport Systems Design Standard for K-12 Educational Institutions, Terry Hochbein, RCDD/NTS Specialist, ATS&R., Minneapolis, Minnesota
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
2:15 - 3 p.m.
Providing IT Solutions for Education: The Role of an IT Architect in K-12 Education, by Edwin Floyd, CELT, Marlborough, Massachusetts
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
This presentation will describe the role of an IT architect in K-12 education and will describe what CELT has learned from over sixteen years of experience with numerous IT projects in large, urban schools. This holistic view of the IT architecture for education includes chapters on communications and networks as well as school facilities. The speaker will present the components of the IT Blueprint for Education and show how it can provide the foundation for a comprehensive enterprise view of a district's information technology successes and challenges, and can lead to a better understanding of how to work with schools and the opportunities.
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Network Health Testing, by Peter Schweiger, Agilent Technologies, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
(1 CEC - NTS Specialty, OSP Specialty, WD Specialty, ITS Installer 2 and ITS Technician)
As user applications such as voice, security, and video migrate to IP-based delivery, the Ethernet network is taking on a greater burden and even greater importance than it previously had in the enterprise. Certifying your installed cabling infrastructure is one thing, but knowing the higher layers of your network are prepared for these bandwidth-consuming applications provides greater confidence.
This presentation answers critical questions about diagnosing the well being of your Ethernet system. From practical hands-on matters such as how to conduct the tests that demonstrate your network's fitness, to problem isolation and VoIP quality measurement, this seminar provides a comprehensive view of network test, measurement, and troubleshooting. Other takeaways include knowing how to test your network resources the way users experience them, and testing to ensure you receive the service levels you have negotiated with your service provider.