During the 2019 Cabling Innovators Awards ceremony, the final set of awards presented, the Platinums, have been judged to be superb innovations, characterized by a groundbreaking approach to meeting a need, or establishing a new level of performance, efficiency, ease-of-use, and other beneficial qualities. Here the 2019 Cabling Innovators Platinum Award honorees.
AFL has built Bluetooth capability into its splicer accessories, driving down the cost and the time required to use four of the company’s splicers, as well as a cleaver and a thermal stripper. For example, a Bluetooth-enabled splicer continuously reads the number of cleaves that the Bluetooth-enabled cleaver has conducted, tracking blade wear and overall blade life—and the splicer informs the cleaver to rotate blades when appropriate. These and other communication capabilities among splicer, cleaver, and stripper devices save the customer time and money by reducing operator management, maximizing product life, and reducing damage and repair costs.
Digital Electricity Cables from Belden are an option to safely and reliably transmit power and data, at wattage levels and distances beyond those of standards-based Power over Ethernet. Digital electricity can carry up to 2000 Watts for up to 2000 meters. The cable’s smart circuit can detect when the flow of electricity escapes, and stops it immediately, thereby protecting against high current levels, ground fault, arc flash and touching hazards. The cables are available in copper or copper/fiber hybrid versions.
Cailabs’ AROONA-POL solution leverages the company’s AROONA technology to make existing multimode fibers pluggable to new singlemode fibers, thereby enabling existing multimode infrastructure to support passive optical LAN adoption. With singlemode fiber cabling expenses representing 30 to 50 percent of the cost to install a passive optical LAN, AROONA-POL can eliminate those costs and take down barriers to POL adoption.
CommScope’s IEC 63171-1 Copper LC-Style Connector concept will be a significant enabler of the Internet of Things. The small, easy-to-use connector delivers more reliable and consistent performance than hard-wired connections, eliminating field issues that interfere with critical functions and require manual remediation. The IEC 63171-1 connector provides a standardized method of connecting controllers, switches, and IoT devices into the network, and could become the universal, ubiquitous single-pair connector enabling single-pair IoT networks worldwide.
The installation of Dura-Line’s FuturePath Figure-8 Self-Support Aerial in Estes Park, Colorado allowed the local utility to avoid the strand-and-lash installation approach, yet still use existing poles to get fiber to communities and build pathways for future expansion. With only about 40 percent of the city’s poles accessible by truck, the installation of this pathway put seven pathways in place at once, up a seven-mile canyon, and saved the utility an estimated three-and-a-half million dollars in labor.
The Ferret WiFi Wireless Inspection Camera and Cable-Pulling Tool from Cable Ferret Inc. is a combination compact wireless inspection camera and cable-pulling tool. It has a built-in WiFi hotspot and adjusting LEDs, and was purpose-designed to provide fast up-close visual inspections in dark, confined spaces. Its 6 main functions are tailor-made for the cable installer; they are inspecting and locating cable, reaching and retrieving cable, and data capture and reporting.
Fluke Networks’ MicroScanner PoE Cable Verifier speeds the installation and troubleshooting of Power over Ethernet devices, including those supporting 802.3bt. It can verify and troubleshoot Ethernet cabling, displays the class of power available, and indicates whether or not sufficient power is available for the device in question. The cost-effective tester equips technicians with a complete toolset for PoE installation, including wiremap, toner, and distance-to-fault capability. When connected to a live switch port, the unit displays speed up to 10 Gbits/sec.
Panduit’s Power over Ethernet Extenders bring resolution to vexing challenges associated with PoE, including the estimate that as many as 10 million IP cameras need reach beyond 100 meters. Each extender connects up to 4 devices at a distance of up to 610 meters using standard 4-pair copper cable. Flexible enough to work with PoE and non-PoE switches, the PoE Extenders represent a significant financial benefit to its users who can avoid deploying a fiber-optic run, media converters, and additional power supply for long-reach applications.
Siemon’s Digital Lighting Partner Program is designed to help contractors leverage their IP infrastructure expertise to become a go-to expert in Power over Ethernet lighting. The program addresses PoE lighting design best practices, along with cable-media selection and remote power considerations. Participants in the Digtial Lighting Partner Program have access to training and educational resources, as well as Siemon’s intelligent-building and technical-services experts.
Congratulations to the Cabling Innovators Platinum Award honorees—and to all who participated in this year’s program.