COMMENT
Standardisation provides a new foundation The News from Geneva By Mike Gilmore, Technical Director, Fibreoptic Industry Association
Introduction The work of the international cabling standards body, ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3, is frequently trumpeted with some form of fanfare following a declaration of a new balanced or optical fibre cabling Class or cabling component Category. Not so this time.
Mike Gilmore reports on the ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 meeting, at which major decisions have been taken for the future of cabling.
Good Progress The 54th Meeting in Geneva in September did make good progress towards the characterisation of balanced cabling for 40 Gb/s solutions in support of IEEE project NGBASE-T. However, much technical work remains to be done. We do not yet know the maximum channel lengths (which will inevitably be much less than 100m) the maximum frequency of the cable, connecting hardware and installed cabling specifications or the viable cabling configuration. An even bigger task will be to decide a naming convention for the components and the installed cabling. The greatest challenge of all will be to determine how the components and installed cabling links and channels integrate with the other generic cabling concepts. A lot of water will have to flow under quite a few bridges before we have clarity in this area.
The Big News The big news was a decision to begin the standardisation of automated infrastructure management systems, enabling them to move beyond cabling and into mainstream building infrastructure systems. As always, a little historical context is useful. In 2009, BS EN 50174-1 introduced Classes of administration to define minimum requirements of identifiers, labelling and the record-keeping of installed telecommunications cabling. In the amendment of that standard in 2011,
these requirements were modified to harmonise with the forthcoming ISO/ IEC 14763-2. In these standards, an ‘Enhanced’ administration system option exists to use ‘automated record- keeping’ for installed cabling, cord connections and service delivery. In ISO/IEC 14763-2, these
automated systems are described in outline terms as shown in the inset. The inclusion of the automated option in the two standards opened the door for the intelligent patching systems offered by many cabling vendors, giving them a foothold in the standardisation system by allowing a specifier to select such a system in compliance with British, European and international standards. At the September meeting of ISO/
IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3, two further significant additional standardisation activities were agreed. The first and simplest task is to amend ISO/IEC 14763-2 by the addition of an Annex which will define the minimum, or core, requirements for automated infrastructure management (AIM) systems. The objective of the Annex is to allow specifiers to assess if and how, the different vendors’ offerings deliver the core functions. It will also enable them to review and decide upon the desirability of any additional, optional, functions which they may be offered. This Annex will be developed during 2013 and should result in publication of an amendment (ISO/IEC 14763-2 A1) in early 2014. It is to be expected that BS EN 50174-1 will feature a similar amendment within the same timescale.
Building Automation As useful as the contents of the amendment may be, they are only a curtain-raiser for a more significant activity. It has been decided to seek approval for the development of a standard targeted at a wider audience than the cabling industry. The proposed
standard will explain how AIM solutions can contribute to building automation and more general business information systems. The benefits include the more obvious features of asset tracking and management, as well as the generation of event notifications and alerts that assist with certain aspects of corporate compliance which apply in some countries. It will go on to define the requirements for the discovery of attached equipment, process management and infrastructure security management. Perhaps most significantly, the
standardisation activity will consider the opportunity to agree on a common data model for data exchange. This should not be confused with making all the AIM systems of different vendors fully interoperable, but it does offer standardised communication with external systems, allowing ‘apps’ to be developed by third parties, which can exploit interfaces to conformant AIM systems and offer those conformant AIM systems the opportunity to widen their areas of applicability. This represents a huge step forward and will move AIM into the mainstream alongside other building management systems. The work is expected to have substantial vendor support and investment. This level of support was indicated by the attendance at the ad-hoc group meeting that debated the topic in Geneva. Virtually all of the 60- ish delegates to ISO/IEC JTC1 SC25 WG3 were present covering both copper and optical fibre cabling interests. Equally importantly, it will change the focus of procurement decisions regarding AIM, moving the decision from cabling and IT infrastructures, which some say has restricted the penetration of AIM solutions in the industry, and on to those concerned with building and business operations.
Definition of automated record keeping administration systems in ISO/IEC 14763-2: Cable management software with automation should have the capability of documenting the infrastructure elements as described in this standard. The system should be capable of automatically monitoring patch connections between crossconnects with automated management, and of generating alerts and updating documentation when any of these patch connections are changed. Such systems may have additional functions including the discovery and documentation of the configuration of transmission and terminal equipment.
12 NETCOMMS europe Volume III Issue 1 2012
www.netcommseurope.com
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