Test & measurement
30 years at the forefront of NETWORK TESTING
Fluke Networks launched their first network tester in December 1992 and is now celebrating 30 years at the forefront of the industry. In this article, industry veteran Robert Luijten, field marketing manager at Fluke EMEA, reflects on the key milestones of networking and network testing. Luijten is one of the longest serving employees of Fluke Networks in Europe, first joining the team in 1997.
and $100,000 US along with the authority to employ anyone in the company to help them in their efforts. A team of about a dozen staff set out on their mission to find a way to break into the global communications market. The wireless market was initially of particular interest. While this burgeoning market was very much in its infancy, the team dreamt up a tester for mobile technology devices. However, with the team’s vast experience in technology, testing, and measurement, they soon realised that the future of the test and measurement sector would focus on networks - and more specifically, Local Area Networks. With a vision to stick to what professionals had come to expect with Fluke products -
O
n 22 May 1992, senior leaders at Fluke set a mandate to a small internal team to find a new business opportunity. The team was given 100 days
rugged, portable testers with advanced measurement capabilities - the team launched Fluke Networks’ first cable tester in December 1992, the Fluke 610. This instrument had basic cable testing capabilities. Within a couple of years, Fluke Networks launched the DSP-100 CableAnalyzer, the first digital LAN cable tester that could certify compliance with industry standards and with which it became possible to generate autotest reports and sort and search through several fields, such as Cable ID, Site and Pass/Fail results. The DSP-100 CableAnalyzer led to new
assurances that installations were accurate and sized correctly for a system. Today, Fluke Networks is a pioneer of test equipment for the networking sector and has launched more than 22 different types of handheld testers, digital toners and probes, trouble-shooters and other new products in its 30-year history. The company currently holds 36 cable testing patents in the United States.
CAN YOU TELL US WHAT IT WAS LIKE WORKING AT FLUKE NETWORKS IN THE EARLY DAYS?
At the time, Fluke well known for electrical test and measurement instrumentation, was a pioneer in the cable testing industry, this was a new area for the company. The first cable tester, the Fluke 610, was designed for Local Area Networks, and introduced in 1992 at a time of rapid growth in cabling infrastructure. As the market continued to expand, new regulatory standards were introduced and the demands on testers evolved. Fluke Networks continued to innovate and initiated the development which led to the first digital cable tester, the DSP-100 CableAnalyzer launched in 1995. My role in the company was to deliver more
structure to this rapid growth start-up and negotiate new distribution agreements beyond the established customer base Fluke had for its test and measurement instrumentation. It was a very entrepreneurial environment to work in. The demand for cabling infrastructure and the associated testing capability for installation and maintenance grew at a high pace. Growth figures at the time were between 30 to 50 per cent per annum.
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April 2022 Instrumentation Monthly
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