Test & measurement
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS OF YOUR TIME AT FLUKE NETWORKS?
There have been many memorable moments. As I started with the company, one of the big influences across the whole industry was the concern that the Millennium Bug could cause major issues. It was a relief to find out the concerns were unfounded. The following year, Fluke Networks purchased a company called Microtest. This was a smart strategic move for the company and established Fluke Networks as the market leader in network cable testing. As well as bringing in a range of new and established distributors, the marriage of the two companies brought together accelerated product development that led to the launch of the DTX CableAnalyzer, a category 6A field tester, in May of 2004. The DTX CableAnalyser was a product which combined “the best of two worlds” as it brought together the engineering capabilities of Fluke and Microtest. The newly launched DTX offered 900 MHz bandwidth, whereas other competitive products in the market only offered 350 MHz at the time. It furthermore offered such a tremendous leap forward in terms of speed and accuracy it meant Fluke Networks really became the go to name for trusted cable testing. It was the gold standard for many years and our competitors found it very difficult to catch up. It was such a best-in-class product it was almost a decade before Fluke Networks’ next big product breakthrough arrived in the form of the Versiv Cabling Certification System. This product was launched in June of 2013 and enabled users to achieve faster systems acceptance for all copper and fibre certification jobs.
HOW HAS THE NETWORKING MARKET EVOLVED OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS?
Fibre optic cabling is increasingly being used with innovative technologies and is the core of today’s data communication networks as demand for bandwidth increases. As network installation accelerates, the need for fibre testing and certification has also grown at a substantial rate. Fibre certification tests per TIA/EIA or ISO/IEC standards, when installing or upgrading fibre networks, are the best way to prevent problems. However, one of the biggest evolutions in testing is the people doing the testing. In the beginning cable installation companies were few and far between. They were often run by highly skilled and expensive communications “nerds”, it was expensive to install networks. As more companies offered installation and test services, it became more competitive and more challenging to make a profit in the installation and testing business. Companies typically reduced the number of fixed staff and employed temporary workers as they won bids. The change in staffing as the market matured meant a change in the product development of cable testers. The testers now need to be so easy to use to ensure lower-skilled technicians can deliver the required results.
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE NETWORKING MARKET GOING?
Fluke recognised the need for tools that simplify cable testing with the Versiv Cabling
Certification System, a revolutionary product that was ahead of its time. One of the cabling infrastructure market
leaders in the UK, Redstone, almost upon availability upgraded their fleet to Versiv from the DTX and reported great efficiencies for their installation and maintenance technicians. Roger Stevenson, Service Director at Redstone at the time reported that one of the best features of the product was ProjX which allows infrastructure installation teams to manage test lists with ease and beyond that “it showed our customers that we invest in the best tool sets to deliver for their network”. In recent years, Versiv has been enhanced with a Cat.8 measurement capability, a High Dynamic Range (HDR) OTDR and a MPO Fibre Inspection Camera. Today, product development for cable testing is more about further simplifying testing in the field by offering improvement on data handling, asset management and cloud services.
WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH ONE COMPANY FOR 25 YEARS?
Honestly it has been a lot of fun! In the beginning Fluke Networks was very much like a start-up company. There was a lot of energy, a lot of passion and team spirit across the organisation. We all worked very hard, and we have built incredibly strong relationships in the industry. Our customers roll out the red carpet for the opportunity to work with Fluke Networks because of the trust we have built with the brand. It makes me proud to represent such a company.
Fluke Networks
www.flukenetworks.com
Instrumentation Monthly April 2022
55
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