Connections 47 e

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Smart Cities Need Smart Networks Page 4

Data Security – Made in Switzerland: greenDatacenter Page 26

Cat. 6A and the New Cat. 6A EL: the Right Solution for Every Task Page 12

40 Gbit/s in Data Centers – But How? 050.5958

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Editorial

Success Through Sustainability 050.5957

Dear Business Partners,

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We are pleased to be able to announce to you important new products from our three strategic business fields in this latest issue of our customer magazine CONNECTIONS. In Office Cabling, R&M is developing a new module called Cat. 6A EL. What makes it so compelling is that it offers excellent value for the money, is ultraquick to wire and very easy to handle.

The expanded product portfolio gives users even more choices plus a complete lineup of 19" platforms to meet their individual needs.

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We are augmenting our field terminable FO connectors with the FO Field SC. Along with the LC version already available, the FO Field SC is a genuine alternative for high-quality links in public networks and in structured building cabling. And there is also a newcomer 050.5956 in our program for Data Centers: the SFP+ Direct Attach copper cable, an attractively priced high-speed connection within cabinet systems.

Sustainability has always been crucial for R&M as well. We have been cultivating it since the company was founded 50 years ago. These efforts were obvious again at mid-year when we were certified in accordance with ISO 14001.

We have included a number of articles on trends to provide you once again with background information on current connectivity topics. In an interview on FTTH expansion in rural areas, Jürgen Anders, a professor at the University of Furtwangen in Germany, talks about the advantages of fiber optics over other technologies for use in non-urban locations. There is an increasing trend in cities toward smart networks. In our focus article we provide facts and figures on this very current issue.

Sincerely,

R&M has been successful with the strategic approach it is taking. This success is reflected in our business figures and in numerous pioneering customer projects, several of which we are portraying in this issue. We are especially proud about our partnership with greenDatacenter, one of the largest data center providers in Switzerland. As a data center location with definite security advantages, Switzerland is attracting growing numbers of international customers that have sustainable data security as a top priority.

We look forward to continuing our successful collaboration with you and hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Andreas Rüsseler | CMO

Contents

Focus

Success

Smart Cities Need Smart Networks

4

CPAM, Haute-Vienne, France A New FTTO Network for a Major Health Insurance Company

News New Generation of the Patch Box Family

11

Cat. 6A and the New Cat. 6A EL: the Right Solution for Every Task

12

Twinax Cables for Data Centers

17

FO Field – Now also as an SC

20

Value Added in Cooperation

Alliander, Netherlands Future-proof Fiber for Smart Metering and Smart Grids Kempegowda Airport, Bangalore Swiss Quality End-to-End Solution Montreux Jazz Festival Faster, More Digital, Higher Quality

“Panorama”, Oman R&M Provides Cabling Infrastructure to Megaproject

22

10

greenDatacenter, Zurich Data Security – Made in Switzerland

26

14

Housing cooperative BGZ, Zurich Maximum Flexibility for a Digital Lifestyle

30

16

Adolf Nöhmer GmbH & Co. KG, Schörfling, Austria Fiber to the Farm

34

Civil Engineering Office of the Swiss Canton of Grisons ODF Networking Swiss National Highways

36

Sparkassenakademie, Stuttgart Flexible Academy for Financial Professionals

38

Vodafone España, Spain is Building up its Network of Branch Offices with a Shielded Cabling Solution from R&M

42

CMRI, Sydney A Global Leader in Medical Research Selects R&M’s Cabling Solutions

44

8

18

Trends

Corporate Acquisition of AFS India

Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico Winery, Italy Supported by R&M Solutions

46 46

Publication Details: CONNECTIONS 47 | October 2014 Cover picture: A smart city needs ultra-reliable network connections.

Publisher: Reichle & De-Massari AG, Binzstrasse 32, CHE-8620 Wetzikon, Switzerland, www.rdm.com E-CONNECTIONS: www.connections.rdm.com Editorial team: Erica Monti (Editor-in-Chief), Dr. Peter Cristea, Bernward Damm, René Eichenberger, Andreas Rüsseler Layout: Tollkirsch AG, Winterthur, Anna Göhner Printing: Druckzentrum Stallikon Print run: 17 000 copies CONNECTIONS is published twice a year and can be ordered from the publisher.

Reproduction allowed with permission from the editorial office.

Interview with Prof. Dr. Anders Expanding FTTH to Regional Areas: A Realistic Scenario?

24

40 Gbit/s in Data Centers – But How?

28

The Latest Standards for AIM Systems Glossary of Transmission Technology To measure or not to measure? – With fibers, that is the wrong question

32

33

Saving Energy with Short Links

37

Optical Transmission: Opportunities and Limits

40 45

Even Faster with G.fast

The Owners’ page Networked Thinking as an Opportunity

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I 3

Focus

Smart Cities Need Smart Networks Billions of people live in booming cities. They want optimum living conditions.

One way to achieve this goal is through Smart Cities featuring the intelligent networking of information and things. Sturdy cabling is needed to transmit the information quickly and reliably.

Urbanization is progressing at a rapid pace. Since 2007, more people have lived in urban areas than in rural areas.

By 2050 the urban population will account for 70 percent of the total according to UN statistics and forecasts.

The EU says two out of three people in Europe already live in cities. Experts are talking about the millennium of cities.

Studies and model projects show that the trend toward urbanization urgently requires progressive solutions for en­ vironmental protection and services, traffic and transportation. Discussions

thus far have revolved around the sustainable use of raw materials and energy sources as well as the reduction of CO2 emissions. Worldwide, cities cause about 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Yet planning the future of cities entails more than energy reduction and climate protection. Research institutions are also emphasizing this point, for instance the Fraunhofer FOKUS Center for Smart Cities in Berlin. In the future, cities will welcome every sensible technology that contributes to optimum living conditions, efficient information

processing, cooperative communal life and better communication and education.

Many “City of the Future” concepts say that broadband Internet access will have to become just as much a resource as power, water and clean air. The vision is this: Smart City -- a learning city that is intelligent, sustainable and thoroughly networked. That is why investments in Smart City projects are skyrocketing.

Market researchers from IHS Tech­nol­ ogy predict that worldwide investments will grow from US$ 1 billion in 2013 to US$ 12 billion in 2025. In a market study,

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Navigant Research determined that the number of network nodes newly installed for Smart City networks every year will more than triple – from 16.3 million in 2014 to 54.8 million in 2020.

Smart Energy Supply The options of a Smart City can be vividly illustrated by the issue of energy supply: n Smart Metering: Using full-coverage ICT networking and symmetric, digital information transmission parallel to the power network, energy requirements could be recorded at the most remote places in real time. Consumption data could be collected automatically and analyzed with precision. Billing would be able to be done more fairly and more flexibly.

n Smart Management: Energy-hungry machines could be remote controlled to a waiting position over the data network to reduce peak loads on the power grid. Decentralized suppliers of power created regeneratively could be integrated in the local power grid. Cities would become more independent from major nuclear, gas and coal-operated power stations and from oil and natural gas. n Smart Services: Customers could remotely monitor the energy consumption in their homes and control it more precisely over the Internet or by means

If all that were implemented, the result would be a Smart Grid that would be stable even without nuclear power, a grid that would promote the reduction of energy consumption and generate added value. Refer also to the report on the Alliander Project in the Netherlands (page 14). Similar smart effects can be achieved in other fields of action.

Networks as the foundation The ICT infrastructure is a vital prerequisite for implementing these scenarios. The Smart Cities Committee of the FTTH Council Europe stresses this: “A Smart City is based on a strong, reliable communication network. It is the foundation for applications and services.”

“Most of all, we need fast broadband networks, which are the ultimate tool so systems can connect and information can flow freely.”

Neelie Kroes, EU Commission

of mobile communications. They could communicate with public utilities automatically. Further services (building management, energy consulting, weather forecasting, access monitoring, alerting, gas and water supply, etc.) could be integrated more easily, which would enable new, IP-supported business models.

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The FTTH Council believes communities should rely consistently on fiber optic cabling on their way to becoming Smart Cities. Fiber optic networks offer the most prospects for the future, the

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I 5

greatest performance and nearly inexhaustible potential. They also form the backbone for future-capable wireless networks, which will also play a decisive role in a Smart City. There are further recommendations for city administrators, municipal utilities, urban planners and network operators in the second edition of the FTTH Smart Guide released in February 2014 by the FTTH Council Europe (refer to www.ftthcouncil.eu).

Based on its own experience, R&M urges cities to keep several key prin­ ciples and planning and evaluation criteria in mind anytime they discuss their communication and data networks or plan construction. They are outlined below. If cities follow this advice, they can avoid bad investments and lay suitable groundwork for becoming Smart Cities.

In any case, experienced consultants and planners should be brought in.

Criteria for planning n The transmission infrastructures should offer the greatest possible functionality. This is the first recommen­ dation of R&M. The object is not just to connect computers. For example, cameras, sensors and measuring equipment inside and outside buildings also have to be seamlessly integrated and must be able to communicate with each other over the Internet. Adaptable, application-neutral cabling is the prerequisite for this capability.

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n Open access will be important for the fiber optic connection of apartments to create fair market conditions for providers. In principle, every possible type of connection for machines, sensors and other users should have an open access design. Standardized, compatible and commercially available connectivity is a must for Smart Cities. n Every individual wish for networking should be able to be integrated into a Smart City in a smooth and customized fashion. Easy scalability is also an issue in this context. Cabling must not be allowed to create obstacles. Today there may be several dozen subscribers to be supplied whereas in the future, the task may be to integrate thousands with fiber optics. n The platforms and connections should be able to be installed and operated in-

n There are still no standards for the networking of a Smart City. In the judgment of R&M, the obvious thing to do would be to consistently continue the trend toward Ethernet / IP-based communication and to apply this globally uniform industry standard wherever it is practicable. The advantage: favorable investment and running costs.

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tuitively so mistakes can be minimized in installation and especially in main­ tenance. The cabling systems should have a logical, clearly-structured design.

Quick mounting technology should simplify each movement. n Security is another central criterion.

Smart Cities should ask how well cabling systems can be protected against operating mistakes, errors, attacks and manipulations. Outdoor products should withstand critical environmental influences and be able to be repaired quickly and without complication following an accident or violent storm. n Good transmission quality is indispensable. A Smart City needs the most reliable network connections because the connectors, cables and distributors often transmit data vital to life. The cabling has to be capable of bridging large

“A Smart City is based on a strong, reliable communication network which is the foundation for applications and services. A Smart City will increase efficiency, productivity, ecological awareness; it will reduce pollution and improve quality of life in a world of increasing urban complexity.”

From “Smart City Guide” issued by the Smart Cities Committee of the FTTH Council Europe

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distances free of loss and of accommodating a large number of connections. n The convergence of the networks is an essential aspect of a Smart City.

Support must be given in particular to the convergence of fixed and mobile, that is the linking of different mobile communication networks and WLANs with cable-bound infrastructures. This convergence facilitates reachability and access to all types of information at any location.

working of older buildings, people will want cabling systems that can be readily concealed or that require only minimal conversion work. n Unprofitable and uncoordinated parallel trends in network expansion can be avoided if the stakeholders in a city cooperate and remain aware of their goals. n

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Tobias Münzer Market Manager Public Networks tobias.muenzer@rdm.com

n Flexibility will be a key issue. The networks must be able to be integrated into organically evolved settlement structures. Network sections varying in age and structure must be able to be joined together.

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n Aesthetic aspects also play a role.

Connections and lines should be able to be integrated intelligently in the surroundings. In projects involving the net-

Shibu Vahid Head of Technical Operations, R&M Middle East, Turkey & Africa shibu.vahid@rdm.com

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I 7

Success

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The Antinori family has been producing wine for over six centuries, ever since Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the Florence Winemakers’ Guild in 1385. Tradition, passion, and intuition have brought the Antinori family success in Italy and around the world. In their search for excellence and ways of perfecting the entire production process, the family decided to create new vaults for their Chianti Classico winery. The new facility is the confirmation of the long-standing relationship between the family and their place of origin.

Invisible architecture Although the winery was specifically built for the purpose of wine production, the idea was also to offer a vast audience of wine lovers the opportunity to directly experience the family’s production philosophy. Visitors can see how wine is created, from the vineyard to the bottle. Step by step, guests are introduced to all the phases of fermentation and aging. Besides showing how wine is produced, permanent displays also present the history of the Antinori family, art, and the region’s food and wine traditions.

Conceptually, the project is based around innovative architecture, which enhances the landscape, its surroundings and the cultural and social values of the wineproducing region. The winery is totally in harmony with the landscape. A vineyard covers the entire edifice, which matches the brownish red colors of the soil and has been constructed with

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050.5973

natural materials such as terracotta, wood, corten (an alloy of steel and copper) and glass. Profound ties to the earth are reflected in the focus on minimal environmental impact and maximum energy savings.

For this project R&M Italy worked in partnership with IBM Italy Global Technology Services. R&M contributed to the design, implementation and testing

Fiber to the vineyard Besides wine making and storage facilities, the winery also houses a museum area, restaurant, shop and offices. The company offices, previously located in the family palace in Piazza Antinori, in downtown Florence, were also moved to this rural location. All these facilities rely on ultra high-speed, reli­ able connectivity to function. Systems and technologies used inside the innovative structure also follow the philosophy of full integration with the environment, high performance and high quality.

n R&Mfreenet copper: about

The R&M Solution 1000 RJ45/S Cat. 6A ISO links

n 65 16-port patch panels RJ45/S Cat. 6A

n 60 km S/FTP Cat. 7 light cable, special TO configuration for lab and AP (FM45)

n Fiber optic campus and backbone

n 8 km indoor/outdoor 12/24 FO singlemode

n 25 patch panels LC duplex singlemode

n 800 FO pigtails Why R&M?

n Strong relationship with partners n Technical consultant for the entire team

n Flexibility and quality

Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico Winery supported

by R&M Solutions

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of the cabling infrastructure, relying on R&Mfreenet copper and fiber optic solutions. The best solution available at the time was proposed, offering a lasting performance. This resulted in a fully customized homogeneous solution with the highest level of quality. R&M has guaranteed that all ratified network services work as intended, including the transfer of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in accordance with IEEE 802.3an 10GBaseT and ISO/­IEC 11801.

Best partner The cooperation between both partners on cabling networks started in the early nineties and has been very successful, reliable and effective. Initially, R&M acted as a cabling supplier under a manufacturing frame agreement, gradually becoming a Strategic Partner for Connectivity Solutions. Today, R&M Italy provides cabling infrastructure connectivity and services for data centers, offices, industry and telecommunication,

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through a solution engagement agreement with IBM Italy. Services provided for IBM Italy include assessment, site survey, project design, delivery, installation, project management, link certifications, maintenance, assistance and training. Satisfaction levels are high for both parties, and R&M Italy is classified as one of the best partners in the IBM Supplier Evaluation Program.

IBM’s Francesco Bugelli says: “A special thanks to Reichle & De-Massari, whom I have known and enjoyed working with since 1994. Based on my own experience, I know for certain they are the best partner I have come across in Italy, in terms of reliability, availability, expertise and quality!” n

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The wines The following wines are produced at the Marchesi Antinori Chianti Classico winery: Pèppoli Chianti Classico Villa Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva Vinsanto del Chianti Classico

Find out more on: www.antinorichianticlassico.it

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Sergio Terraneo | R&M Italy sergio.terraneo@rdm.com

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Success

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To provide even better services for its customers and increase the bandwidth for new voice and data applications, CPAM (caisse primaire d’assurance maladie) in the French département Haute-Vienne decided to update its network. The main target of the project was to find a solution for the growing volume of data and meet the high demands of security and flexibility.

“Our aim was to move away from a heterogeneous system to a much more powerful (10 Gbit / s), homogeneous one.

And we felt a single physical location would also make administration and maintenance a lot simpler,” explained David Mingo, Head of IT at the health insurance company.

SITAS is a technical consultancy firm

which always takes sustainability into consideration in its consulting and engineering services for both commercial and residential properties.

THE R&M SOLUTION

n LC Duplex n 134 12-wire FO cables n 2200 RJ45 ports

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A New FTTO Network for a Major Health Insurance Company “Initially, we toyed with the idea of a copper cabling project with 2000 outlets spread across ten cabinets and two equipment rooms. But due to the building structure, we ultimately decided on a fiber optic solution enabling a smaller cable duct diameter and a lower weight for the entire installation. We manage with just one server room and a single main distributor in the basement. The micro switches are a bit of a worry as they have already just about reached their limits with a performance of 1 Gbit / s. But apart from that, we are extremely satisfied. With the new FTTO cabling, we now have a VDI network with ten times the performance.”

The installation was started in October 2013 on site and completed in June 2014. Thirteen kilometers of FO cables and 400 micro switches were installed over 9000 m2 to supply the 1100 workstations. Specialist reseller Azenn took care of the prefabrication of the outlets and delivery of the R&M material.

“SITAS was commissioned with the drafting of the specifications as well as project management through to project

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approval. The FTTO solution (Fiber Optics to the Office, copper to the workstation) made it possible to reduce weight and minimized the efforts involved in cable tension. R&M was chosen over three other competitors as supplier for all cabling material. The high performance level of the products, the quality, the expertise of the employees, the S3A-certified fitter and its capability to carry out all work without interrupting normal office operations while still keeping to schedule were crucial for the overall success of the project,” explained Eric Seulin, Director of SITAS. n

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Cyril Doll | R&M France cyril.doll@rdm.com

News

New Generation of the Patch Box Family Splicing and patching at cable termination is becoming easier thanks to the second generation of UniRack and FibereasyRack.

The patch boxes for fiber-optic cabling are compelling with their convenient drawer design, lightweight construction and flexibility.

UniRack 2 and FibereasyRack 2 – these are the names of the new patch box generation – are perfect for terminating 48 to 96 fibers in one 19" unit. FibereasyRack 2 is the variant for breakout cabling, UniRack 2 for splice cabling. Both have the same holder with sliding rails and drawer design. Two proven platforms have been united to form one inexpensive solution.

A new feature: the drawer design of the loose tube tray. The tray can be pulled out and tipped at an angle of 10 ° without tools with a flick of the wrist. That makes initial installations and conversions more convenient. If splice cabling has been planned, the splice tray plate included in the UniRack 2 delivery can also be attached or detached in no time at all.

Among the strengths of this new advance is that cables and pigtails are deposited separately from each other.

This approach assures a quick, good overview. It reduces errors, conversion times and critical operational interruptions. By default, the pigtail fibers R&M supplies correspond to the color code

in the DIN VDE 0888 standard to prevent errors during installation. Furthermore, port numbers and labels help allocate the terminations error free. In the model with 24 LCD, E-2000™* and SC ports, the front plate can be equipped with the R&MinteliPhy network monitoring system to be able to guarantee total control.

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With their reduced installation depth of 220 to 225 millimeters, they even fit in outdoor distributors where space is at a premium, for example on factory premises. In closed operating state, the panel has all-round protection from rodent attacks. Despite the compact design, a 40 mm bending radius is ensured throughout – a crucial prerequisite for constantly low-attenuating signal transmission.

The new patch box generation for cable termination: Drawers pull out steplessly, making installations and conversions easier. Depicted here is the UniRack 2 splice version with the easily detachable splice tray plate. n * E-2000™, manufactured under license from Diamond SA, Losone.

The patch box is compatible with all common adapter solutions for E-2000™*, SC, LCD, ST, FC, MPO type adapters.

R&M also makes front plates that are customized or that fit local designs, in plastic or sheet metal depending on the model.

The own weight of the splice versions is 25 percent less than predecessor models. Clever design features combine with carefully selected materials and well-tried manufacturing processes to reduce production costs.

UniRack 2 and FibereasyRack 2 are used for cable termination in local data networks or in structured cabling, in network cabinets for data centers or in distribution nodes for campus networks.

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Patrick Schilter | Product Manager patrick.schilter@rdm.com

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News

Cat. 6A and the New Cat. 6A EL: the Right Solution for Every Task It has not long been on the market but is already extremely popular: the new Cat. 6A EL module from R&M. Its Easy Lock technology facilitates the establishment of high-end connections in a revolutionary way.

As a counterpart to the existing Cat. 6A module, it is designed to fulfill the individual requirements of office cabling.

The successful launch underscores the fact that R&M has fulfilled the desires of installers with this new product. Productivity is increased with the Cat. 6A EL module because it is so easy and fast to terminate. Hence the addition to its name: Easy Lock (EL). The RJ45 connection can be installed without errors in just a few easy steps.

Insulation displacement contacting (IDC) from R&M ensures the reliable termination of the wires. The integrated clamping ring takes care of strain relief and with shielded twisted pair (STP) cabling also provides 360 º shield termination. There is no need for specialized knowledge, specific tools or cable ties.

Which module for which case?

Clear differentiation, particularly in the top performance class of copper ca-

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bling, is essential according to R&M’s experience. This is the only way planners, installers and users can ensure the optimal cost / benefit factor for their particular project.

This is exactly why R&M defined finely balanced evaluation criteria (see table) for the high-end twins Cat. 6A (on the market since 2010) and Cat. 6A EL (which has been available since summer 2014). R&M is the only manufac-

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for future special applications, the product of choice will be the Cat. 6A module – for example in data centers or in financial sectors.

When engineers have to provide cabling systems for higher demanding applications such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet quickly, at an affordable price, with total reliability and little effort, they will opt for Cat. 6A EL.

turer to offer this demand-oriented selection possibility for Cat. 6A systems.

When engineers have to provide office or building cabling systems for higher demanding applications such as 10 Giga­ bit Ethernet quickly, at an affordable price, with total reliability and little effort, they will opt for Cat. 6A EL. This guar­antees adherence to the relevant standards and the specified performance values in every case.

In both cases, the Cat. 6A products from R&M fulfill the component specifications defined in IEC 60603-7-41 or -51.

They are suitable for establishing permanent links and Class EA channels in accordance with the latest ISO / IEC 11801 or EN 50173-1. When installed, the Cat. 6A connection module demonstrates even better performance values than the standards require. R&M guarantees that the Cat. 6A module, when properly installed, attains a NEXT reserve of 4 dB in the permanent link and in the channel. n

There are, however, certain scenarios in which adhering to the standard values for Cat. 6A alone is not sufficient to always ensure a 10GBase-T transmission.

Wherever the largest possible per­ formance reserves are required for 100 % secure data transmission with 10GBase-T or exceptional performance

Cat. 6A n

n

n

n

n

n

ophisticated, high-tech areas of S use critical for business (e.g. data centers and HQ buildings) argest possible system reserves L (far above Class EA as specified

by ISO / IEC 11801) nsures future effectiveness E for 10 GbE support even in tough conditions and for next-generation applications pecial demands made of cabling S (e.g. high-density (1U 48-port), short links, particular shielding) pecial cabling structures and S specifications possible niform transmission performance, U regardless of the installer

This is how Easy Lock works EL stands for “easy lock” and describes the innovation installers have been waiting for.

This is how the wiring of the Cat. 6A EL works: Insert wires, slide wire guide into socket, press wiring cover shut and close clamping ring. The connection is completed. The precise, simple quick assembly system and in­ sulation displacement contacting from R&M ensure reliable, standard-compliant termination of the wires.

The integrated clamping ring takes care of strain relief. It fixes all typical types of cables in place without pinching them. Cable ties or specialized tools are things of the past.

With shielded twisted pair cabling (STP) the clamping ring also provides 360 º shield ter­mi­ na­tion because it wraps around the braided shield.

The module is available shielded (STP) in the die-cast version and unshielded (UTP) in the plastic version. The housing of the UTP module is made from a special plastic which reduces electromagnetic emissions (cross­ talk) and thus controls the Alien NEXT of the module. This means the module can be installed anywhere without any additional protective measures.

The Cat. 6A EL module is application-neutral.

It terminates all installation cables with wire and flexible cables with strands in all common diameters according to the wiring configuration 568A or 568B. It is compatible with the tried-and-tested R&M cabling and security systems and tolerant of connectors made by other manufacturers. It can also be used in outlets or panels from other manufacturers thanks to various adapters.

Cat. 6A EL (Easy Lock) n

n

n

n n

n

n

p to 10GbE applications in office U and industrial buildings ast, easy, efficient installation in F standard projects ecure and solid performance, S guaranteed adherence to standards Shallow installation depth abling structure in acc. with C reference implementation of the standards o special requirements of planning, N qualification, installation Best productivity in installation 050.5749

Matthias Gerber Market Manager Office Cabling matthias.gerber@rdm.com

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Success

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Future-proof Fiber for Alliander’s Smart Metering and Smart Grids The energy company Alliander began using “Smart Metering” and “Smart Grids” to manage its increasingly dynamic energy network. Alliander consists of the companies Liander, Endinet and Liandon and transports electricity and gas to 3.3 million clients in the Netherlands. The “SA Liander” program will automate 300 distribution stations, facilitated by a new fiber network. This network was rolled out by R&M in cooperation with TenneT, VolkerWessels Telecom, Schuuring en Stam & Co en BAM.

“Previously, energy was generated in a power station and transported to local end users,” says Jochem Turk, Lead Tele­ com Engineer within Secondary Engineering at Alliander, responsible for the preparation of the technical specifications for the active and passive aspects of the network. Until a few years ago networks only operated “unidirectionally”. However, energy networks are becoming increasingly dynamic as a result of the addition of vehicle charging stations and energy generators such as wind turbines, solar panels and geothermal sources. Not all of these are controlled by utilities and the energy yield is highly variable. To manage measurements and distribution, continuous realtime information is essential. This information is collected and analyzed using “Smart Metering” and “Smart Grids”.

Alliander opted for a full end2end fiber connection.

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CONN CTIONS

Highest possible uptime The backbone is being leased from several dark fiber providers. Alliander built the last mile to the substations with fiber. The fiber network consists of a total of three core rings and 25 aggregation rings. This way, when other providers roll out similar networks, these can easily be connected. The main net-

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work requirement was availability, or the highest possible uptime. The design had to ensure this. For example, in some cases the devices have been equipped with double power supplies.

Rene Eriks, who managed the project on behalf of installer Schuuring, states: “For Alliander the advantage is being

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able to manage and maintain its own infrastructure, without having to depend on other parties. Alliander can now easily organize the network and even scale up, it will always fit its current needs. We see Smart Grids as here to stay in the utility sector. The entire sector embraces this concept.”

Customer requirements are high and the design also differs from solutions in other sectors. For Schuuring, the reliability and quality of equipment and materials are a top priority. Everything has to be absolutely trouble-free and long lasting. Schuuring doesn’t just accept specifications dictated by the manufacturer, it checks all equipment in every step of the process.

In this project, every location is equipped with redundant connections. When a cable is damaged, a second cable takes over. The installer had no previous ex­ perience of R&M equipment but found the products to be of high quality and worth recommending to colleagues, since the R&M product range is wide and the products are scalable and easy to use.

Low insertion loss All parties involved worked together closely, from the civil engineering to rolling out the fiber at various locations.

Insertion loss had to be kept as low as possible in this network, something which was achieved by using connectors with a very high polishing degree.

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R&M also helped in defining the network and its components and provided maximum support in planning, logistics and installation.

The R&M Solution

n RFTTU (Fiber to the Utility) / FTTx n 360 x Unirack 48v E2000 /APC Grade A

Jochem Turk concludes: “We had been using materials from R&M for some time, but European procurement rules required us to allow other parties to take part in the tender. However, R&M came out on top. The company’s service level as well as its speed of action have surprised us in a positive way. We deliberately chose a premium segment supplier because we wanted outstanding service and a wide range of solutions to choose from. Alliander is one of the first energy suppliers to roll out a fiber optic network on this scale and other parties are watching closely. For everyone in the sector, it is now clear that this is the way ahead.” n

n 10 x Venusbox FXL 24v E2000 /APC Grade A Why R&M?

n Quality n Professional implementation of customer needs and wishes

n Good consulting and a close relationship with contractors

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Johan Bil | R&M Western Europe johan.bil@rdm.com

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Success

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Swiss Quality End-to-End Solution for Kempegowda Airport

BIAL is a public limited company formed to build, own and operate Kempegowda International Airport.

BIAL has been given rights by the Indian government to develop, design, finance, operate and manage the airport for 30 years from the date of commencement of commercial flight operations. It has an option to extend the right for an additional 30 years.

On December 14, 2013, on the occasion of the inauguration of the new terminal 1A, Bangalore International Airport was officially renamed Kempegowda International Airport. The airport serves the Indian city of Bangalore and covers a total area of 4750 acres. It was awarded “India's best airport” for the year 2011 by the survey conducted by Skytrax.

The airport at Bangalore is relatively new and is constantly expanding; it has been modernized and made capable of handling international air traffic in a relatively short period of time. As Bangalore is a popular destination in India, BIAL had to fulfill top security requirements and meet expectations of guests from all over the world.

The main challenge for BIAL was to make sure the infrastructure was futureproof so that it could be adapted and extended to correspond to any later growth of the airport. As an airport the main concern is down time, which has to be avoided to ensure efficient and smooth functioning.

R&M offered an end-to-end solution based on cabling systems requirements

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the huge data transmission efficiently as well as keep a future-proof network available. Kempegowda International Airport has earned recognition across the country and internationally for being the most modern as well as one of the biggest airports in India.

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for Kempegowda International Airport and was selected for the project. To ensure a future-proof solution for BIAL, R&M came up with the most professional approach and a system that could be totally relied upon. The structured cabling solution for the International Airport includes singlemode 6, 12 and 48 fiber optic cables and copper shielded cables with a specified capacity of 10 GbE.

BIAL emphasizes the pleasant and successful collaboration with R&M, appreciating in particular the Swiss quality, professionalism and experience. BIAL is continuing to use R&M’s structured cabling solutions for current expansion plans. n

The current refurbishment project has copper infrastructure based on the Cat. 6A shielded ISO solution from R&M and shielded panels of 24 ports to be used in the project.

R&M’s installation of modern network technology at Kempegowda International Airport has been able to manage

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Rajesh Rajan | R&M India rajesh.rajan@rdm.com

News

Twinax Cables for Data Centers

050.5989

New in the R&M range for data centers: SFP+ Direct Attach copper cables.

They enable affordable high-speed connections both within racks and between neighboring ones.

Network architecture is going to have to change significantly on the road to cloud-capable data centers. Networks are going to have to become flatter and server uplinks shorter. The new product range of SFP+ Direct Attach copper cables (DAC) by R&M, also known as Twinax cables, meets these requirements.

The cables support transmission rates of 10 Gbit/s per channel. They are suit­ able for point-to-point Top of Rack network architectures and enable increased infrastructure density in the cabinets.

They are hot-pluggable, in other words

can be plugged in and out in running switch and / or server operation with both cost and time savings.

SFP+ stands for Small Form Factor pluggable plus Transceiver. In terms of scope, the range beats those of the network device manufacturers and includes eight cable lengths from 0.5 to seven meters. Because in many cases short delivery times are crucial, R&M always has a large number of DACs in stock in its main warehouse. The SFP+ connectors comply with R&M’s strict quality standards in terms of operating conditions such as temperature stabil-

Manufacturer

Type

Model

Arista Cisco Cisco

Switch Switch Switch

All Catalyst * Nexus Nexus Series 5000 / 2000 ** All All All All All All All All All All All All All Most All Most

Cisco

Switch

Dell Dell Dell Emulex Emulex Extreme Networks Flextronics IBM (Blade Networks) IBM (Blade Networks) IBM (Blade Networks) Intel Intel Juniper Mellanox QLogic QLogic

Switch Server Adapter boards Server Adapter boards Switch Switch Switch Server Adapter boards Server Adapter boards Switch Switch Server Adapter boards

All compatible. * compatible – from Version 12.2(25)SE (requires activation via CLI) ** compatible – from Version 4.1(3)N2.1

ity, moisture resistance and electromagnetic interference immunity. A further advantage of the solution is its low power consumption.

Individual EEPROM signatures identify the cables. They contain information on the length and a serial number. The signature can be used for planning, cabling and/or recabling, as well as documentation. This means savings in both time and costs.

Due to the design, the format and electrical connections have unlimited compatibility with the specifications of the SFP-Multi-Source Agreement. SFP+ DAC cables from R&M are compatible with all devices which have MSA-compatible ports compliant with SFF-8431, SFF-8432, SFF-8472 and SFF-8083. n

The new SFP+ Direct Attach cables from R&M enable increased infrastructure density in network cabinets.

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Christian Schär | Product Manager christian.schaer@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

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Success

Montreux: Faster, More Digital, Higher Quality A one, a two… a one, two, three… The moment international jazz stars start their sessions in Montreux, every note, every image is recorded. Today, every second of the legendary concerts is broadcast throughout the world in real time and is digitally archived. R&M helped the jazz city build up a network for the task.

Montreux was already an internationally known resort and conference city back in the 19 th century. The city on the shores of Lake Geneva gained an international reputation with the Rose d’Or Festival. The Montreux Jazz Festival was established in 1967 and attracts 200 000 visitors a year. Today Montreux has a top convention center and is home to countless cultural festivals.

The networking of Auditorium Stravinski The premier concert hall of the festival, the Auditorium Stravinski in the Montreux Music & Convention Center, is being gradually updated with the latest technical advances. A fiber-optic network infrastructure is one such advance

that has been installed in the multipurpose hall since 2011. R&M supplied essential components for the local data network on behalf of the city of Montreux. Technical coordinator Jean-Paul Chabert explained why the city settled on R&M: “The cabling has to meet the very highest quality requirements.”

Only high-end products would do for current and future broadcasting applications. Chabert said there were big quality differences in fiber optic technology in particular and they directly affect network performance and the quality of digital music broadcasting. Failure safety was a further criterion for the decision. As Jean-Paul Chabert said: “When a concert is underway, the equipment simply has to operate.”

5000 hours of jazz concerts now part of UNESCO World Heritage Since the Montreux Jazz Festival was founded in 1967, over 5000 hours of concerts by over 4000 bands and artists have been digitalized live and stored on video and audio tapes in the storage system of EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne).

Old recordings may well be able to be called up in future without any trouble thanks in large part to the CDC in Montreux.

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The management of the Montreux Music & Convention Center had very limited time to devote to cabling modernization because it constantly has events to organize. It was therefore vital that the installation be as fast as possible and that the center have a reliable partner able to adjust to the requested deadlines. R&M complied with both requirements thanks to quick mounting technology, flexible logistics and customer-oriented project management.

Communication and Data Center in Montreux The trend to digitalization, the archiving project and ambitious multimedia objectives required the city to make yet another major investment: the installation of its own Communication and Data Center, aka CDC. Similar to the infrastructure of the convention center, the CDC had to satisfy the toughest requirements. That is why the city of Montreux turned once again to R&M to supply the passive infrastructure.

The CDC went into operation in December 2013. It is right on the shores of Lake Geneva. The CDC uses fiberoptic links based on 10 Gbit/s and WDM (wavelength division multiplexing) that attain transmission speeds of up to 50 Gbit/s. They can be employed

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Jean-Paul Chabert

Cédric Rolli

Pierre-Yves Nussbaum

How Jean-Paul Chabert discovered R&M quality Jean-Paul Chabert is responsible for the coordination of technology in buildings as represen­ tative of the Office for Real Estate, Buildings and Sports. He imposes tough requirements on infrastructure. Of course, the network components also have to be reliable and deliver the best possible performance to ensure trouble-free transmission. Chabert therefore always scrutinizes products involving stage and event equipment somewhat more closely.

That is how he came about screwing apart a connector from Neutrik, an audio equipment manufacturer, one day. He wanted to see the reasons for the good, low-noise signal transmission. Inside he discovered a Cat. 6 module from R&M. The quality craftsmanship delighted Chabert straight­ away: “A top product. I was immediately convinced by the IDC technology from R&M. It is ideal for our needs in the concert business because it is vibration proof. Afterward, I examined all the R&M products and I can verify that the copper and fiber optic products are of first-rate quality.”

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to network the CDC longer-term with other regional technology centers such as the fa­cilities of EPFL in Lausanne, of CERN in Geneva and of the Ad Valem satellite station in Le Bouveret.

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“It is the most significant legacy of music history.”

Jazz producer and musician Quincy Jones talking about the Montreux Sounds Digital Project and the archive of festival founder Claude Nobs.

Cédric Rolli from CR Network plans custom network cabinets for every big event. He takes a top-of-rack approach to designing the network architecture featuring 52 distribution nodes. PierreYves Nussbaum, Head of IT and Audiovisual Technology at the Montreux Music & Convention Center, considers it important to have a clear-cut, well-conceived network design. The availability rate of the CDC corresponds with the requirements of the TIER III standard.

Fiber-optic technology and shielded copper cabling from R&M ensure excellent signal quality in data transmission. Cooling is done in a low-energy way, with water from the Lake Geneva pump station.

The Communication and Data Center (CDC) of the Convention Center in Montreux is used by the Montreux Comedy Festival (MJF) and a number of other partners. It performs myriad functions, which are placed in different parts of the central computer room. In this way the CDC supports the city data networks and the security and building installations at the Convention Center. It networks telecommunication, Internet and IT providers with each other. The CDC supplies internal and external TV, radio and Internet broadcasting and offers a backup option for the data from

all events. It also provides direct connections to the key hotels on site and other partners. External customers can make use of the CDC as well.

In a video interview posted on the Internet homepage of the municipality of Montreux (www.commune-demontreux.ch), Mayor Laurent Wehrli made the following comments: “The new communication center enables services with which we can set ourselves apart from the competition. With this new technology and infrastructure, we can now position Montreux as a top international venue for this sector, just as Claude Nobs did with his jazz festival decades ago. That helps us attract new clients to Montreux time and again for congresses and for cultural and art events.” n

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Walter Kurzen | R&M Switzerland walter.kurzen@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

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News

FO Field – Now also as an SC One year ago, R&M presented installers with the field-terminable FO Field connector which represented amazing progress. This year the range is growing with the FO Field SC. In addition, there is now a complete tool set available for even simpler and safer assembly.

The FO Field SC from R&M has been on the market since summer 2014 and is the latest extension to the range of fieldterminable FO connectors. Just like the FO Field LC, which experienced a successful launch before it, the FO Field SC revolutionizes installation from planning through execution to maintenance. It makes users more flexible and independent because the field-terminable solution does away with the need for splicing and the use of pre-terminated cables. The connectors can be hooked up in a few easy steps.

The flexibility in terms of the types of cable also simplifies ordering and logistics. For both types of connector – FO Field SC and FO Field LC – R&M enables the combination with n the fiber types singlemode and multimode as 125 / 250 μm fibers, n full or compact wires with 600 to 900 μm cladding, n cable jackets of 1.4 to 3 mm diameter.

Both PC and APC can be used for the contact surface. The FO Field SC has a 2.5 mm ferrule, push-pull coupling mechanism and crimp-free strain relief.

Its insertion loss is less than 0.5 dB and the return loss over 60 dB for APC (IL ≤ 0.5 dB each-to-each, RL > 60 dB plugged, > 55 dB unplugged). The FO Field connectors from R&M comply with the standards* IEC 61754-4 (SC) or -20 (LC) and TIA / EIA 604-3 or -10 and attain the first-class performance category C / 1 or C / 2 respectively.

Easy handling makes the FO Field SC suitable for many tasks in structured campus, office and building cabling systems as well as for installations in hospitals, hotels, stadia and data centers.

The advantages of field assembly In many FO installations, it is a great relief when connectors can be assem-

bled on the construction site. The fieldterminable connectors available on the market to date do, however, have some disadvantages. Their mechanical and optical characteristics – particularly return loss – cannot compete with the values of pre-terminated and factorytested connectors of a pigtail or patch cord.

Virtually all familiar solutions use a 0 ° cleave to make the fiber junctions in the connector. Even with the help of modern index-matching gels, the return loss (RL) in this procedure cannot exceed 45 – 50 dB, regardless of whether the connector has a physical contact (PC) or angled physical contact (APC).

It is not physically possible; the worst RL in the link is the total RL. Possible uses of field-terminable single­ mode connectors available to date are limited. These products are usually used as the last connector in the outlet or for

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repair purposes. They are not suitable for use in top-quality links in broadband service or in structured cabling systems requiring as loss-free a transition of light as possible.

Professional, quality-conscious operators of FO networks are looking for precise, consistent APC connectors (APC = Angled Physical Contact) for the entire transmission path right to the customer.

In this solution the fiber endface has to be angled by 8 °. This reduces reflections and improves the transition of light. It also achieves better attenuation values. APC solutions are very common because they are future-proof and support high transmission performance.

The field-terminable FO connectors from R&M certainly meet the high demands of network operators.

Field-terminable connectors are the ideal solution for many FO projects.

They are easy and fast to use, even in large numbers, without the need for elaborate preliminary planning. The cables can simply be drawn into the raceways and cut to the right length. This practice of cutting the cables to length after laying them saves you unpleasant surprises such as cables that are too short or cables that are overly long. The connectors can be hooked up in just a few easy steps. The FO Field con­ nectors can be rewired making it simple to carry out any changes and conduct repairs on site.

The FO Field case Installers do not require any additional training and hardly any tools for terminating the FO Field connectors from R&M. Scissors, wire strippers, red light source and a cleaver are quite sufficient.

The assembly tool set comes in a dust-free hard-top case. It also contains the newly developed 8 ° cleaver. The drawer is removable so the case can accommodate any cleavers you may already have. There are also drawers for connectors, cleaning materials and instruction guides.

It takes just one to two minutes to assemble an FO Field. The fiber is stripped at the required point, the coating is pushed down to the guide pin and the fiber is broken by applying light pressure at the appropriate point. In the next step, the fiber is jammed with a snap fastener, the wire by removing a bracket. Then the outer housing is assembled.

The correct contacting can be checked using the red light source (pass/fail check). If the light in the semi-transparent control window of the connector housing goes out, the connection works.

Depending on the desired performance, you can use tried and tested 0 ° cleavers for terminating (up to RL 45 dB for PC and RL 50 dB for APC). If installers want to attain RL Grade 1 (> 60 dB plugged, > 55 dB unplugged), they use the new, easy-to-use 8 ° cleaver from R&M.

expensive and can only be operated by experts. Making FO connections for apartments and offices is thus timeconsuming and requires a large number of qualified personnel that are often not available. The training session for FO Field takes just a few hours and makes it possible to have a large number of staff qualified to extend networks in just a few days. And you have a further ace up your sleeve: FO Field – the genuine alternative to splicing. n

* Field-terminable FO connectors are not explicitly subject to standards.

For classification, reference is made to corresponding standards available to date. Future standards will assume that field-terminable connectors comply with performance level Grade C/2 and Grade C/1. The new development from R&M already offers this performance today.

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The alternative is fusion splicing. The devices necessary for this are relatively

Daniel Eigenmann | Product Manager daniel.eigenmann@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

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Success

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R&M Provides Cabling Infrastructure to “Panorama” Megaproject in Oman R&M Cat. 6 UTP end-to-end cabling solution to deliver voice, data and video transmission across the whole complex.

R&M has been contracted to deliver a high-performance, end-to-end cabling infrastructure solution for the Panorama commercial and residential project in Oman.

The Panorama project involves the construction of a commercial and residential complex consisting of seven towers, each comprising two basement levels, a ground floor and seven additional floors.

Two towers are for five-star hotels, each offering 140 rooms, four towers for serviced apartments and one tower for office premises. This complex will also include a shopping mall, three cinema halls, food courts, a library, a health club and lifestyle stores. Panorama will be situated in the Al Khuwair commercial district of Muscat, five minutes away from Ruwi, the central business district of the country. Allied Real Estate LLC,

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R&M Cat. 6 copper cabling technology installed in Panorama project in Oman 050.5997

an established Omani real estate company owned by H. E. Sheikh Salim bin Ali al Siyabi, a prominent business leader in Oman, is behind the project.

“The challenge was to provide world-class products at a competitive price.

Despite the fact that there were a number of cabling vendors shortlisted for the project, R&M was chosen because of various competitive advantages.”

Sunil Nair, Business Head, Al Jassar Telecom

The Cat. 6 cabling solution comprises 4500 points enabling up to 1 Gigabit Ethernet connectivity and supporting applications with a bandwidth of up to 450 MHz. Installation of the products

was carried out by the cabling vendor’s partner, Al Jassar Telecom (AJT), a company that has been providing high-quality ICT products and services to the industrial and construction sectors in the Sultanate of Oman for nearly two decades.

nical staff that will be employed within the various towers.

Oman is a very important market for R&M and we are building up a strong portfolio of very good reference proj­ ects, the latest being Panorama. n

Sunil Nair, Business Head at Al Jassar Telecom, says: “As an ELV system integrator our responsibility was to design, supply, install, test, commission and maintain the whole ELV system for the Panorama project. The challenge was to provide world-class products at a competitive price. Despite the fact that there were a number of cabling vendors shortlisted for the project, R&M was chosen because of various competitive advantages such as the presence and support of the local team, the com­ pany’s reputation for Swiss quality products, 25-year system warranty, excellent design consultancy and last but not least highly competitive pricing.

We are confident that the installed products will not only meet but also exceed the expectations of Panorama.”

AJT has signed a five-year annual maintenance contract (AMC) with the proj­ ect developers and a dedicated team of trained engineers will ensure that the infrastructure operates at the highest levels of efficiency and performance.

Once the implementation is complete, AJT will also provide training to the tech-

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Samuel Godfrey R&M Middle East, Turkey & Africa samuel.godfrey@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

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Trends

Expanding FTTH to Regional Areas: A Realistic Scenario?

Fiber-optic technology has long since been connecting continents, but it is having a harder time getting into rural areas, houses and living rooms. How is FTTH developing?

Where are the opportunities, risks, obstacles – particularly for sites outside large cities?

We talked to Prof. Jürgen Anders, an expert in this field.

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Anders teaches at the faculty of Digital Media at Furtwangen University (HFU), Germany. He specializes in the planning of broadband networks and has established the Broadband College at HFU. He is a member of the FTTH Council, the clearinghouse “New Media in Rural Areas”, the FKTG (German TV and Cinema Technology Society) as well as the broadband network “broadnet+”.

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Prof. Anders, fiber-optic networks are now being expanded throughout Europe, even in rural areas. The speed at which network operators are doing this, however, varies considerably. Why should that be?

Jürgen Anders: On the one hand it is a question of what strategy national network operators have chosen to pursue.

On the other, there are a number of countries where expansion is the responsibility of the municipalities: Public authorities themselves become active.

In eastern countries, where there are also high rates of penetration, you will

find that it is often committed new network operators who are driving this expansion forward.

Is the commitment from small municipalities and towns worth it?

Financially speaking, expanding fiber optics to the building is still very difficult to put into figures. The amounts of money being invested are relatively high, the amortization periods are comparatively long. That makes it difficult for private industry. Municipalities simply have more ways of financing such projects and do not depend on fast amortization.

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It is also a question of their capacity to compete as a location. Municipalities have to give that due consideration nowadays. We can indeed see that property prices and population development depend on broadband supply. Particularly when it comes to the attraction for the younger generation, commitment is certainly worth it.

What risks are there in expanding in rural areas?

There are risks in terms of the cost of expansion which is often underestimated and expectations of synergies which do not come to fruition. We have observed that taking the time to engage in appropriate planning and carrying out a detailed needs assessment always pay off. A further critical success factor is providing information at an early date and involving residents and companies to ensure correspondingly high connection rates once FTTH expansion has been completed.

Let’s focus for a moment on technol­ogy: Where is development taking us as regards FTTH and FTTx? We can currently see two directions: FTTC and FTTB. Commercial zones are often equipped with FTTB fast to suit market requirements. In residential areas it is usually sufficient to start out with FTTC. But we certainly recommend that, from the outset, clients take the subsequent installation of Fiber to the Home into consideration.

question of capacity than one of the architecture and the services to be provided. In private households, in which distribution plays a large role, P2MP architecture is an attractive alternative.

The P2P variant is worth considering in the commercial sector for individual corporate connections.

Transmission technology in PONs is changing all the time. What do you recommend municipalities do to keep subsequent investments under control?

On the one hand, industry is required to enable backward compatibility. I would always recommend an open architecture. A passive optical network can be set up in such a way that it can be transformed into a P2P network at a later date without roads having to be dug up.

The correct positioning of the passive splitters is crucial in this respect.

What expectations do you have of manufacturers such as R&M? Together with municipalities, we are, at times, developing strategies that stretch over ten years. This results in certain demands. An extremely important demand is component and system availability for years to come. The reliability and durability of the components are also very important. We strongly urge that better quality components are used.

FTTB FTTC FTTH PON P2P P2MP

Fiber to the Building Fiber to the Curb Fiber to the Home Passive Optical Network Point to Point Network Point to Multipoint Network

To read the entire interview as a full text version or watch the video, go to: www.connections.rdm.com

Prof. Anders, thank you very much for talking to us. n 050.5963

As far as fiber-optic infrastructure itself is concerned: Various technologies, such as P2P or P2MP, are in use. It is less a

Tobias Münzer Market Manager Public Networks tobias.muenzer@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

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I 25

Success

050.6002

Data Security – Made in Switzerland One of the world’s most secure data center complexes is located to the west of Zurich: the greenDatacenter. As the operator of the facility, green.ch makes no compromises.

Only absolutely reliable technology is used, technology that is better than state of the art and ahead of its time. R&M cabling falls into this category.

Franz Grüter, CEO green.ch, and Ronald van der Meer, Managing Director R&M Switzerland

“R&M is a recognized brand.

It stands for reliable value.

It is a traditional Swiss business with an excellent reputation.”

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Franz Grüter, CEO green.ch

When the second wing of the green­ Datacenter goes into operation in the autumn of 2014, the vital role green.ch plays in data center business will become even more important. Matthias Koller, Team Leader for Data Center Deployment: “We will then be the Tier IV supplier in Switzerland.” The many discrete lessees of data center space – security-minded international corporations and sensitive co-location customers – are ever-mindful of high availability and appreciate the unique security measures taken here.

“We offer maximum security, availability and quality. The facility must operate reliably without interruption. That is our top priority,” CEO Franz Grüter emphasized. “Our suppliers have to practice and implement these values as well.”

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In R&M, green.ch has found a supplier of copper and fiber optic infrastructure that shares its own philosophy.

“In all its activities, the green.ch Group relies on three proven values: Swiss quality, reliability and continuity. We appreciate the fact that R&M does its product development and production in Switzerland,” Franz Grüter added. He then talked about the parallels between the two companies: “R&M is a recognized brand. It stands for reliable value.

It is a traditional Swiss business with

an excellent reputation.” He noted that R&M products lived up to the company’s reputation and had met all quality specifications at all times.

Matthias Koller from green.ch and the installation partner Jost Elektro AG both confirm the compatibility: “green.ch and R&M are a good fit. Innovation is a major topic at both companies.” Four traits that are specially appreciated are nocompromise quality and a high level of competence, responsiveness to customers and good cooperation. This last strength manifests itself especially in the reliable delivery performance of R&M and the individual service. “I like working together with R&M. I can rest assured of excellent service tailored to the cus-

greenDatacenter: innovative, ecological, secure

tomer plus customized products. Those are added benefits for planners and installers.”

“A tidy solution!”

Along with the soft skills, the technical advantages are also compelling. Matthias Koller: “The R&M solution saves considerable space in inter-rack cabling.”

He described R&M cabling as a “tidy solution,” which is also visually attractive and appreciated by the lessees.

With R&M systems, a facility can be modularly expanded quickly and without complication. The same holds true for meeting specific customer requests. green.ch relied partially on copper and fiber optic solutions from R&M even in its first wing, completed in 2011. The basic equipment in the second wing, under construction since 2013, consists solely of R&M systems. The LAN topology follows the classic tree structure.

In the computer room, top-of-rack architecture is employed.

R&M cabling is also offered for individually expanding the leased spaces and caged racks. Intelligent patch systems from Jost Elektro AG are likewise available. The specified equipment is MPO and Cat. 6A connection systems, E-2000™ * and LC connector systems, fiber-optic cables for multimode category OM4 and singlemode category OS2 as well as copper cable for 1200 MHz bandwidth.

Pascal Fähndrich, Team Leader for Data Center Facility Management at green.ch, describes the current trend in data cen­ ter business as follows: “An increasing

“No compromises!” That was the motto in planning the greenDatacenter Zurich-West.

Since 2010, green.ch AG has been building the most modern data center in Switzerland in a two-stage project. With its greenfield site, the center is sufficiently removed from sources of danger yet also boasts good traffic connections to the Greater Zurich Area.

The facility is a carrier-neutral data center used solely for this purpose. It features 10 000 square meters of usable space and a redundant 20 Megawatt power supply. A third wing is planned. A total of CHF 120 million are to be invested. The greenDatacenter offers co-location and housing services or the rental of data center space including emergency workstations for business customers.

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Each of the first two units alone meets Tier III availability requirements. Together they satisfy Tier IV requirements owing to the complete redundancy in design. This trait is unique on the Swiss market in this segment. Failures in system components or paths that lead to the failure of overall operations (single points of failure) are virtually ruled out. The availability rate is 99.991 percent.

The annual average downtime is not allowed to exceed 30 seconds. In point of fact, the green­ Datacenter has not had a single second of downtime since it was put into operation.

The greenDatacenter is also exemplary and innovative from an ecological perspective. It is the world’s first data center to be fitted throughout with direct-current equipment. Thanks to this approach, it achieves a favorable power usage effectiveness (PUE 1.4). The air-conditioning uses waste heat and therefore operates especially efficiently. The Swiss Federal Office of Energy awarded the greenDatacenter the Prix Watt d’Or. Many renowned customers use the new Swiss benchmark in the data center industry for different purposes: HP for European-wide cloud services, ABB as a global model plant for direct-current operations, Axpo as a primary corporate data center, Saxo Bank as a data center for data mirroring – and many more.

Together, green.ch AG and Green Datacenter AG form the green.ch Group. They originated in 1995 from the IT department of the SVB, the Swiss farmers' federation, then a pioneer in disseminating Internet access to private customers. Today, green.ch with its staff of about 100 employees is the largest hosted exchange provider, the second largest web hoster and the fifth largest Internet provider in Switzerland.

number of customers purchase completely configured housing packages, quarter and half racks directly from us instead of equipping their leased space themselves. The desire for security is their motivation. Switzerland is attracting growing numbers of international customers as a data center location because of the security advantages it offers. In this situation, it is good to be able to rely on such an established Swiss partner as R&M.” n

* E-2000™, manufactured under license from Diamond SA, Losone.

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Daniel Gyger | R&M Switzerland daniel.gyger@rdm.com

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Trends

40 Gbit/s in Data Centers – But How? 40 gigabits per second. That is the new benchmark for data centers. If you want to ensure top performance in the cloud era, you are going to have to make sure your networks can cope with this transmission speed.

There are five possible different technologies.

An overview.

When you are planning 40-gigabit proj­ ects in data centers and thinking about whether investing is worth it, there are a number of criteria to be taken into consideration. First of all you should think about the application area: If you are planning for the Core and Aggregation Layer, you are looking at links of at least fifteen meters. In larger facilities, distances of 100 meters and more may have to be covered.

In the future, 40 gigabits will also be used in the Access Layer which mostly involves shorter distances of up to 30 meters. Here consumers are looking for suitable solutions for Top-of-Rack (TOR) or End-of-Row (EOR) architectures.

The suitable technology and reach have to be selected to correspond to the particular application area. But whichever way you look at it, there is no one solution that can cover all requirements at a low price at the same time.

be looked into in depth. Various manufacturers set great store by proprietary components. Planners and operators should weigh up whether a solution is compatible, interoperable and indepen­ dent in use.

The more complex networks in data centers become, the more and more crucial it will be to use systems for monitoring and Automatic Infrastructure Management (AIM).

The more complex networks in data centers become, the more and more crucial it will be to use systems for monitoring and Automatic Infrastructure Management (AIM). Are the distribution and cabling systems selected ready for that?

Technical planning criteria There are other technical criteria that play a role in planning: Attenuation, latency, energy consumption, heat generation, connector shape, cable diameters and port density should be compared.

The current stage of standardization and thus the effectiveness for the future of the selected solution are important.

Ultimately, the degree of modularity, scalability, reliability of the investment, ease of use and value for money should

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Five 40GBASE-x technologies Essentially, there are currently five different 40GBASE-x technologies available.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages. The table lists fundamental distinguishing features.

If you consider 40GBASE-CR4 with Twinax cabling, availability and tech­ nology maturity will play a role. In the long-­distance sector, your eyes will naturally be drawn to the comparatively cost-­efficient multimode solution, 40­GBASE-SR4. At this point, we would

050.6007/06

40 Gbit/s solutions for data center applications Technology

40GBASE-SR4

40GBASE-SR-BD

40GBASE-LR4

40GBASE-T

40GBASE-CR4

Area of use

Core, Aggregation

Core, Aggregation

Core, Aggregation

Access

Access

Reach

150 m, R&M: to 600 m

150 m

2 km

30 m

Passive 7 m, Active 15 m

Cables

Multimode fibers

Multimode fibers

Singlemode fibers

Twisted Pair

Twinax

Connectivity / shape

QSFP+, MPO

QSFP+, LC duplex

QSFP+, LC, SC

RJ45 and / or ARJ45 (Cat. 8.1 or rather 8.2)

QSFP+

Energy consumption

1.5 W

3.5 W

3.5 W

5W ?

1.5 W

Latency

300 ns + channel

1 µs

300 ns + channel

2 µs ?

300 ns

Port density

48

48

48

48 ?

48

Standardization

Yes

Yes

Yes

Not yet

Yes (vendor lock in)

like to mention the outstanding range of the R&M solution for 40-GBASE-SR4.

R&M specifies 330 meters using OM3 cabling and 600 meters using OM4 cabling each with four MTP ® connectors.

40GBASE-T is still in the standardization phase. Which means that we can currently only guess at energy consumption and the resulting port density and latency.

But basically there is a wide range of technology available. The solutions have

different strengths, weaknesses and levels of maturity. Each technology has a right to exist. The right technology mix should be analyzed and determined for each specific case. n

050.5584

Dr. Peter Cristea | Head of Technology & Pre-Development peter.cristea@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

10I2014–47

I 29

Success

BGZ is a housing cooperative that facilitates modern, reasonably priced housing on the north side of Zurich.

The apartments meet all the requirements for a digital lifestyle.

050.6008

Maximum Flexibility for a Digital Lifestyle Zurich is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Inexpensive apartments are hard to come by. City voters therefore decided in 2013 to increase the number of affordable apartments by 30 %. A number of pertinent projects have been started since then. Bauge­ nossenschaft Glatttal Zürich (referred to below as BGZ) is one of the largest housing cooperatives and investors in the region with about 2000 apartments.

Its latest project is called the Wrighthouse.

The cooperative system is a proven model for the construction of reason­ ably priced housing and is widespread in Switzerland. It is based on the solidarity of a large number of members, who jointly finance and run a project.

Thanks to their broad base, the cooperatives can bring to market a diverse portfolio and a wide variety of apartment sizes. They have properties for all situations in life.

Nearly one fourth of all apartments in the Zurich Metropolitan Area belong to housing cooperatives.

The cooperatives enable their members to live in modern, affordable housing.

Current example: the Wrighthouse belonging to the housing cooperative BGZ. It offers a lot of comfort and convenience at a good price – also with respect to communication.

the reason BGZ invested in the Wrighthouse, a modern residential and commercial project.

Kurt Williner, Head of Construction and Maintenance at BGZ: “The Wrighthouse supplemented our portfolio on the north side of Zurich perfectly with its 81 apart-

ments and variety of commercial spaces. The apartments have an ultra-modern design and clearly meet the needs of highly mobile young working couples.” The building complex is part of a total system containing all the necessary facilities: shopping mall, gym, business hotel and much more.

The R&M solution

n 1 OMDF cabinet with Flexibility is vital for the cooperatives because their members’ life cycles, space requirements and individual needs change constantly. To be able to supplement their range of housing and keep resources on hand as needed, the cooperatives occasionally erect or purchase new buildings and apartments. This was

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CONN CTIONS

2 combination modules for 144 consumer units

n 6 building entry points n 122 pre-terminated FO outlets n 122 home wiring installation kits with Cat. 5e/u

n 370 multimedia outlets n 8 km installation cabling Cat.5e/u

10I2014–47 050.6009

Affordable living in Zurich BGZ is a housing cooperative that enables renters and cooperative members to live inexpensively in the direct vicinity of Zurich. Today it has nearly 2000 apartments on the north side of the city. Its portfolio includes apartments of all sizes and with all manner of features plus singlefamily townhouses. Handicapped and low-income individuals can find an apartment at BGZ. The buildings of BGZ are close together. It is therefore worthwhile for the cooperative to take care of services for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the properties itself. It employs nine janitors, inter alia, who are experts on the building installations and receive continuing training regularly. R&M gave the janitors specific training so they can take care of the communication infrastructure themselves.

050.6010

Flexible infrastructure Kurt Williner: “This project is aimed at a target group with a digital lifestyle.”

That is why BGZ wanted to install modern, future-capable infrastructures from the outset. The apartments were to be appealing and sustainable in every respect and offer added value. Kurt Williner: “The communication infrastructure is supposed to be state of the art and be flexibly usable. For instance, modern individuals want to be highly flexible in terms of their providers!”

The project partners decided on a combined communication approach based on cabling solutions from R&M. It consists of Fiber to the Building (FTTB), Fiber to the Home (FTTH) and multi­ media home cabling. R&M recommended the flexible fiber-coax concept to connect the apartments. It enables generic Gigabit Ethernet transmission.

The building was connected using the FiberSpot concept of Swisscom. The external fiber optic cabling was run up to an appropriately equipped SCS FAN rack, which is housed in an optical main distribution frame (OMDF) from R&M. The active components for the access area are also located here. The cabling for all the apartments converges at the OMDF. The Swiss 4-fiber model is applied throughout the building. It ensures open access for phone, Internet, TV and cable providers.

The optical fibers were run from the building entry point (BEP) into the multi­ media distribution boxes for the apart-

ments and from there to the fiber optic outlets. In addition, all apartments were connected to a coaxial cable for CATV. Copper cabling in a star arrangement supplies the individual rooms and the multimedia outlets. They are fitted with RJ45 and coax connections. The same communication infrastructure was installed in the 41 condominiums in the Wrighthouse, which are being offered on the market independently of BGZ. Free choice of providers With this approach, BGZ makes avail­ able a generic passive infrastructure in a star arrangement. All communication and online services, phone, cable or digital TV, radio and Internet can be used over a single set of integrated cabling.

This solution is capable of meeting future needs and also offers occupants the added value that comes from flexibility. All transmission media are already in each apartment so the occupants can easily switch providers if they wish.

In addition, they can combine multiple services for the purpose of convergence and even set up their own mini local data networks for their computers or game consoles.

Meyer & Partner AG from Stäfa, the electrical engineering firm subcontracted by the general contractor Implenia to do the planning, recommended the R&M solutions. Once again, Meyer was convinced of the quality of R&M products. From the perspective of planners, R&M offers the leading total solutions for projects such as the Wrighthouse.

R&M also provided comprehensive ser-

050.6011

www.wrighthouse.ch www.bg-glattal.ch

vices during the entire project, which was seen as another plus. Melcom AG from Wallisellen was contracted to do the installation work. n

090.6343

Beat Stucki | R&M Switzerland beat.stucki@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

10I2014–47

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Trends

The Latest Standards for AIM Systems Automated Infrastructure Management (AIM) systems are increasingly used in data centers to monitor connections and take care of a whole range of other tasks. There will soon be a standard for AIM: the ISO / IEC 18598.

090.6934

050.6013

Total control of cabling using AIM systems such as R&MinteliPhy makes the daily work of network administrators a much easier task. AIM systems map the entire infrastructure in a consistent database which is always up to date and provide auxiliary tools and planning aids for network administration.

The trend toward using AIM is being given a boost with the forthcoming ISO / IEC 18598 standard which defines demands made of AIM systems and also provides advice on how to use them.

The aim is to support efficient, inexpensive and secure network operations.

AIM systems are primarily used to manage cable infrastructure as well as the active devices of an IT infrastructure.

Then there is the documentation and monitoring of physical connections.

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This information will be useful for managing IT processes and systems, but also for other areas such as intelligent building automation. The point of AIM systems is that they make their knowledge of the data of a network available to other management tools using standardized data models and interfaces.

R&M plays an active role in this stan­ dardization. Expert findings in the stan­ dardization procedure are used con­ stantly for the further development of R&M­inteliPhy. Users of R&MinteliPhy can be sure that they are using a futureproof and standard-compliant system.

Supplementary standards Planners and network operators can also refer to the CENELEC EN 50600-26 standard. This standard defines procedures for managing and operating data centers. The main focus is on the operative processes for optimizing reliability, availability, security and energy efficiency in data centers.

Another significant standard is the ISO / IEC 14763-2. It contains information on the basic functions of AIM systems in a new addendum. For details, ISO / IEC 14763-2 refers to ISO / IEC 18598.

The forthcoming standardization will unite the interfaces. It can thus be expected that the use of AIM systems will soon be made much simpler and thus increase considerably. n

050.5558

Reinhard Burkert | Product Manager reinhard.burkert@rdm.com

Trends

Glossary of Transmission Technology

To measure or not to measure? – With fibers, that is the wrong question

050.6015

It is not enough for a link just to work. If high performance is what you are after, all elements of an FO connection have to work together perfectly – also in terms of guaranteed performance in the future. So measuring is in fact mandatory.

Different FO installations – offices, data centers, long-distance traffic – require different measurement technology. The following three methods have established themselves on the market: n LSPM Light Source / Power Meter is a combination to determine the attenuation of an optical link. The source transmits a light pulse with a precisely defined power level – and at the other end, the remaining power is measured. The method is more precise than an OTDR measurement, but does not reveal any information on the individual elements of a connection. n OTDR Optical Time Domain Reflectometers send a short light pulse and record the reflections over time. The known ve­ locity of dispersion in the fiber means that the reflections or loss can be determined spatially. The characteristics and length of the relevant fibers should, however, be known to be able to select the suitable pulse width. Because that is what determines the range and dead zones.

n PMD Polarization Mode Dispersion is increasingly becoming a test criterion for service providers. PMD, the varying velocity of dispersion of light in different polarization directions, becomes increasingly important the longer the distance and the shorter the pulse width, i.e. the higher the bit rate. The PMD tolerance levels sink in proportion to the bit rate. This is why reliable and reproducible PMD measurements are indispensable for future applications with higher bit rates. There are different PMD measuring methods. Basically, a PMD test device always consists of a source, which can vary the polarization of the test signal, and a detector, which can measure the change in polarization.

Make sure you have measuring conditions conforming to standards. ISO 14763-3 pertains to optical fibers in customer premises cabling. It permits only 0.3 dB attenuation for MM (0.5 dB for SM) connector/socket combinations – a value that can only be attained with patch cords and sockets that conform to standards.

You cannot simply rely on any minimum performance. Measurement is the name of the game. Test cables with reference connectors are required. And always remember: Clean the optical connectors before measuring and before any change. This is especially important as 95 % of all errors reported

by IT personnel can be attributed to contaminated connectors. n

050.5969

Dave De Vylder Technical Service Specialist dave.devylder@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

10I2014–47

I 33

Success

Fiber to the Farm Together with R&M, a local network operator in the Austrian Salzkammergut region is making sure that around 4000 subscribers have access to fiber optics and that milking machines can be controlled online.

Life is unhurried in Schörfling am Attersee. The famous landmark, and emblem, of this small Austrian community, Kammer Castle, majestically overlooks the lake – and has done for more than 800 years now. Sail boats gently rock on the waves in the small marina. Things seem to go at their own pace here.

Fiber optics pioneer But the idyllic life in the Salzkammergut region has another side to it which is

not as obvious but certainly just as formative for both the town of Schörf­ ling itself and the region as a whole: Schörfling is one of the most modern communities in Upper Austria when it comes to fiber optic networks. While other towns were still thinking about extending their broadband networks, the first houses and farms were already excited about their FO connections here. And that was back in 2007. Today there are already 4000 subscribers to

050.6017

the network in the communities on the north shore of Lake Attersee. The driving force behind this development is Expert Nöhmer, a local company that dates back to 1958. Although it was originally founded as a bicycle shop, it has developed over time into an innovative Internet service provider.

Milking using the Internet Thanks to Expert Nöhmer, there has been a cable TV network in the North Attersee region since 1978, at the time with three channels, a sensation back then, and now with over 300. In 2007, the family company started investing big time in Fiber to the Home. “In our case, you could call it Fiber to the Farm,” explains Junior Director Gerhard Nöhmer with a grin. “Because we laid up to 1.5 kilometers of fiber optic cables to reach outlying farms. This means the farmers can now operate milking machines that are controlled using the Internet.”

High demands The extensive network expansion also saw a rise in the need for high packing density and installation that was as simple and as time-saving as possible.

Expert Nöhmer started looking for a provider that could perfectly meet these criteria. And found just what was needed at the FTTH Conference 2012 in Munich: R&M was exactly the efficient kind of partner the company was

050.6016

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050.6020

“Farmers can now control milking machines using the Internet.”

Gerhard Nöhmer, Junior Director, Adolf Nöhmer GmbH & Co. KG

050.6018

Schörfling is one of the most modern communities in Upper Austria when it comes to fiber optic networks.

While other towns were still thinking about extending their broadband networks, the first houses and farms were already excited about their FO connections here.

looking for. From its headquarters in Wetzikon, R&M supplied the Austrian company with a customized Optical Distribution Frame (ODF), splice modules and street cabinets.

Outstanding prospects Today, Expert Nöhmer is satisfied with its end-to-end system from the main distributor to home connections, en­ abling simple installation, high packing density and flexible subscriber management. Other advantages include efficient protection against external influences as well as the fact that it is no problem to combine coax and fiber

optics in the main distribution cabinet.

In this way, Schörfling and the surrounding communities are perfectly equipped to offer their residents and visitors even more than the wonderful charm of the Salzkammergut area in the future: namely, the fastest fiber optic network in the region. n

090.6172

Herbert Tisch | R&M Austria herbert.tisch@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

10I2014–47

I 35

Success

ODF Networking Swiss National Highways Millions of vehicles roll over Swiss national highway A13 in eastern Switzerland year in and year out. It is one of the most important roads traversing the Alps. Now it has been made even safer. A new fiber optic network improves communication and monitoring along the transit route with assistance from an optical distributor frame (ODF) from R&M. 050.6021

The Civil Engineering Office of the Swiss Canton of Grisons is a role model in modern transportation. It takes care of an efficient road system 1591 kilometers long. That task includes maintaining national highways on behalf of the federal government. The roads are primarily in the mountains. A crucial link is the connection between the Rhine Valley and the Canton of Ticino through the 6 km long San Bernardino Tunnel – a 131 kilometer long section of national highway A13. Some 14 to 16 million vehicles drive on the A13 every year in the north and around the cantonal capital of Chur. This heavy traffic requires constant, reliable monitoring and communication by the administrative offices of the Grisons Civil Engineering Office.

The Civil Engineering Office began laying fiber optic networks along key roads 20 years ago. It was a pioneering achievement at the time. Now the cabling along the A13 and on other sections is being replaced by ASTRA (Federal Roads Office) to ensure futurecapable transmission of information and data over 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The network links all tunnels and locations. Its tasks include, among others, monitoring tunnels and sending video images and traffic data as well as controlling oper­ ational equipment. Other

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authorities use the fiber optic cables for their own communication.

The quality and security of the network infrastructure were key factors in planning and evaluation. That is why the re­ liable partner R&M was selected. The optical distributor frame (ODF) was of particular interest to Andrea W. Jetzer from the planning firm Fibertech and to Sandro Mura, the chief of telecom and IT at the Grisons Civil Engineering Office.

The ODF enables a “revolutionary approach” in the words of the project participants. The compact design of the distributor frame fits well into the planned facility locations. Conventional 19" systems would have taken up too much space. The modular, user-friendly patch and splice units of the single circuit management systems (SCM) were also just what the customer had en­ visioned, as were the possibilities for individual management. Positive re­ c­ ommendations from users, practitioners and installers strengthened the resolve of the customer to choose the ODF from R&M. And that is how R&M ODF cabinets came to be employed for the first time in a highway construction project. Customer-specific requirements were satisfied quickly and without complication. The ODF cabinets of

050.6022

the Grisons Civil Engineering Office were delivered with the housing painted red.

Further projects are being planned.

Sandro Mura summarized the project in a nutshell: “R&M provides quick, conscientious and competent service. They always cater to customers’ wishes. This collaboration is valuable. R&M Sales is organized very efficiently and professionally. We greatly appreciate that.” n

090.6099

Peter Meier | R&M Switzerland peter.meier@rdm.com

Trends

Saving Energy with Short Links Cabling saves energy by avoiding overlengths. This is where dynamic power scaling comes into its own. It minimizes the transmitting power into the cable so that the signal strength is just sufficient to transport the transmitted information safely to the recipient. The insertion loss of a cable is in proportion to its length.

This means that greater signal strength reductions are possible with shorter links.

Working with short links It is not always possible, however, to use short links in all environments. The reason: The permanent link model only takes the connector systems at the close end of the link and the relevant cable into consideration. If the users shorten the distance between the two ends of a permanent link, the loss of the cable is increasingly reduced. This increases the influence of the connecting technology at the other end of the con-

Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE) extends the Ethernet standard and aims to lower energy requirements. The standard was adopted in 2010 and, since the introduction of 10GBASE-T, cabling too plays its part in saving energy.

nection and potentially can lead to transmission faults.

create short links. Together with the EEE protocol, this represents energy savings of 17 % for this link.

Greater signal strength reductions are possible with short links.

The HPNC solution from R&M The top-quality Cat. 6A ISO modules and the cables from R&M’s High Performance Network Connectivity (HPNC) solution support the approach described. With them it is possible to install 10GBASE-T links from two meters in length. A best-case scenario consequently has 13 meters less cable. The links still meet all demands of ISO / IEC 11801 Amendment 2, particularly the critical parameters NEXT and RL. n

To avoid these problems, the standard specifies a minimum link length of 15 meters for permanent links. In many environments, this link length is realized by laying superfluous cables as loops. If, however, users combine a very good module with an excellent cable, headroom is created enabling permanent links to be considerably shortened to

050.5774

050.6023

Dr. Jan Kupec | R&D Engineer jan.kupec@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

10I2014–47

I 37

Success

Flexible Academy for Financial Professionals A university that reconfigures its lecture halls for almost every lecture.

That is how the Sparkassenakademie in Stuttgart does it. Regardless of how the walls happen to be arranged at a given time, the instructors and seminar participants always have access to robust, reliable network connections for computers and for presentation and media equipment.

Stuttgart is the second largest financial center in Germany. The most renowned organizations are investing in the new downtown area north of the main train station known as Europaviertel. The 53 savings banks in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg also concentrate their central institutions at this location. As market leaders in southwestern Germany, they have assets totaling € 175.5 billion.

The key big project of Sparkassen­ver­ band, the association of these savings banks, involves an investment of € 85 million to erect a training academy for the savings banks (Sparkassen­ akade­ mie), referred to below as “the Academy”. It offers the 50 000 employees a variety of basic and continuing training courses. Its opening in March 2014 launched a new era of learning for the financial experts. Even Peter Schneider, president of Sparkassenverband Ba­denWürttemberg, was impressed: “The Academy offers ultra-modern technology, ultra-modern possibilities.” For him, superbly trained personnel is a key factor of success for the savings banks.

Marcus Arnold, Head of IT at the Academy: “In planning, we took into account future forms of teaching, learning and presentation.”

Flexible use of space The 40 halls, training rooms and rooms for small-group activities are all completely networked and fitted with highend media equipment. Video walls with 13.5-square-meter screens, 103" plasma and 80" LCD monitors can be controlled from computers and intuitively operated. Internet, document cameras and video cameras can be activated in a matter of clicks to produce interac­ tivity and disseminate knowledge. The real showpiece is the 23-square-meter LED video wall in the largest conference hall, which has seating for 600. Digital video cross rails enable any desired transmissions between the rooms and the floors.

Partitions can be shifted in most rooms of the Academy to divide or enlarge them. That means the various spaces can be adapted in no time to the spatial

050.6024

and technical needs of the widest range of events. This approach is based on a concept developed by the Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart.

Hundreds of floor tanks and 130 WLAN access points offer the lecturers and visitors direct access to the 10 Gigabit network no matter how rooms and seating happen to be arranged at a given moment. This extraordinary flexibility and functionality was among the key requirements during planning.

“You need absolute top-quality cabling for that.”

Marco Thieme, graduate engineer and project manager from the engineering office IB Schwarz

“You need absolute top-quality cabling for that,” was the conclusion of Marco Thieme, project manager at the engineering firm IB Schwarz, when planning began in the fall of 2010.

Functional diversity Given the flexible use of space and frequent changes of media equipment,

Installation

n 160 km Cat. 7 cable n About 3 400 Cat. 6A ports n About 70 x 48-port 1U HD patch fields

n About 450 module holders (with 6 outlet connections each) for floor tanks

n About 3 200 Cat. 6A patch cords n 130 WLAN access points n IPTV system for the hotel

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10I2014–47 050.6027

Source: wma architekten – wöhr mieslinger assoziierte, Stuttgart www.wma-net.de

050.6025

A New Place to Learn A new place to learn and gather has been created in the heart of Stuttgart: Sparkassenakademie, the training institution for the savings banks of Baden-Wuerttemberg. It was erected according to the plans of the Stuttgart architectural firm wma wöhr mieslinger assoziierte. It is the most modern educational facility in the German savings bank sector and makes learning both inviting and enjoyable. The eight-floor building has much to offer: n A convention center with a hall for up to 600 people, four conference rooms with seating for 200 each. n

The Academy with 18 seminar rooms, 15 rooms for small-group work and two IT training rooms.

An office story for the 65-member administrative staff, two restaurants, a bistro, 148 hotel apartments, a daycare center and an underground garage. n

Every day, the Academy courses and conferences are attended by about 1000 financial advisors, bank sales staff, personnel, marketing and IT experts as well as junior and senior management.

In other words, every year these courses are attended by about 26 000 employees from savings banks in southwest Germany and their associated companies. Many remain there for several weeks and can stay in the comfortable hotel rooms for the duration.

050.6026

Peter Schneider, president of Sparkassenverband Baden-Württemberg, the association of savings banks in southwest Germany: "With our basic and continuing training, we lay the groundwork for satisfying our public mandate."

the planners expected the patch cords to be plugged in and out more frequently than average. They wanted the floor tanks and distributors to withstand this extra strain for decades.

Under no circumstances could the stability of signal transmission be allowed to be impaired. The vital factor for the Academy is to be able to ensure a highly professional range of lectures and educational events at all times.

In addition, it wanted the cabling equipment to be as concentrated as possible.

The academy demanded functional diversity for the network infrastructure and for the rooms. It wanted the LAN to network not only the training rooms, media equipment, WLAN antennas and offices, but also the hotel wing housed in the same building, the restaurants and a daycare center. The 148 apart-

ments in the Academy hotel offer IPTV (Internet protocol television), inter alia.

450 module holders each fitted with six outlet connections.

Cat. 6A for training To meet the tough quality requirements, the Academy opted for the current copper range from R&M. A decision was also made to integrate the R&M security system with color coded plug connections. This system allows users to distinguish the network services clearly and always select the correct plug connection.

After two years of construction and the on-schedule opening, Marco Thieme summed up the experience as follows: “R&M provided us with excellent support in this project. The contact partners were always reachable. Everything we needed was delivered promptly.” n

The innovative R&M Cat. 6A connection modules, Cat. 6A patch cord, highdensity patch panels and Cat. 7 cables form the basic framework for structured cabling. About 160 km of cable had to be laid and about 3400 ports had to be wired. More than 70 patch panels were placed in the distributors.

For the floor tanks, R&M prepared

050.5970

Michael Münzmay | R&M Germany michael.muenzmay@rdm.com

CONN CTIONS

10I2014–47

I 39

Trends

Optical Transmission: Opportunities and Limits With 12 700 participants and more than 800 specialist presentations, the most recent Optical Fiber Communication (OFC) Conference in San Francisco provided valuable insight into all the latest technologies, current market situations and future trends.

This report details a few important aspects.

Buzzwords such as Space Division Multiplexing (SDM), 40 / 100 G Optics, Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Silicon Photonic Integration, Raman Amplifiers and the like kept reoccurring in the various OFC programs. But what are the experts really talking about? How do all the individual pieces of the puzzle go together to create an overall systematic picture? In this article, we want to provide an overview of the most important points of discussion: the current development of FO transmission and its limits, new technologies and the opportunities they will offer in the future.

050.6029

Overview: the Shannon law In practice, every optical transmission system is limited by the noise of the amplifiers and the non-linearity of the fibers – a physically given limit. Nevertheless, there have been a number of breakthrough technologies over the last three decades in the core network of optical transmission.

First of all, the introduction of single­ mode fibers in the 1980s. A decade later coherent detection and optical ampli­fication came to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. A further leap in terms

of capacity was the introduction of WDM technologies in the long-haul network at the start of the new millennium. Recent developments in de­ ploying sophisticated modulation techniques are leading to the improvement of spectral efficiency in optical fiber transmission.

Figure 1 impressively shows the evo­ lution of optical transmission system capacity and reflects the continuous improvement in performance. How­ ever, the spectral efficiency of a transmission system has limits to its ex-

050.6031

Figure 1 on the left: Development of the capacity of optical transmission systems thanks to breakthrough technologies.

Figure 2 on the right: Spectral efficiency (in bits per second per Hz). The dashed line represents the theoretical limit according to the Shannon theorem. The two solid lines show the practical limits of today's transmission systems depending on input power density (in mW per GHz).

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050.6028

tendibility. According to Shannon, there is a theoretical maximum that depends on the available bandwidth and the signal-to-noise ratio of a communications channel. The spectral efficiency is also specified as channel capacity (in bit / s) per bandwidth unit (in Hz) (Figure 2).

050.6033

Apart from a highest possible capacity, experts take two further aspects into consideration. One of them is the aim to simplify the management of optical networks. The other aspect concerns costs, and by that we mean the investment and operating costs of the entire system. So overall, the focus is on three points: greater transmission capacity, lower overall costs and simpler network management (Figure 3).

The technology opportunities A few exciting developments mean we can look forward to a brilliant future of optical communication. The aim is to fully exploit the spectral efficiency of the transmission systems up to their physical limits. Hot topics were discussed at OFC. n Multicore Fiber is one of the significant FO innovations which will increase transmission capacity at least sevenfold. It will speed up the introduction of SDM technologies. With appropriate solutions for the connecting technology, coupling multicore fibers with a group of singlemode fibers could be a possibility. This could be realized using a free space lens array or using 3D waveguides to form the fan-in-fanout coupling devices.

Figure 3: The top view of optical fiber communication.

n Thanks to silicon photonics, costs and energy consumption of optical devices can be reduced. The optical transmission into and between silicon chips (silicon photonics) could solve the problem of large “data movement” and thus clear the way to supercomputing.

A number of challenges have to be overcome before this technology is ready to go to market. Experts advocate an integral approach taking network architecture and software into consideration. n Digital Signal Processing (DSP) increases the capacity, tolerance and flexibility of transmission systems. In long-haul transmission, digital signal processing enables the multiple-input /

multiple-output process (MIMO) and is thus a prerequisite for SDM. But even in short-distance applications, DSP is becoming increasingly important for modulation, the more data rates increase – not least because of cloud computing.

On behalf of R&M, Dr. Ying Hao was invited to give a talk on the topic of “Optical Interconnects in Data Centers” at the POEM conference (International Photonics and OptoElectronics Meetings) on 18 – 21 June in Wuhan, China.

For more information, follow this link: http://poem.wnlo.cn/Program_Highlights/Industry_Forum

Early detection and analysis of technological trends are the key to success.

This is an essential prerequisite in order to provide our customers with futureproof solutions. n

Sources: – A.Willner, Optical Communication Systems, OFC 2014 – T. Li & H. Kogelnik, Optical Communication Laboratory, 2010 – P. Mitra & J. Stark, Nonlinear limits to the information capacity of optical fibre communications, nature, vol. 411, 2001 – K. Bergman, Silicon Photonics for Exascale Systems, OFC 2014

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Dr. Ying Hao | R&D Engineer, Member of IEC TC86 Fiber Optics ying.hao@rdm.com

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Success

Vodafone España is Building up its Network of Branch Offices with a Shielded Cabling Solution from R&M The telecommunication provider is investing in the modernization of its sales locations throughout Spain using a cabling solution from R&M that guarantees maximum performance at each branch.

Vodafone España has started converting its distribution channels and will open up a large number of exclusive, personalized stores. The project commenced at the beginning of 2014 and will be completed by 2017.

In June 2014 the network of these new stores numbered 100. When the conversion is finished in March 2017, the network will cover all regions of Spain and is expected to have more than 750 branches.

Efficiency Technical Department Vodafone: “We are making great efforts to develop exclusive stores as a distribution channel.

We want to offer our customers an incomparable experience. To reach this goal, we need advanced technical infrastructure.”

Partnership In this project the telecommunication provider depended from the outset on support from Aryse Infraestructuras.

Aryse plans, builds, maintains and runs communication networks for network operators of all sizes in Spain.

Aryse Infraestructuras, a certified R&M partner, opted for the products of R&M due to the list of requirements sub­ mitted by Vodafone. It was the only way

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to satisfy these tough performance demands at all times.

“We are making great efforts to develop exclusive stores as a distribution channel.

We want to offer our customers an incomparable experience.

To reach this goal, we need advanced technical infrastructure.”

Technical Department Vodafone

“We needed the best shielded cabling solution on the market for this project.

Knowing the reliability and guarantee R&M can offer us, we did the obvious thing and offered a clear-cut, efficient solution from the Swiss manufacturer,”

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The R&M Solution

n Cat. 7A cable – shielded n R&M security system n R&M patch guard Why R&M?

n Top product efficiency n Security n Connectivity with shielded cables n Reliable partnership between Aryse and R&M

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explained Jesús Rodríguez, Managing Director of Aryse.

The Vodafone stores occupy first place in terms of technology right now. Every individual point of sale has an unbeatably efficient network at its disposal.

is further proof that their joint experience from earlier projects assures the best results time and again. There is no doubt about that. n

In the process of modernizing the Vodafone stores, R&M installed category 7A shielded cables with class 6A connec­ tivity. This was undoubtedly the best solution given the requirements set for the speed and security of data transmission.

The long-standing partnership between R&M and Aryse Infraestructuras helped to ensure the all-round success of the project. Both the involved partners offered the best possible service. This

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Raúl Villarroel del Pino | R&M Iberia raul.villarroel@rdm.com

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Success

CMRI, a Global Leader in Medical Research, Selects R&M’s Cabling Solutions in Sydney Founded in 1958, the Children’s Medical Research Institute in Sydney is an internationally respected institution for the significant advances it has made. Over the past 55 years, CMRI has carried out a wide spectrum of research in fields such as congenital defects including heart disease, blood disorders and cystic fibrosis research.

CMRI also pioneered microsurgery techniques that help repair tiny blood vessels and organs in infants and children and has also made several advances in gene therapy and cancer research.

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CMRI’s vision is to make further contributions to medical science in the years to come. Endorsed by the NSW government, CMRI’s redevelopment of its building infrastructure will further boost the scale of its research efforts and programs. Among the five stages of redevelopment that have been planned and approved, the first stage has just been completed. R&M had the opportunity to work with CMRI and our partner Computer Room Solutions (CRS) to deliver cabling solutions for the network infrastructure.

As CMRI is a pre-eminent hub for important research and development, data is continuously being generated in the form of medical research insights, labo-

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thereby simplifying installation and maintenance. CMRI also wanted to have its logo imprinted on the cable management system, a request that R&M fulfilled thanks to years of experience in customizing products to suit customer requirements.

ratory findings and information from other facilities. There was a clear mandate to build a network that could scale and remain future-proof, considering that more brand-new buildings would be interconnected upon the final completion of all five stages of redevelopment.

“We really liked R&M’s approach as a friendly brand that helped us build our IT network cabling with the right solution.

They also went the extra mile to customize the product as per our specifications with our logo which creates a meaningful environment within the building.”

R&M’s Cat. 6 UTP solution was proposed for the office cabling of the first building that houses 200 researchers.

The reliability of the Cat. 6 solution ensures continuous transmission of data and maximum uptime for the communication network at CMRI. For backbone connectivity, a fiber-optic solution based on OM3 12-core multimode cables as well as OM3 fiber-optic patch panels was also supplied.

Andrew Davies, ICT Manager at CMRI

R&M also supplied a 1U and 2U cable management system that would help organize the cables more efficiently

David Child from CRS was directly involved with the project and offered his full support for the network cabling.

CRS also supplied other equipment and solutions for the data center at CMRI. CMRI’s expansion will help speed up advances in the prevention and cure of childhood diseases in Australia and worldwide, offering real hope to children and families everywhere. n

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Emmanuel Beydon | R&M Australia emmanuel.beydon@rdm.com

Trends

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G.fast may well become an interim solution until full-coverage FO cabling to the home is possible. After VDSL, G.fast is the next evolutionary step on the road to broadband service.

Even Faster with G.fast

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A range of field tests and reports at specialist telecommunication congresses have whet people’s appetites for G.fast over the past few months. This ultra-fast, hybrid transmission technology brings even more bandwidth to the final few meters.

The broadband evolution is taking a major step forward with G.fast, an innovation from the labs of notable telecom suppliers. The ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union, Telecommunication Standardisation Sector) intends to launch the standard before the end of 2014.

The acronym “fast” stands for “fast access to subscriber terminals”. The transmission technology is based on vec­ toring. The technology of active noise suppression was also further developed for G.fast.

Solution for the last 100 meters G.fast also uses existing copper pairs – but only over the last 100 to 200 meters.

For G.fast, the fiber optic network has to be pushed forward to a distributor at the curbside (Fiber to the Distribution Point, FTTdp, or Fiber To The Street, FTTS).

G.fast is to be operated with a high transmission frequency of 212 MHz. This bandwidth enables providers to offer In-

ternet access at a speed of 500 Mbit / s.

And speeds of over 1 Gbit / s have been achieved in lab tests.

Migration can take place successively.

G.fast can co-exist with VDSL in the same cable because a gap can be used for VDSL transmission in the lower frequency range.

The distribution point (DP) requires a power supply. One solution is to get the energy from the customer. This is called reverse powering compliant with ETSI TR 102 629. In reverse powering, the distribution point does not require its own connection to the public power supply or copper cabling to the central office. In special cases, such as in Switzerland, old copper cables to the central office are still in place and can provide the power supply. In such cases, remote power feeding can be employed. R&M developed its own solution (Connections No. 46, page 23) for this very purpose.

The international market launch of G.fast systems is likely to take place in the near future. With the cabling system R&Mfox, network operators can now start preparing their passive infrastructure in advance. R&M’s carrier solutions support current hybrid concepts such as FTTdp as well as migration to future FO infrastructures (FTTH). n

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Dr. Jan Kupec | R&D Engineer jan.kupec@rdm.com

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Corporate

Acquisition of AFS India In March 2014, R&M took over all business operations of Advanced Fiber Systems (AFS) India enabling an entry into the Public Networks market in the country.

As one of the leading suppliers of structured cabling systems on the Indian subcontinent, R&M has realized successful solutions in the Office Cabling and Data Center sectors with well-known customers over the past ten years. The acquisition of AFS enables the company to actively address the very promising

field of Public Networks. AFS is a highly regarded manufacturer of FO products and solutions for the Public Networks sector and for years now has been one of R&M’s certified E-2000™* assembling partners. The company was founded in 2002 and has its production facility in Bangalore.

R&M is well established on the Indian market. The acquisition of AFS underscores the company’s endeavors to bring premium products and solutions to market. Customer requirements can now be

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satisfied even further with tailor-made complete solutions. Today, R&M has a workforce of more than fifty in India. n * E-2000™ manufactured under license from Diamond SA, Losone.

Value Added in Cooperation Fluke Networks and Finisar Corporation are the first partners in a new Technology Alliance Program of R&M. The company’s cabling solutions gain additional value added with these cooperations. Data centers in particular reap the rewards.

The fundamental goal of the Technology Alliance Program is to be able to provide the market with financially attractive cabling solutions and underscore the quality level of R&M products. To this effect, the cooperation with Fluke Networks supports the R&M warranty program.

Seven of Fluke’s test devices were approved to check and certify FO and copper installations in the course of R&M warranty applications. The use of inspection equipment in accordance with R&M’s recommendation leads to an increase in process speed from planning through to the commissioning of a cabling system. Processes become more homogeneous, reliable and less expensive.

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Among other things, the test system MultiFiber™ Pro has now been included in the range. MultiFiber™ Pro is the only FO test system with which MPO fiber bundles can be tested without fan-out cables having to be used. This makes it easier to test MTP ®* modules from R&M in the field.

The cooperation with Finisar opens up entirely new dimensions for data cen­ ters. The technology alliance makes QSFP+ transceivers from Finisar a cornerstone of the R&M systems for High Performance Network Connectiv­ ity (HPNC). The result is cost-effective multimode cabling to cover large distances.

For 40 Gigabit Ethernet, R&M is now specifying links up to 600 meters long on the basis of OM4 cables. The parallel-

optical interface technology consists of four MTP ®* connectors from R&M and the QSFP+ transceiver from Finisar. Similarly links up to 330 meters are specified with OM3 cables. The solution ensures a more efficient changeover for data center operators from today’s 10G networks to future powerful 40G fabrics.

In comparison to the use of singlemode cabling on the 600-meter link, this represents savings on typical investment costs of around 60 %. Reliability, transmission quality and the future effectiveness of the cabling nevertheless fulfill the highest demands. n * MTP is a registered trademark of US Conec.

Link to the R&M Technology Alliance Program: www.rdm.com/en/co/about-us/technology-alliance-program.aspx

The Owners’ page

This view of the world was put forward

by French philosopher and mathema­ tician René Descartes (1596 to 1650) who developed a theory of knowledge which claims that things can only be accepted as true if their plausibility can be verified through individual analysis and logical reflection. Our academics are specialists in very narrow, clearly defined fields, but often have a tendency to forget networked connections and mutual dependencies. You cannot understand the message of a film if you only see a small excerpt.

A holistic approach to thinking and acting In science and within companies, Des­ cartes’ mechanistic thinking is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The ad­ vantages of a networked and holistic approach are increasingly being recognized and used, thus opening up a world of opportunities.

In large companies, declared specialists often work in departments that are actually competing with other divisions of the company. Management teams sometimes try to solve such problems with complex processes, using overmodulated IT tools to do so. In many cases, this leads to complicated, slow processes. This generally increasing complexity is forcing companies to adopt a holistic, cross-divisional approach combined with process automation using IT tools. Ideally managers encourage cross-divisional working to be able to adapt flexibly to ever faster changing conditions and customer requirements.

In business and academia, examining topics using an interdisciplinary approach leads to important new findings.

Developing “biodiversity” in teams Innovations often arise at the interfaces of different specialist areas or technologies. You need heterogeneous teams to be able to take advantage of these

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Networked Thinking as an Opportunity Unfortunately, our training systems do not focus sufficiently on the development of networked thinking. All too often, learners are presented with an antiquated view of the world that tells them that the world can only be understood if it is examined down to the very last detail.

opportunities (diversity: expertise, mindset, age, gender). The team members must have the openness needed to accept different views and allow new things to be born. Always with the aim of finding the best solution for customers and companies.

Alongside a high level of expertise and methodological competency, networked thinking is becoming increasingly necessary in business and academia!

essary in business and academia! Successful teams think and act on a crossdivisional basis. There is no room for egoists and lone wolves. This results in a sustainable, customer-oriented innovation culture which can give rise to surprising, new solutions that have come into being thanks to passion, enthusiasm and a high level of team spirit. n

It is like in agriculture: Monocultures are a thing of the past. The future belongs to plant cultures with a high biodiversity.

They complement each other and give each other strength, making them more resistant to climate change and undesirable pests.

Conclusion Alongside a high level of expertise and methodological competency, networked thinking is becoming increasingly nec-

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Martin Reichle | Co-owner, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors martin.reichle@rdm.com

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www.rdm.com

To perfectly fulfill the information requirements of our readers, CONNECTIONS has been available as an e-magazine for some years now.

It contains more detailed information and links on the topics featured in the printed magazine, also in the form of video material and as photo spreads – in German and in English. www.connections.rdm.com/de/connections www.connections.rdm.com/en/connections

Reichle & De-Massari AG Binzstrasse 32 CHE-8620 Wetzikon/Switzerland Phone +41 (0)44 933 81 11 Fax +41 (0)44 930 49 41

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0/e/10.14/DZS Printed in Switzerland – © Reichle & De-Massari AG – All rights reserved

CONNECTIONS: also available as an e-magazine!