Fascinating industry of ours. It has become such a broad ever widening field with specific areas of expertise and specialization, that it is rare to find one individual who can claim to be an expert in all areas.
We have Wireless which has rocketed into the forefront of our daily lives. Ever panic when you can't find your cell phone? Or see the young executive with their palm pilots or blackberries responding to up to the minute emails?
Audio Visual has become another specialized field, requiring a broad range of telecommunications structured cabling, along with equipment specifications, room design, type of presentations to be conducted. I sit in awe of these designers who attend our design meetings asking specific questions from both the architect and end-user alike, looking to design the best A/V system for the money.
We have the Outside Plant specialists. Who, if it wasn't for their experience, determination, and pure grit, our beautifully designed and installed Premise Wiring would be stifled and mute. These groups of specialists understand and maneuver beautifully through campus, municipalities and states to provide connectivity for carriers, and private enterprises alike.
Our own expertise of structured cabling is becoming specialized as well. As installers.... (you know who you are out there...), we all have our "go-to" Fiber Guys..."our wonderful and talented "voice technicians", and our expert copper terminators, who we want to terminate all of our patch panels and jacks.
2008 is promising to be a banner year in this industry. Standards are being developed in all fields of design and installation. BICSI is in the process of completing their Best Practice Method Data Center Design Standard, as well as their Installation Practices for Telecommunications Grounding and Bonding.
Everyone is anxiously awaiting the formal release of 802.11n for 600 Mbs Wireless Transmission (draft 3.0 was approved in November 2007) as well as the Category 6A Augmented specifications.
I look forward to updating our website as these and I'm sure countless other items and topics of interest come to light!
About our Author:
Melissa Chambal is Director of Design & Technology for The Mercury Group. She leads all telecommunications infrastructure design for new and existing clients requiring High Speed Data, Voice and Wireless Services. Melissa reviews all bids for compliance to industry standards and responds to all technical requirements set forth in construction documents or formal request of proposals. Committed to ongoing certification, Melissa develops in-house training programs for field and site personnel to maintain industry credentials. She has both BICSI certifications RCDD¨ (Registered Communications Distribution Designer) and NTS¨ (Network Transport Specialist)
Melissa has a wealth of experience from The Mercury Group clients such as Pfizer and Price Waterhouse Coopers. Formerly as Branch Operations Manager for a major New York City electrical contractor, she provided her leadership skills to all sales and project staff in areas of engineering, design and certification for clients such as UBS/Swiss Bank, IBM World Corporate Headquarters, Champion International, Time Warner Cable, NASDAQ Stock Exchange and Swiss Re.
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