ICT Today

April/May/June 2020 I 3 SUBMISSION POLICY ICT TODAY is published quarterly in January/February/March, April/May/June, July/August/September, and October/November/December by BICSI, Inc., and is sent to BICSI members, RCDDs, RTPMs, DCDCs, BICSI Installers and Technicians and ESS, NTS, OSP, RITP and WD credential holders. ICT TODAY subscription is included in BICSI members' annual dues and is available to others through a purchased yearly subscription. ICT TODAY welcomes and encourages submissions and suggestions from its readers. Articles of a technical, vendor-neutral nature are gladly accepted for publication with approval from the Editorial Review Board. However, BICSI, Inc., reserves the right to edit and alter such material for space or other considerations and to publish or otherwise use such material. The articles, opinions and ideas expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of BICSI, its members or its staff. BICSI is not liable in any way, manner or form for the articles, opinions and ideas, and readers are urged to exercise professional caution in undertaking any of the recommendations or suggestions made by authors. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission from BICSI, Inc. ADVERTISING: Advertising rates and information are provided upon request. Contact the BICSI Sales Department for information at +1 813.979.1991 or 800.242.7405 (U.S. and Canada toll-free) or cnalls@bicsi.org. Publication of advertising should not be deemed as endorsement by BICSI, Inc. BICSI reserves the right in its sole and absolute discretion to reject any advertisement at any time by any party. POSTMASTER: Send change of address notices to BICSI, Customer Care, 8610 Hidden River Pkwy, Tampa, FL 33637-1000; Phone: +1 813.979.1991 or 800.242.7405 (U.S. and Canada toll-free). © Copyright BICSI, 2020. All rights reserved. BICSI and RCDD are registered trademarks of BICSI, Inc. contents FROM THE PRESIDENT 05 2020—A New Decade—A New Vision By Todd W. Taylor, RCDD, NTS, OSP COVER ARTICLE 06 Tomorrow's Modern Data Center: Tomorrow's data center depends on the support of the most reliable optical fiber infrastructure. Discover the latest solutions and how to design and install the fiber infrastructure, made up of cables with thousands of fibers and potentially millions of connections that will likely support and tie together clusters of data centers often across hundreds of kilometers. By Seán Adam 18 Data Center Optical Fiber Cabling Decisions Based on Scale: For the purposes of comparison, there are three categories of data centers: traditional enterprise, cloud scale, and hyperscale. Learn how each of these categories has a different set of cabling and connectivity requirements when considering transmission, data rate, installation, latency, density, mainte- nance and migration. By Mike Connaughton, RCDD, CDCD, Brooke Ford, Joost Grillaert, Ph.D. and Michael Wang 26 Definition of an Edge Data Center—404 NOT FOUND: Take the journey beyond the buzzwords, media hype, and often conflicting forecasts to understand the current status and the future potential of "the edge" and edge data centers (EDCs) that will impact the ICT industry. By Sean Kelly, RCDD 38 The Connector: Revolutionizing Connected Infrastructure: The explosive growth of both hyperscale and the cloud has pushed network connectivity demand to levels never before experienced. This has created extraordinary demands on data center connected infrastruc- ture capacity, thereby challenging the ability of enterprises to deliver. The solution to this challenge, in part, is revolutionary innovation in connector technology. By Steve Cheng 52 Leading Innovations in Health Care Empowered By Wireless: Learn about the latest technology innovations in health care and why wireless does not mean less wire. Thus, there are significant implications to the amount of cable and cable pathways, intermediate distribution frames (IDFs), equipment rooms (ERs), and data center space when additional wireless technol- ogy and requirements are included. By Mark Niehus, RCDD 59 The ICT Talent Shortage: Unemployment rates across the United States and even in some international markets are near historic lows, so why do not more individuals enter the ICT field? This article provides an in-depth look into the ways this important challenge may be solved. By Randal R. Reusser, RCDD, TECH, CT APRIL/MAY/JUNE 2020 Volume 41, Issue 2

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