IT infrastructure connectivity has come a long way from wired copper lines and fiber lines to wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMax etc. However, despite the advent of these wireless technologies, cabling, especially structured cabling, continues to be the backbone of IT infrastructure.

THE RISE OF STRUCTURED CABLING
Structured cabling in India was initially aimed at bringing order to the chaos of connecting the various components of an organization’s network of IT. However, the past few years have seen a substantial increase in the data demands in organizations across India. As the country became a hub of services for global organizations, it became imperative to have the required infrastructure in place, to support these services.

Debraj Dam, Business Head, DIGILINK Structured Cabling System, says that the Indian Structured Cabling market accounts for 20 percent of Indian IT spending. The rise in demand for structured cabling systems can be attributed to the need for networks to match the number-crunching capacities offered by current processors.

Additionally, the increase in data has seen organizations go beyond traditional server storage technologies to adopt dedicated storage, as a part of the network, with Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networks (SANs). With the real-time need to store data and access stored data, the connectivity has to be fast and efficient.

“IT managers have started taking cabling infrastructure a lot more seriously. They have recognized that the speed and performance of the network is as much an element of the passive infrastructure as it is the active,” says Dileep Kumar, Director – Product Management, ADC KRONE.

MONEY MATTERS
The current economic situation has been forcing organizations to cut down costs on all fronts including IT spends. Organizations are now shifting  to intelligent cabling solutions to reduce costs while ensuring that performance is not affected.

Dam of DIGILINK explains the need for intelligent cabling solutions. “Today, organizations are focusing on Intelligent Cabling solutions from both the software and hardware point of view to reduce the Capital Expenditure (CAPEX), Operational Expenditure (OPEX) and Total Cost of Operation (TCO). These solutions can help companies to efficiently plan, manage, provision and maintain their network and its components. It can also provide asset management and faster troubleshooting to reduce downtime.”

However, the cost of a structured cabling solution in itself is not very high. Subashini Prabhakar, Chief Technology Manager, Dax Networks, informs that the fluctuating global copper prices have not had a significant effect on the pricing structure. Since cabling is a part of the entire IT infrastructure spend, such price differences do not have any major impact on the adoption of structured cabling solutions.
Dam also mirrors this point of view. He says, “For a given pie, out of Rs 100 spent on the network, the maximum amount spent on a Structured Cabling System (SCS) component is Rs 8 and Rs 5 on good quality installation and certification. If one spends this Rs 13 correctly, he may not need any maintenance over the life of cabling plant.”

“However, Rs 3 per annum can still be a good estimation for preventive maintenance and upgrades. Coming to the relative costs of various media available, essentially it is driven purely by the speed/bandwidth requirements. The variance is not as considerable as compared to total networking budgets.”