I’ve been giving a lot of thought to a comment from R&M’s CEO, Michel Riva, in last month’s Question Time. He said, ‘The current situation has made it clearer than ever that IT and sufficient local bandwidth at home ought to be considered a basic necessity, just like electricity or water.’ It would certainly appear that the network infrastructure’s position as the ‘fourth utility’ is truly undeniable – what do you think?

 

Meanwhile, as more people begin to return to their places of work, the need to make them safe in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus is of paramount importance. Infrared cameras, air quality sensors, smartphone based access control and biometrics are just some of the technologies being increasingly deployed. For this month’s Question Time we have assembled a panel of industry experts to explain whether operating smart building services technology over a network infrastructure can help monitor and automate processes in the most effective ways possible. You can read their opinions by CLICKING HERE.

 

Also in this issue we have a special feature dedicated to data centre infrastructure management (DCIM). Herman Chan of Sunbird Software answers some of the common questions surrounding its specification and use, while Michael Akinla of Panduit explains how it can control and optimise cooling. CLICK HERE to read Herman’s article and CLICK HERE for Michael’s.

 

Green networking continues to be of significant interest to industry professionals and we have with two articles on the subject. Stu Redshaw of EkkoSense looks at how green networks can be extended to the edge and Alexandra Nacken of Nexans examines how green network infrastructures can help meet future demands in a responsible way. CLICK HERE to read Stu’s article and CLICK HERE to read Alexandra’s.

 

Rob Shepherd Editor