Jeff Beavers joined NECA as executive director, network integration and services in February 2022. Previously, he was South-Central region director, president-elect and president of BICSI.
What’s your background?
I entered the information and communication technology industry at age 19 as a cable splicer in the U.S. Air Force. I’ve worked in OSP construction, as a systems tech from the early days of networking, operations and maintenance of telecommunications systems, to design for enterprise, data centers, K-12 education, higher education, healthcare, sports and entertainment, energy and the Department of Defense.
What were your responsibilities at BICSI?
I was a committee volunteer, having been an SME contributor to several reference manuals. Before I was elected to the board of directors, I was a volunteer and helped to organize local events such as breakfast clubs. I served as the South-Central region director before serving as president-elect and then as president.
How are you going to bring that experience to NECA?
So much of the work at BICSI is done by volunteers. The expertise of the NECA community is so diverse. Every industry has connectivity. From residential networks to manufacturing, data centers, transportation, education and healthcare to utilities. Within these industries are various disciplines of technology: telephony, data networks, audiovisual, electronic safety and security, nurse call, telemetry, intelligent traffic control systems, industrial IoT, small cell, DAS, Wi-Fi and SCADA, to name a few. There’s no monopoly of good ideas. It’s a collaboration with passionate professionals that will advance our industry and profession.
How has the low-voltage industry changed since you started?
It might be easier to say what hasn’t changed, such as snips. In fact, snips haven’t changed much from the handful of Klein snips I have from those in my copy of the 1926 Stromberg-Carlson Telephone, Switchboards and Radio Apparatus supply catalog. The difference now is instead of cutting conductors of high-pair-count copper cables, they are used to cut the aramid yarn of optical fiber cables.
Voice and data system went from being two different systems, often installed and maintained by different organizations, such as the phone company for the voice network and the organization’s IT staff for the data network, to a converged network where it’s all more or less data, on the same network. A Category 6 cable, for example, doesn’t care if the application is voice (analog, digital, etc.) or data (10/100/1000Mb, VoIP, etc.). CATV is often converged and streaming on the data network, whether wired or wireless, and not another separate system, with a different type of cable and connectivity, maintained by the cable company.
Now with Unified Communications, our business communications tools combine services such as VoIP, video conferencing, collaboration, file sharing, instant messaging and other applications. This takes place at the desktop and in the cloud for mobile and virtual users as well as collaboration with those outside our organizations.
We have gone from voice/data/video networks being an amenity to a fourth utility, where ubiquitous connectivity is an expectation. If the Wi-Fi on an airplane isn’t working, or isn’t available, consumers will choose another airline. We have an insatiable broadband appetite.
Where is it headed?
As often occurs, technology comes full circle. The early days of my work as a network technician were before PCs were on every desk. The enterprise networks had dumb terminals at some desks, connected to (mini) mainframes. Thin clients connected to servers in an equipment room are returning to some degree. Power over ethernet (PoE)-powered thin clients will bring many benefits, among them lower power consumption and less heat generated at the work area.
Edge computing, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, CBRS, and very-low-latency networks for autonomous vehicles, connected cities, IoT, AR, our insatiable broadband appetite that will allow consumers to download full-length movies in a matter of seconds—it’s happening now.
Quantum computing is the next giant leap. Quantum networks are estimated to only be 10–15 years away from commercial viability. It is anticipated to be able to work on current structured cabling technologies, though it may be largely fiber to the desktop and more robust than early FTTD. We are seeing some end-users deploying higher-strand-count fiber assemblies used in a hyperscale data center for work area connectivity.
But who knows? Copper cable manufacturers are still advancing copper performance and finding new applications, such as PoE and digital electricity, long after copper was considered to be obsolete.
What do you see as the biggest opportunities in low-voltage work?
The number of connected devices to the number of industries requiring connectivity allow contractors diversity in service areas as well allowing them to add services to exiting capabilities. As an example, a utility contractor involved in transmission and distribution work may find the opportunity to not just string the OPGW (optical ground wire) or ADSS (all-dielectric self-supporting) optical fiber cable in the power space, but also the splicing, termination, testing and maintenance. Network integration and substation automation might follow as the next progression.
Any advice for contractors looking to get into low-voltage work or expand their offerings?
Technologically speaking, we are long gone from the ‘90s, where VDV was just telephones, fax machines, serial data, PC LANs and CATV drops. The average home today might have 20–30 devices on the network. Add to that the number of systems and devices connected in commercial buildings, in connected cities, in the utility grid, in every industry and it is in the billions globally—estimated to be 75 billion by 2025.
The opportunities are huge and continually growing!
Training is more readily available, as are the methods of learning, many of which are virtual. Virtual hands-on seemed like an oxymoron just a few years ago. Fiber optic splicing and test equipment today is largely automated, which has reduced the learning curve as well as equipment costs.
With data centers among the industries utilizing preterminated cable assemblies, the equipment and skills required to terminate—cleave, score and polish—a connector are reduced or eliminated.
How can the organizations work together to benefit each other?
The technological advancements and growth curve continue along a steep trajectory, yet the workforce has a curve going in the opposite direction. There’s a lot of competition for our time and attention. We are partners in recruiting and developing the next generations and we need to be able to be agile—to be as efficient and economical as possible.
We are all not only designers, installers and maintainers of these systems; we’re also end-users. We too might be passengers in a self-driving car, and we’ll expect the technology to work as promised.