For information and communications technology (ICT) professionals.

Join the FOTC's Standards Chair Cindy Montstream for our annual update of TIA and IEEE standards. Attendees will receive one BICSI CEC credit. Please note that this webinar typically runs for 90 minutes.

LAN Standards, News & Trends: 2025 Update

Chris Diminico Recording

Optical Fiber Polarity is an essential design and implementation process necessary to ensure the proper functioning of all optical networks. Without a properly planned fiber polarity strategy, fiber networks become more complicated to administer and maintain. In this session, Rodney Casteel, RCDD/NTS/OSP/DCDC, Systems Engineering Manager at 
CommScope, will explain the differences between simplex, duplex and parallel optical applications and the polarity components necessary to ensure proper functioning of the optical path for the Fiber Optics Tech Consortium. He will review the standards associated with optical fiber polarity, the different types of polarity identified within the standards and establish industry best practices for implementing the proper polarity methodology.

Attendees will earn 1 BICSI CEC.

The Perpetual Perplexities of Optical Fiber Polarity

This presentation, presented for the FOTC by Light Brigade's Sean Kelly, addresses some of the most common mistakes we see in the field and how to avoid them. Topics covered include: End Face Contamination, Improper Testing Practices, Polarity Awareness, Mistakes using an OTDR, and Layer 1 Installation issues. Attendees will earn one BICSI CEC for attending.

Top 5 Mistakes We See and How to Avoid Them

The recent revision to ANSI/TIA-942-C addresses the evolving needs and challenges of modern data center infrastructure by incorporating new technologies that will lead to improved data center performance and efficiencies and ensure that data center designs remain robust, scalable, and resilient in the face of technological advancements and changing demands. The newly authorized TIA-942-C standard will include several significant modifications from the TIA-942-B version—including the incorporation of previously published standards documents, recognition of a new media type and connectivity, new requirements, new recommendations, and more.

TIA-942-C Data Center Standard: What’s New?

As billions of dollars from the federal infrastructure law begin to flow, state officials and internet service providers must secure a skilled workforce to accomplish ambitious plans for broadband internet access. This webinar provides information on:

- How states are implementing broadband workforce development programs that align community colleges, workforce agencies, employers, and other partners. 
- Public policies that help nontraditional workers find on-ramps into the industry and improve retention of existing workers. 
- State Labor Market Information and data resources that inform upskilling and retraining efforts, to develop the workforce needed in rural communities, exurban areas, and beyond. 

Speakers:

Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, Senior Fellow at National Skills Coalition, leads the organization’s work on adult education and workforce policies to expand opportunities for US-born and immigrant adults. 

Leandro Garcia, Florida  Broadband Office, works with local and state government agencies, community organizations and private businesses to increase broadband Internet access throughout the state. 

Michael Murphy, Senior Project Manager, Colorado Broadband Office, assists with the development and implementation of the broadband grant programs for the State of Colorado. 

Alan Spell, Assistant Extension Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia specializes in economic and industry research for MU Extension. His work includes publishing monthly Missouri Economy Indicator briefs and studies of the economic benefits of broadband expansion. 

Josh Morby serves as the Director of the Wisconsin Broadband Workforce Coalition which brings employers, training providers and job seekers together to support the workforce needed to expand broadband access in Wisconsin.

Dave Stehlin, TIA CEO brings 30+ years of experience leading the development and implementation of key business and technology strategies in the ICT industry.

Building the Broadband Workforce: Finding and Training Workers

Join FOTC Standards Chair Cindy Montstream for her annual update on Fiber Standards.

LAN Standards, News & Trends: 2024 Update

Feedback from our previous webinars has been that IT professionals are frustrated that they seem to be the only ones thinking about ongoing ICT infrastructure management and their common sense advice isn't understood.  Few of their colleagues seem to be on the same wavelength. So what is life cycle thinking and how does it provide the framework to align business outcomes for industry, enterprise management teams and ICT resources? And WIIFM - What's in it for me?

TIA TR-60 WIIFM - What's In It For Me?

Interested in the FOTC's new Standards Database? Join Standards Explorer creator Valerie Maguire as we walk through the platform and explain how to use it. This award-winning database will help you understand which standards you need when designing your network infrastructure.

Recognizing that many users find standards information to be confusing, hard to find and difficult to stay up to date on changes, the FOTC’s goals with the Standards Explorer are to increase Standards awareness, provide resource accessibility to all companies and individuals and support compatible network architectures and cabling infrastructure deployments between all users across all platforms. The information on the Standards Explorer helps designers with planning, consultants with understanding emerging technologies, installers with best practices, end users with cabling specification decisions, and manufacturers with product compliance. The Standards Explorer is a living document that will be updated as Standards and projects evolve. 

This webinar is not eligible for CECs.

Learn How to Use the Standards Explorer

Why do we see personal interests impacting the naming of ICT systems? Is it really a good idea to have a themed name based on Pikachu, gods, drinks and Disney characters. If we have 12 servers then using the 7 dwarves isn't going to work... May we should have chosen battleships or klingon names. Unfortunately there is an impact on ICT management as miscommunication will inevitably result in inconsistencies, disruption and delay. As the TR-60 ICT Life Cycle Management develops we find that the basics have to be addressed for efficient management and control. Communicating best practice and common sense for ICT system naming also raises another issue - labelling. If we could resolve these two issues, then maybe spaghetti cabling would be less of a problem as we would know where the ends of the cables without pulling and tugging our mission critical cables. Take a first step towards stress-free infrastructure!

TIA TR-60. How Mythology, Snakes and Whisky Impact IT System Naming

As states are preparing for broadband expansion to underserved areas, prioritizing skilled workforce development is crucial before project implementation, as per BEAD NOFO requirements.
 
To support the mission of delivering broadband to all Americans, TIA in collaboration with Fierce Network has launched Broadband Nation, a National Workforce Development Program, to attract, train and deliver the next generation of broadband talent at the local, state and national level. Through an engaging online portal, this program will be a one-stop shop that will attract thousands of people to understand careers in broadband, provide access to available training and job opportunities within the broadband industry.
 
In this webinar, attendees will learn about the genesis of the Broadband Nation program, how various stakeholders can participate and see a live demonstration of the portal. Join the mission to conquer the digital divide and bring equal opportunity to everyone.

Introducing Broadband Nation: Attract, Train, and Deliver the Future Workforce

In this webinar, we will explore supply chain security and the challenges faced by organizations and critical infrastructure companies in ensuring their hardware and software remain free from cyber threats and attacks. Our expert panel will discuss how modern tools and software applications can be effectively utilized to address these challenges head-on. These tools assist organizations in improved assessment and monitoring of their infrastructure, and in pinpointing the exact location of illicit technology within their supply chains.  Additionally, the webinar will shed light on the importance of emerging standards, best practices and government publications in this field.

Our panel of experts includes:

Robert Kolasky, Senior Vice President for Critical Infrastructure at Exiger
Tim Mackey, Head of Software Supply Chain Risk Strategy at Synopsys

The discussion will be moderated by Mike Regan, VP Business Performance, TIA

Note: this webinar is NOT eligible for BICSI CEC credits

Boost Your C-SCRM Strategy with Advanced Software Tools and Industry Standards

Single Pair Ethernet is revolutionizing Ethernet-based communication and offers many advantages with its low cabling effort, long distances, and high data transmission rates. For this reason, SPE is empowering the IIoT of tomorrow. Our FREE SPE Education Day is a great opportunity to learn about SPE and APL technology advances, testing and products. 

By the end of the Education Day, attendees will understand how two-wire Ethernet now goes all the way to the sensor and actuator edge, and how building automation applications will benefit from speed and simplicity.

Session 2 will cover:

11:00 AM   SPE Technology in Industry Applications [Keynote – Al Beydoun / ODVA] 

11:15 AM   An SPE Application – [John Froustet / Weidmüller]

11:25 AM   Designing an SPE Product [Keynote – Meghan Kaiserman / Analog Devices]

11:40 AM   Testing an SPE Product [David Bessonen / Telebyte]

11:50 AM   SPE and Cybersecurity [Yuri Luskind / Zemfyre]

12:00 PM   Market Insights – [Keith Larson / Endeavor Business Media]

12:10 PM   Question and Answer session moderated by Keith Larson

Viewers can earn 2 BICSI CECs by watching both Sessions. If watched on demand, viewers must also complete the knowledge quiz.

Single Pair Ethernet Education Day - Part 2

Single Pair Ethernet is revolutionizing Ethernet-based communication and offers many advantages with its low cabling effort, long distances, and high data transmission rates. For this reason, SPE is empowering the IIoT of tomorrow. Our FREE SPE Education Day is a great opportunity to learn about SPE and APL technology advances, testing and products. 

By the end of the Education Day, attendees will understand how two-wire Ethernet now goes all the way to the sensor and actuator edge, and how building automation applications will benefit from speed and simplicity.

Session 1 will cover:

9:00 AM   Welcome & Introductions – [Bob Voss / Panduit, Ethernet Alliance]
9:05 AM   Introduction to IEEE 802.3cg [Keynote – George Zimmerman / Ethernet Alliance]
9:20 AM   Introduction to SPE and Structured Cabling – [Mike Berg / Panduit] 
9:30 AM   Single Pair Ethernet with Power over Data Line [Steffen Graf / Texas Instruments]   
9:40 AM   Single Pair Ethernet 10BASE-T1L Vertical Markets [Rohit Khatri / BELDEN]        
9:50 AM   Introduction to APL [Arnold Offner / Phoenix Contact]
10:00 AM   The APL Project [Sean Vincent / Fieldcomm Group]
10:15 AM   Question and Answer session moderated by Liz Goldsmith / TIA-SPEC

Attendees will receive 2 BICSI Continuing Education Credits if they attend both sessions. Please see the Single Pair Ethernet Education Day - Part 2.

Single Pair Ethernet Education Day - Part 1

Is spaghetti cabling a result of design, implementation, materials, change management, lack of controls - or all of them? It’s obvious that unplanned, task only and project focused approaches inevitably result in problems later on. If only there was a standard for common sense covering IT infrastructure like TIA TR-60. Join the leaders of TIA TR-60 Infrastructure Life Cycle Management framework to see and understand good ways to sustain good performance and uptime, as well as reducing the cost and risks of change. Warning, some examples may be distressing for IT professionals.

Stress Free Infrastructure and 10 Pitfalls to Avoid

Our guest presenter is Terry Rice of Epigen who is considered to be one of the leading experts in AI development, and  has been working with Nvidia for 10 years developing the next generation of conversational AI. The webinar will cover the different types of AI and capabilities, along with the current state of AI and common platforms. Terry and Jerry Bowman (TR-60 Chair) will discuss the different uses of AI in managing technology life cycles and the impact on the TR-60 standards framework.

TIA TR-60: The Role of AI In Managing Technology Life Cycles

Are you involved in installing data center fiber cabling? The FOTC and EXFO invite you to join us in exploring methods and procedures to test and certify network links to comply with the TIA-568.3E Optical Fiber Cabling and Components Standard. The session will cover crucial topics such as:
 
- Fiber optic market trends (New fibers, cabling, and connectivity)
- Data center network infrastructure (Spine and leaf fabric design and components)
- Testing internal fiber cabling (Connector inspection and tier-1 certification on duplex and base-12/16/24)
- Testing external fiber cabling (Tier-2 certification)

Attendees will earn a BICSI CEC.

Certifying high density data center fiber cabling to TIA-568.3E standards

With increasing use of cloud and the associated data centers needed, governments and enterprises are impacting IT to reduce energy usage and improve sustainability. In this webinar we'll be looking at current environmental issues that impact life cycle processes, with disposal and reuse being included as part of governance and project requirements.

Please note that this webinar does not qualify for BICSI CECs.

TIA TR-60.TSB Infrastructure Life Cycle Management And Environmental Issues

Welcome to the virtualization community on BrightTALK! Whether it affects servers, storage, networks, desktops or other parts of the data center, virtualization provides real benefits by reducing the resources needed for your
infrastructure and creating software-defined data center components. However, it can also complicate your infrastructure. Join this active community to learn best
practices for avoiding virtual machine sprawl and other common virtualization pitfalls as well as how you can make the most of your virtualization environment.

Virtualization

Welcome to the mobile computing community on BrightTALK! With the consumerization of IT and the widespread adoption of mobile devices across the globe, mobile computing has become an important part of many people's lives in a culture of bring your own device (BYOD). With mobile devices doubling as work phones and more employees working from home, businesses need to provide secure access to data and work applications from anywhere at any time. Join this growing community and hear from industry thought leaders in webinars and videos as they share their insight on mobile computing research and trends.

Mobile Computing

Cloud computing has exploded over the past few years, delivering a previously unimagined level of workplace mobility and flexibility. The cloud computing community on BrightTALK is made up of thousands of engaged professionals learning from the latest cloud computing research and resources. Join the community to expand your cloud computing knowledge and have your questions answered in live sessions with industry experts and vendor representatives.

Cloud Computing

The IT security community on BrightTALK is composed of more than 200,000 IT security professionals trading relevant information on software assurance, network security and mobile security. Join the conversation by watching on-demand and live information security webinars and asking questions of experts and industry leaders.

IT Security

Increasing expectations for good governance, effective risk management and complex demands for corporate compliance are presenting a growing challenge for organizations of all sizes. Join industry thought leaders as they provide you with practical advice on how to implement successful risk and compliance management strategies across your organization. Browse risk management resources in the form of interactive webinars and videos and ask questions of expert GRC professionals.

IT Governance, Risk and Compliance

The data center management community focuses on the holistic management and optimization of the data center. From technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing to data center design, colocation, energy efficiency and monitoring, the BrightTALK data center management community provides the most up-to-date and engaging content from industry experts to better your infrastructure and operations. Engage with a community of your peers and industry experts by asking questions, rating presentations and participating in polls during webinars, all while you gain insight that will help you transform your infrastructure into a next generation data center.

Data Center Management

Unified communications improve collaboration and increase productivity among employees through technologies such as VoIP, instant messaging and social media. Join this community to learn how to benefit from the full value of unified communications and collaboration technologies.

Collaboration and UC

Enterprise applications have become a crucial piece of infrastructure for many businesses. The enterprise applications community on BrightTALK features the latest insights in enterprise application integration, enterprise application architecture and EAS software. Join the community to gain access to thousands of videos and webinars presented by recognized enterprise information systems experts and arm yourself with the knowledge you need to succeed.

Enterprise Applications

Practicing business intelligence allows your company to transform raw data into sets of insights for targeted business growth. The business intelligence and analytics community on BrightTALK is made up of thousands of data scientists, database administrators, business analysts and other data professionals. Find relevant webinars and videos on business analytics, business intelligence, data analysis and more presented by recognized thought leaders. Join the conversation by participating in live webinars and round table discussions.

Business Intelligence and Analytics

The storage community on BrightTALK is made up of thousands of storage and IT professionals. Find relevant webinars and videos on storage architecture, cloud storage, storage virtualization and more presented by recognized thought leaders. Join the conversation by participating in live webinars and round table discussions.

Storage

Network infrastructure professionals understand that a reliable and secure infrastructure is crucial to enabling business execution. Join the network infrastructure community to interact with thousands of IT professionals. Browse hundreds of on-demand and live webinars and videos to learn about the latest trends in network computing, SDN, WAN optimization and more.

Network Infrastructure

Welcome to the big data and data management community on BrightTALK. Join thousands of data quality engineers, data scientists, database administrators and other professionals to find more information about the hottest topics affecting your data. Subscribe now to learn about efficiently storing, optimizing a complex infrastructure, developing governing policies, ensuring data quality and analyzing data to make better informed decisions. Join the conversation by watching live and on-demand webinars and take the opportunity to interact with top experts and thought leaders in the field.

Big Data and Data Management

Get powerful marketing data and analytics insights from influential experts. Connect with thought leaders and colleagues to get the most up-to-date knowledge on the analytics that quantify your investments.

Data and Analytics

As an IT professional, many of the problems you face are multifaceted, complex and don’t lend themselves to simple solutions. The information technology community features useful and free information technology resources. Join to browse thousands of videos and webinars on ITIL best practices, IT security strategy and more presented by leading CTOs, CIOs and other technology experts.

Information Technology

The energy community on BrightTALK brings together top experts from around the world. Find relevant webinars and videos on renewable energy, efficiency and more presented by recognized energy management thought leaders. Join the conversation by participating in live webinars and round table discussions on energy trends.

Energy

The building and construction community brings together building and construction management professionals. Find relevant webinars and videos on building materials, building construction, renovations and more presented by recognized thought leaders. Join the conversation by participating in live webinars and round table discussions on building and construction trends.

Building and Construction

Get powerful emerging technology insights from influential experts. Connect with thought leaders and colleagues to get the most up-to-date knowledge on technologies like 3D printing, pervasive robotics, natural interfaces, connected everything and cognitive systems.

Emerging Technologies

Get powerful environmental insights from influential experts. Connect with thought leaders and colleagues to get the most up-to-date knowledge on environmental strategies and initiatives with reliable data that is sorely missing from this community.

Environment

Get powerful manufacturing insights from influential experts. Connect with thought leaders and colleagues to get the most up-to-date knowledge on strategies and techniques to accelerate production cycles while increasing efficiencies and improving profitability.

Manufacturing

The research and development community on BrightTALK brings together leading professionals in healthcare, technology and manufacturing to present on current topics in their fields. From big data in healthcare to online forensics training and medical research practices, the community is an exceptional resource for those looking to expand their knowledge. Be part of the conversation by joining the community and participating in interactive live webinars.