October/November/December 2019 I 35
An increasing percentage of this type of network
service is being shifted to operational technology (OT)
and provided over Wi-Fi or wireless LAN (WLAN). How-
ever, this wireless service needs a lot of wires in the LAN
(Figure 1). Since this twisted-pair copper infrastructure
is hidden from public view, IT administrators tend to
forget what is required on the back-end of these networks
to make for a great QoE, especially when a large number
of people are using the network simultaneously in venues,
such as classrooms, auditoriums, large corporate campuses,
and stadiums.
To ensure that cabling facilities can successfully
handle these high-performance video streaming demands,
the LAN is expected to function like a utility-grade infra-
structure (UTG). The LAN is now considered the “fourth
utility” in the building, joining water, gas, and electricity.
Just like when the lights go out, people become very con-
cerned and upset if they cannot get access to the internet.
ISSUES AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE
AND RELIABILITY OF HIGH-SPEED
ICT WIRELINE NETWORKS
The ICT industry has been providing video streaming
services for many years with varying success rates when
using twisted pair in facilities. In 2006, AT&T was an
early adopter in the consumer distribution and deploy-
ment of advanced networking services on a mass scale
with its U-verse IPTV service in Texas; it operated like
a managed intranet. However, that platform has been
essentially abandoned for an over-the-top (OTT) version
called DIRECTV NOW that uses the public internet. In
2016, AT&T renamed its U-verse internet service to AT&T
Internet; its IPTV service is referred to as U-verse TV.
Even with tightly controlled specifications, shortened
loops, proprietary equipment, and a trained workforce
with appropriate test sets, many QoE issues still
occurred that were caused by electromagnetic interference
(EMI), including complete outages and, in some
cases, damage to equipment. While most of the latter
situations occurred during electrical storms, it was the
induced power surges caused by lightning disturbances
hitting the power lines that inflicted most of the damage,
just like it had for
a business in
Texas in May
2019 (Figure 2).
FIGURE 2: Sign posted on a fast-food
restaurant door: May 4, 2019
FIGURE 1: The network may be Wi-Fi or WLAN, but there are a lot of wires in wireless.