Last month"s discussion with CCASA president, Raletlhogonolo (Andile) Tlhoaele, has caused something of a stir in the local cabling industry. CableTalk received a number of e-mails regarding a particular statement made that only two major cabling system vendors, namely Molex and Krone, offered comprehensive installation warranties to local customers.

Comments Ray Harling, MD of Inqe Telecommunications Technologies, which represents ITT NS&S in South Africa: "I take exception to the statement made in the last issue of CableTalk, which mentioned only Molex and Krone as being covered by a comprehensive warranty. ITT NS&S cabling solutions enjoy a similar level of investment protection, with guaranteed levels of performance for 25 years, to ensure that customers get peace of mind along with their infrastructure investment.

"The ITT certification process is extremely rigorous, and can only be conducted by certified professionals who have undergone the ITT training regime. Currently only five people capable of certifying a site are available in SA, and all completed the training course internationally during the course of last year.

"For any site to be awarded the certification required to be covered by the comprehensive warranty structure, it must be installed by qualified ITT installers, to ensure that installation standards and performance testing is carried out in accordance with the strict ITT standards. Ideally even the unskilled laborers employed should go through at least the basics of structured cabling system installation, but at least the supervisor of the installation has to be ITT certified.

"Throughout the process of implementation, ITT qualified technicians will make regular site visits to confirm that the solution is working to the specified standards. This commitment, coupled with the 25-year warranty, guarantees ITT users that their critical network infrastructure will continue to perform at the required level."

Mervin Scorgie, marketing manager at local Systimax Solutions representative, Falcon Electronics, was similarly incensed by the comment, and wrote to CableTalk saying: "We find this statement highly offensive, and very prejudicial, especially coming from the president of the association. It is the duty of the president to keep the interests of members above those of a particular vendor. Actions such as this compound the problems experienced by members, and do not aid the goals of the associations. In fact these actions blatantly undermine the very reason why the association was started. If the association is to grow, and, at the very least, get close to what the electrical association has, we have to stop these prejudicial actions.

"Systimax structured cabling solutions follow a similar pattern to other vendors, and cover the entire solution, including both passive and active Systimax equipment implemented. Once again, the installation must be certified by an accredited installer. This skills pool is kept limited, as the courses themselves are conducted by international training partner, Digital Science in the UK, and are therefore relatively costly, but this model results in Systimax Solutions accredited installers receiving points towards the sought-after RCDD qualification upon successful completion.

"How many customers actually receive the infrastructure performance they pay for, if the implementation is not carried out by a certified installation partner? This is, in my opinion, the job of CCASA, and why the industry pays its dues to belong to the association, and I believe that this should be its focus as a vendor-agnostic independent cabling industry regulator."

Vendors Panduit and RIT both claim to offer similar warranty structures based on certification through installation partners on their cabling systems, but were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

Comments Tlhoaele: "I am in fact no longer associated with either Molex or Krone. I am reliant on the industry itself to direct the activities of CCASA, and therefore welcome active participation from association members, so that the body can act in the best interests of the entire industry. I am delighted to report that I have received input on the CCASA Installation Code of Practice from vendors like ITT, through Inqe, further assisting us in the forging of a standard which the entire industry can accept."

The association"s prime agenda at the moment is the build-up to the industry workshop, where the final draft copy of these codes will be formed. This event is scheduled to take place at the end of April, whereafter Tlhoaele hopes that a standard which will be agreed upon by the industry, and which is in its best interests, will be available for comment.

"Once we have the draft codes, we can move to the second phase, in which we need, as an industry, to establish the minimum level of skills and training which will be required for installers to operate in the local market. In this way the codes will contribute to skills development, as we intend to ask an independent regulatory body to look at them and establish a required minimum training level. Finally we will work with the ISETT Seta to set up learnerships based on these recommendations, allowing the industry access to skills levies for skilling-up its workforce to comply with the codes of practice," he explains.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to share with the cabling industry how the progress towards establishing the ICT BEE Charter is moving along. There have been numerous reports of Nedlac stalling in its efforts on this matter, but, as a member of the Nedlac steering committee focused on this charter, I can reveal that, while there are delays, no major crisis exists to prevent us from releasing the charter for the public input phase at the end of April."

"The outcry arose mainly from the fact that the ICT BEE Charter is a huge focus right now, and businesses were keen to know where they stood immediately," comments Tlhoaele.