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CONVERGENCE
Supporting
convergence with AIM
By Mike Holmes, Marketing
Manager, Nexans
www.nexans.com
Ensuring infrastructure is ready
to handle more devices being
controlled and powered
over IP networks
Years ago, resources in office networks were set up as ‘silos’.
Sets would be devoted to a specific function or technology.
These were often based on different media, such as coaxial
for video surveillance. In the 1980s, however, previously
discrete cabling systems were brought together over struc-
tured cabling. This convergence is now being extended as
more systems come onto IT Ethernet infrastructures and are
interconnected with other networks: wireless access points
(WAPs), energy and environmental management devices,
access control, building management, lighting, surveillance,
attendance tracking, electronic control systems and alarm
systems etc.
Until relatively recently, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
were exclusive to computers, network-related devices and
VOIP phones. But today, a vastly increasing number of
devices that are being connected to IP networks are also
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