Articles
Three things to look for when purchasing wire
To ensure that the wire you buy can be easily installed and get the job done, look for three key factors that signal high-quality wire: the wire is produced using length control techniques to make sure you get what you paid for; insulation is applied using co-extrusion; and, the wire is inspected with quality control equipment that measures dimensional control, detects defects and tests for PVC insulation integrity. [ + ]
Master Electricians shocked by ACTU’s Better Bargaining policy
As an employer group, Master Electricians Australia is extremely concerned with the Australian Council of Trade Union’s (ACTU) recently proposed Better Bargaining policy which will see a return to the unproductive central wage fixation practices of the past. The ACTU’s proposal demonstrates the Labor Party want to control business in every aspect of management including social and corporate responsibility. In our view, the policy exposes Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten’s stance on bargaining, at the enterprise level, as rhetoric compared to the faceless men’s real objectives. Can you imagine employers being subject to lawful industrial action just because a company may not support the union’s own social issue? [ + ]
Preparing for the carbon tax
We have all been told that the carbon tax has been designed to help restructure the economy with the aim of using less energy and lowering the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) generated. However, as the July 2012 deadline looms, recent surveys show that less than 50% of Australian companies are actually prepared for its introduction and this percentage is even lower if we only look at small to medium enterprises. [ + ]
Call to stop Building Service Authorities fining qualified contractors
Master Electricians Australia was recently called on to intervene in a case of ‘government bureaucracy gone mad’ in Queensland, where licensed electrical contractors were being fined by a state agency for performing work they are qualified to do. [ + ]
The costs of poor power quality
Productivity is the key to survival in today’s globally competitive environment. When the basic inputs to production including time, labour and materials are considered, there isn’t much room for optimisation. Organisations operate 24 hours per day, labour is costly and choice in materials is limited, which means every company must use automation to gain more output from the same inputs, or perish. Organisations that rely on automation need to ensure continuous operation. [ + ]
Burnin’ rubber with v6 under your bonnet
Much has already been written about the pressures driving the enterprise to migrate to IPv6, but what about the positive performance benefits it could bring? asks Alan Way, International Development Manager, Spirent Communications. [ + ]
Spotlight on data centre testing from professional services
Costly business disruption and remedial work can be attributed to performance problems in data centres, operational network systems and software applications. These issues often go undetected prior to launch due to the difficulty of conducting realistic performance testing. Quantifiable consequences of undetected performance problems include: revenue loss, customer base erosion and brand damage. All of these issues call into question a business’s long-term viability. Since the advent of network testing, Spirent test engineers have helped hundreds of clients save thousands of testing hours, which resulted in bringing products and services to market faster and with higher quality. [ + ]
Meeting Australian electrical safety standards
Within the electrical industry there is increasing concern regarding the number of electrical products being sold that don’t comply with Australian Standards. These products, whilst appearing genuine, are often made from inferior materials with little regard for meeting stated ratings or safety requirements. Compliance with Australian Electrical Safety Standards is important to ensure product quality, reliability and, most critically, the safety of the electrical contractor during installation and their customer throughout the operational life of the product. [ + ]
Macquarie Centre deploys Philips’ energy-efficient LED lighting solution
As part of an ongoing lighting maintenance program, AMP Capital Shopping Centres, which manages Macquarie Centre, recently embarked on a centre-wide re-lamping project, replacing the metal-halide lighting in the centre’s popular Loft precinct, which is an area that caters to shoppers’ lifestyle and homewares requirements. AMP turned to preferred supplier and lighting/electrical specialist KP Lighting to provide a lighting solution that would deliver premium energy efficiency without compromising lighting performance. KP Lighting specified, installed and commissioned an energy-saving LED lighting solution from Philips. [ + ]
Why test your 40/100G network? 10 things you need to know
The exponential growth, expanding bandwidth demand and delivery requirements in global networking for video, voice and data applications are accelerating at a speed never before seen. For many, the original transport backbone architecture built on 10G wavelengths is at the threshold of capacity. Higher-speed 40G and 100G are the next-generation transport solutions that enable and define future success for service providers, network equipment manufacturers and a growing number of enterprises. Recognising the right steps of due diligence, which include testing, can ensure the delivery of all the benefits expected of this game-changing solution. [ + ]
Increasing efficiency of PV systems
Criticism of photovoltaic (PV) is usually based on the conflict between efficiency and subsidies. When evaluating efficiency, however, all factors have to be accounted for. The ‘true’ costs that Friedman is referring to are even more difficult to quantify in the post-Fukushima era. The costs caused by climate change are also rarely taken into account in efficiency calculations. [ + ]
ODU MAC - the jack of all trades
A developer once told me, "I throw out the connectors wherever possible. They take up space, they cost money and they are one of the main causes for device failures." The man was right. But: globally, there are more than 2000 connector manufacturers, there are more than 200 completely different basic series (D-SUB, RJ45, USB, DIN cylindrical connector, etc) and there are individual manufacturers who produce more than 10,000, 50,000 or even 100,000 different models. Then why? Because such a wide variety of connectors is necessary! [ + ]
Docking systems - a special kind of connector
The term ‘docking systems’ might not mean much to most readers. Perhaps they would think of their laptop, which is placed on to a docking station, or they might think of an airplane that docks. [ + ]
For the heart - connectors in medical technology
The following discussion gives a brief explanation of some of the highlights and features of connectors in medical technology, and also a few examples. [ + ]
Marriott International gets an LED upgrade inside and out
Installing GE Lighting LED solutions at its Bethesda, Maryland headquarters will save Marriott International 860,000 kWh of electricity and more than $120,000 in combined energy and maintenance costs each year. The installation included nearly 45 acres - or 185,000 m2 - of parking and garage space and eight floors of internal lighting. [ + ]