Nominations open for 2021 Cabling Innovators Awards

Cabling Installation & Maintenance is now accepting entries for our 2021 Cabling Innovators Awards program. Don't miss this outstanding opportunity to be recognized for making a groundbreaking contribution to the information and communications technology (ICT) industry!

This year's Honorees will be announced on August 22 at the 2021 BISCI Fall Conference.

Your status as a Cabling Innovators Awards Honoree validates your ICT product, technology, application, or research and reinforces the quality of your products to existing - as well as potential - customers. Recognition as a Cabling Innovators Award Honoree gives you:

OUTSTANDING PUBLICITY: Your status as an Honoree will be announced before the BICSI Fall Conference and promoted in our magazine, on our website, and in our newsletters.
INCREASED RECOGNITION: Thousands of subscribers and site visitors look to Cabling Installation and Maintenance every day as a trusted resource for news and information in our industry. Associate your company with the time-honored and trusted leader in the structured cabling industry.
SPECIAL ATTENTION: Take advantage of this opportunity to showcase your technology, products, and systems to potential buyers around the world.
CUSTOMER LIMELIGHT: Your customers will know your product line is recognized among the best there is.
BRAGGING RIGHTS: Get great exposure among your peers as an important innovator in the industry.

Each Cabling Innovators Awards entry should address why the project/application/product being nominated stands out as an innovative application of a cabling or communications product or system. Judges will review your entry based on the following criteria:

Innovative approach to project or system design and implementation.
Value to the user, which can be measured by such qualities as return-on-investment, loss prevention, or business- efficiency gains.
Positive impact on the customer.
Sustainability, characterized by overall eco-friendliness, long-term value, lifecycle cost-effectiveness, or other measures you can describe.
Meeting a defined need as a well-conceived, well-executed initiative that fully met specific user requirements.
Collaboration, including communication and cooperation throughout the value chain through which the product or system was procured and deployed.
Impact, which can be identified by describing the difference made on the professionals involved, on the productivity of users, and/or on society as a whole.

The Cabling Installation & Maintenance Cabling Innovators Awards feature 9 product categories for submission, plus an additional category for Applications & Case Studies. The 10 categories include:

Active Infrastructure Devices: Products that effect the generation, transmission or routing of signal and/or remote power. Examples of products in this category include transceivers, switches, media converters, Power over Ethernet power sourcing equipment (PSE).
Applications and Case Studies: Tell us the whole story about a project you were part of, that displayed the innovative characteristics we honor in this program. Customer-focused and collaborative approaches to projects and cabling-system deployments make a project shine throughout the value chain—from manufacturer to distributor to design and installation pro to end-user organization. This category recognizes innovative and showpiece projects that are exemplary.
Cable Protection and Management: Products and systems that help ensure the security of an installed cabling plant, or that facilitate the identification of cables, ports, and connections. Entrants into this category can include cable labeling equipment, intelligent infrastructure management systems, DCIM programs, grounding and bonding equipment, and AC-power-related systems such as surge-protection devices. This is also the category for products like hook-and-loop fasteners and cable ties.
Cabling Media: Cable of any construction (fiber-optic, twisted-pair, hybrid, coaxial, twinaxial, etc.) and wireless media like access points, antennas, and similar equipment. We also classify patch cords, jumpers, and assemblies as Cabling Media. This is the appropriate category in which to enter a complete end-to-end system that includes cable, connectivity, and other physical-layer components.
Connection & Cross Connection Devices: This is the appropriate category for products or components to which a cable is terminated: plugs, jacks, patch panels. It’s also the category for related products, such as adapters.
Distribution and Routing Equipment: The products and systems that facilitate or enhance any part of cabling’s journey through the enterprise, industrial, data center or other network. This category includes above-ceiling support devices like tray, hooks, and other systems. It includes housing equipment including racks and enclosures/cabinets. Conduit, innerduct and surface-mount raceways are in this category as well. We also include in this category products and equipment used in a cable pull—carts, caddies, reels, lubricants, and mechanical devices that help move cable from Point A to Point B.
Specialized Equipment & Materials: This category recognizes some of the specialty tools that ICT professionals use in the planning and execution of projects. Software packages like project estimating are included, as well as software programs that conduct site surveys for wireless-system deployments. BIM software and other project-design tools also fit in this category.
Splicing And Termination Equipment: The tools and devices used in the process of cable termination and splicing are featured here. Fusion splicers and mechanical splices, closures/trays, cleavers, and fiber cleaning and inspection equipment are among the products for fiber termination. Also in this category are crimpers, punchdown tools, and any other toolbelt items used in the termination process.
Test Equipment: From the traditional to the unique, test and measurement equipment, tools, and accessories are recognized in this category.
Value-Added Programs: If your organization has launched a program that improves or enhances the way ICT professionals carry out their work, it’s worthy of recognition in this category. Anything from a warranty program, to an as-a-service offering, to training and education offerings can be entered here.