Engineering for Changing Environments at Panduit

Panduit’s Bob Voss on Why Standards Matter More When Infrastructure, Power, and Connectivity Demands Keep Shifting

Ideas about innovation often start with products. Bob Voss, Chairman, FMP Alliance and Distinguished Engineer at Panduit, starts somewhere else: the rules and standards that let new systems work in the first place.

That may sound abstract until infrastructure starts changing under your feet. New power models, higher data demands, more overlap between power and network systems — in these moments, standards stop feeling like background paperwork and start looking like what they really are: the structure that lowers risk, builds confidence, and gives the market something solid to build on.

In this conversation, Voss explains why Panduit is active in industry standards long before most customers see the outcome. He makes the case that standards don’t slow progress; they make the next round of progress possible.

Q: Standards can sound remote from day-to-day customer needs. When infrastructure conditions start shifting, why does that work matter more?

Bob Voss: We’re extremely active in standards because we believe in them. That means working with standards organizations, helping start new projects, and bringing technical evidence needed for eventual adoption. Standards deliver confidence and lower risk for consumers. Once you have a standardized product, you also have an innovation springboard, because the risk is gone out of the product’s core job.

Think, for example, about the three-prong 120-volt outlets in U.S. homes. Those have been standardized for years. Now you see outlets also with USB-A and USB-C in them. That’s innovation. The core application is already defined, so you can start doing more cool things with it. Standards don’t slow innovation down. In the end, if you look at the whole journey, standards actually drive innovation.

Q: That reframes standards as something more than compliance. It sounds more like a foundation for adoption.

Bob Voss: That’s exactly it. People ask, “Why should I care?” Fair question. A standardized product is not proprietary. It interoperates. You can buy this from one supplier and that from another supplier, and you’re still okay. You’re lowering risk and protecting business continuity, because you’re not dependent on one vendor to keep systems running.

That’s something we do a laudable job of communication-wise as a company. We say, here’s the standard, here’s how we perform against that standard, and here’s why you should care. We’re a trusted voice in that regard because we’re not only involved with the standards, but when people ask the tough questions, we bring the science to back it up.

Mature Infrastructure Categories Still Change — and That’s Where the Work Gets Interesting

Panduit applies engineering discipline to mature infrastructure categories by improving how established systems respond to new performance, safety, and operational demands.

Q: A lot of people hear innovation and think only about brand-new categories. You’re talking about something different.

Bob Voss: Sure. Look at Ethernet cabling, one of our core products on the connectivity side of the business. There are abundant standards for that. You can manufacture to those standards and sell a product profitably. Everybody does it.

But companies like Panduit don’t stop there. We did Cat 6A, then we did a better Cat 6A, then we said let’s do an even better Cat 6A. It still meets the electrical parameters of the standard, but it exceeds in a lot of important performance areas, like size and the ability to dissipate heat when Power over Ethernet (PoE) is used.

Q: So the standard defines the floor, but not the ceiling?

Bob Voss: Exactly. Some people take the standard and say this is good, this de-risks my business, and I’ll make a solid product. Other people like us run with it even further. It’s a boring process, maybe, but it leads to an exciting outcome.

Q: And that kind of advancement depends on seeing what’s coming before it fully lands in the market?

Bob Voss: Yes. That’s why we stay active upstream. We participate in IEEE from both the fiber and copper sides because it gives us maximum visibility into what’s coming down the road. Right now in fiber, we’re working on standards tied to speeds up to 1.6 terabits per second, and the AI data center world is already pushing beyond that. If you want to be effective, you have to see the front end.

“Some people take the standards and say, this is good. Other people like us take the bit in our mouth and run with it.”

– Bob Voss

Electrical Innovation Depends on Standards Before It Can Scale

Panduit’s work in fault-managed power, limited energy systems, and code development shows how electrical innovation depends on standards before it can scale safely.

Q: This gets especially interesting on the electrical side, where new power models are starting to take shape. Where are you seeing the biggest shifts?

Bob Voss: There’s a lot going on right now. We just successfully started a new interoperability project in IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group related to fault-managed power. The reason is straightforward: if this technology is going to scale, people need confidence that systems will interoperate and function without interference in communications applications. At some point, you want a transmitter from vendor A to work with receivers from vendors B, C, and D. Interoperability also emboldens innovators to create “FMP-native” endpoints, which really accelerates FMP technology.

That process starts with like-minded people seeing a real need, building the case, and then doing the work. And it has to be factual. It has to be supported by science. You don’t get up and wave your hands. You bring data.

Q: You also mentioned a bigger shift in how the industry is talking about electrical infrastructure…

Bob Voss: Yes. There’s an important relationship between PoE and fault-managed power. A lot of people ask whether FMP is the new PoE. No, not necessarily. They’re complementary. One augments the other. Together, those technologies fall into what’s now being termed as limited energy, which gives the industry a clearer way to group emerging power systems that don’t fit neatly into older electrical categories.

That’s part of why the National Electrical Code was significantly restructured in the 2026 edition around limited energy. The goal is to make these systems easier to install, easier to inspect, and easier to figure out.

You’re also seeing respected industry groups step in more actively. NEMA, for example, has been pulling together groups to look at limited energy systems and DC power for data centers. That matters because these technologies need a credible framework if they’re going to move forward.

Outside the standards process itself, that broader shift is also showing up in formal safety work. UL 1400-1 now gives the market a published product safety standard for fault-managed power systems, which helps move the category from interest to implementation (UL Standards & Engagement).

Q: So this isn’t theoretical. It’s the rules structure that helps electrical change become deployable.

Bob Voss: Exactly. Somebody has to go first. We helped write UL 1400, and we took the big first step and earned the first UL 1400-1 listing ever. Now UL is forming a technical committee for fault-managed power, and one of the first phone calls they made was to us. That tells you Panduit is a respected voice in this space.

Preparing Customers for What’s Next Means Working Before the Market Settles

Panduit helps customers prepare for future infrastructure demands by participating early in the standards process and translating emerging technical change into practical decisions.

Q: What does all of this mean for customers who aren’t sitting in standards meetings but still have to make sound infrastructure decisions?

Bob Voss: It means somebody needs to help answer the question: “Why do I care?” Standards bodies do good work, but customers need help turning that into practical decisions.

That’s where being involved early matters. We can explain what’s changing, what’s stable, and what science says. We can show what a standard is trying to solve, where the market is heading, and how to think about deployment without a lot of hand waving.

Q: And in fast-changing environments, that early view becomes part of the value?

Bob Voss: Absolutely. We all have our finger on the pulse. In IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group, for example, we do work through the New Ethernet Applications Ad Hoc, where we’re looking at what’s coming next. Right now that includes future AI data center demands, where speeds and communications requirements are moving fast.

That front-end work helps define the need clearly. What application needs the speed? Where is the pressure showing up? Is it server to GPU, GPU to GPU, something else? That kind of work helps drive newer standards faster, and it helps the rest of the market get ready.

Customers may not see that part first. What they see is the outcome: clearer guidance, lower risk, and better decisions before the market fully settles.

This conversation is part of Panduit’s broader look at how innovation happens across changing infrastructure environments. To see how Panduit contributes to the standards that shape safer, more interoperable systems, visit the Panduit standards page.