2020: Network Infrastructure Year in Review

It has become somewhat of a cliché to refer to these as “unprecedented times,” but that is exactly what we have all been experiencing. Children and pets have become coworkers, couches and kitchen tables have become workstations, virtual meetings have become the norm, and "you're on mute" is forever engrained in the minds of many. The pandemic has altered our traditional work way of life. This change has shown that we are all stronger than we knew, more flexible than we imagined, and can be resilient in times of struggle.

We all found new, creative ways to keep business moving forward and stay connected with partners, customers, clients, and everyone in between. One thing we have learned is if we stick together and continue to stay motivated, change can be good and gives us a new perspective.

Fortunately, a new year is here! As we look forward to big things happening in 2021, let's take a look back at 2020.

New Products

While the pandemic slowed us in many ways, Panduit was full steam ahead in launching products to enable a robust physical infrastructure for our customers. Here are just some of the new products that are now available:

Panduit Single Pair Ethernet Connector

• G5 415v Power Distribution Unit (PDU) - The G5 iPDU is more than a power distribution unit and energy meter. These iPDUs monitor the data center power and environment (at the rack or cabinet level), by continuously scanning for electrical circuit overloads, and physical environmental conditions that place critical IT equipment at risk.
• Vari-MaTriX HD Cat6A Copper Cable - With a 0.230” diameter, the Category 6A Vari-MaTriX HD is equivalent in size to a Category 6 cable. Upgrading from Category 6 to 6A is simplified as the Vari-Matrix HD increases cable fill up to 35% and can utilize existing Category 6-sized pathways.

Events

In-person events were quickly shifted to all digital, cancelled, or rescheduled. While we missed being able to meet with customers and partners face-to face and share product offerings like the PDU, Cat6A UTP Field Term Plug, and the IntraVue Edge. Here's a glimpse of some of our favorite events this past year:

• What's Now & What's Next - Key Insights into Proven Solutions - Panduit hosted our own online summit on November 4th that included a roundtable discussion with subject matter experts about future trends and technologies and interactive sessions with trusted partners.
• BICSI Fall - Panduit and General Cable hosted a joint booth to display our PanGen technology and solutions including digital building, copper cabling or fiber optic cabling, AV, as well as racks and cable management products.
• Automation Fair AT HOME - The Rockwell Automation and Panduit strategic alliance helps develop a secure, future-ready physical network infrastructure for industrial environments. In our virtual booth, we featured trends and technology like network modernization, Single Pair Ethernet (SPE), smart control panel, and much more. Our tech session during the virtual event on SPE applications and implementations is available on-demand here.

We wish you a very happy and prosperous new year! Stay connected with Panduit on social media to learn about our products, solutions, projects and events.