Ethernet Alliance chair: Smart buildings could be sweet spot for SPE

Smart Buildings Technology (SBT) recently had a chance to sit down for an informal, yet informative and wide-ranging, chat with Ethernet Alliance (EA) chair Peter Jones.

For the second episode of SBT's sister brand Cabling Installation & Maintenance's video podcast, the talk quickly verged into discussion of Single Pair Ethernet.

The burgeoning copper cabling and connectivity technology is aimed squarely at creating the IoT and automation networks of the future -- and will certainly find its home in many, if not all, smart buildings.

SBT:  I don't know if this is a useful or correct distinction to make, but I'm looking at the industrial and the smart building/enterprise sides as two separate segments for SPE -- and I can't say it's really being more aimed at industrial than it is smart buildings, but is that at all a useful distinction to make?

Peter Jones:  So it's partly a useful distinction. Clearly the most visible things that are happening are the guys in process control. But there's always a question in the OT world about who's more advanced, Industrial or Building. And I think it's often Industrial, but not always.

And also, when you think Industrial: Every factory has an IP network, a building control network, and a production network -- and they're not as distinct as you think. [In re: Single Pair Ethernet technology uptake] I don't know who's really going to take off first. But I think it's equally applicable. I think, really, what it comes down to is who are the technology providers who first see that this is a key advantage and jump on it.

[In re: the 'Buildings vs. Industrial' market dichotomy] I don't think it necessarily has to be one or the other. They're both similar in scale. I could actually make the argument that it could maybe be Buildings -- because buildings tend to get major upgrades more frequently.

Full discussion of Single Pair Ethernet technology starts immediately at 03:43 below: