With decades of experience, the close-knit team at TREND Networks (Formerly IDEAL Networks) understands the challenges that data cable installers, network technicians and systems integrators face each day, around the world. That’s why the company supports customers with an extensive range of innovative data cable and network testing equipment that provides fast, accurate results in all circumstances – even the most difficult ones.
Interview with Dan Barrera, Head of Product Innovation at TREND Networks.
Easy Engineering: How was 2022 for your business, a short summary?
Dan Barrera: 2022 was an excellent year for TREND Networks. We had two major product launches, several key product updates, ran educational webinars in three languages, and much more.
Our first product launch was the new version of our industry leading cable certifier, LanTEK IV-S. We also added unmatched capabilities to our cloud project management platform, TREND AnyWARE Cloud. Later in 2022, we then launched the first ever cloud-enabled cable verifier/PoE tester. All of this contributed to our best sales year ever. We held strong during the pandemic and are making the absolute best of the recovery period.
Last year, our expert marketing team also made great advances in our social media presence. In our industry, so many businesses believe active social media marketing will be fruitless. However, we have found that there are a lot of installers and technicians who use platforms, such as Instagram, to share their work and experiences.
E.E: What new products/services will be launched this year?
D.B: In 2023, we are working towards making more of our products cloud-enabled.
Our customers appreciate the convenience and speed of sending test results from the field to TREND AnyWARE Cloud where they can be accessed by anyone, anywhere. The integration of even relatively simple testers, like PoE Pro, to the cloud allows our customers to document their work and provide reporting from wiremap tests, all the way up to copper and fibre certification.
Through our acquisition of US-based Terahertz Technologies Inc. (TTI) in 2021, we are bringing a line of CWDM/DWDM OTDR’s and channel analysers to market. These tools are must-haves for installers and operators of fibre optic networks that utilize wave division multiplexing to increase bandwidth in networks where no dark fibre remains.
E.E: How did the market change in the last year?
D.B: Towards the end of last year, we felt caution in the market as fears of a 2023 recession circulated. Some customers were perhaps being careful with their capital spending and were looking for opportunities to save money wherever possible.
However, as we stand in early 2023, the market and industry is optimistic, with a lot projects moving forward. The issue with bandwidth is that there is a constant need for more. As more bandwidth is available to users, new applications and services are created that utilise additional bandwidth. And so the cycle continues, and demand for our solutions remains.
E.E: What were the best-selling products of 2022?
D.B: Our cable certifier, LanTEK IV-S, is our best-selling product. If offers the fastest copper certification times with the industry’s best cloud project management system. Great features like the VisiLINQ test cords with integrated LED indicators allow technicians to see the status of a test and test the next port without needing touch the tester at all to save or run tests. This makes testing fast and convenient. LanTEK IV-S also features TeamViewer, a function which allows remote viewing and control of the tester by senior technicians, project managers, or technical support. This helps assist field technicians who need to troubleshoot a fault and don’t have the experience to do it themselves.
Dan Barrera, Head of Product Innovation at TREND Networks
Another solid seller in the past year is SignalTEK 10G, which performs Ethernet frame loss tests across any combination of copper or fibre cables, and switches to qualify the link to IEEE performance standards at 100M, 1G, 2.5G, 5G and 10G speeds. Like our other products, SignalTEK 10G is cloud enabled allowing projects to be created in the cloud, downloaded to the SignalTEK 10G, tested and the results uploaded back to the project in the cloud. It’s all a very seamless and intuitive user experience.
E.E: What sector of business do you think is expected to grow this year?
D.B: Depending on what part of the world you’re in, there are several different growth sectors. In the US, for example, healthcare is arguably the leading sector in terms of new construction and technology upgrades. Each patient room will have multiple monitoring and therapeutic devices that are network connected to inform staff when attention is required.
Education is another sector of growth as school classrooms are being upgraded to provide instructors with the latest digital tools. Hybrid teaching has proven very popular as it allows maximum flexibility, so we see schools and universities adding more connectivity and bandwidth to each classroom.
Lastly, we see edge data centre deployment increasing over the next several years. An edge data centre brings the software and hardware of cloud services closer to the user to reduce network latency. When traditional large-scale data centres are hundreds of kilometers away from the user’s network, the latency and jitter associated with such distances can be detrimental to operations, especially in applications using automation to perform time sensitive tasks.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2023?
D.B: The financial indicators for 2023 are sending mixed messages. There are concerns of recession, yet most industries are unable to find the labour they require. In the structured cabling industry, there is a shortage of skilled technicians leading many employers to use lesser-skilled staff to complete their projects. As a test equipment vendor, we strive to meet the needs of our customers by designing sophisticated test equipment that is easy for a novice to use.
One of the bright sides is that we are seeing the supply constraints of semiconductor components relax. Critical parts that electronics manufacturers need had lead times of more than a year at one point. Often customers who need field testers do not order until the last moment, not accounting for stock outages and leaving them unable to complete their projects. Production and supply of these parts is now catching up with demand allowing manufacturers like us to maintain inventory of popular products and deliver them as required.
E.E: A short message for collaborators for the beginning of the year.
D.B: TREND Networks thanks all of the hard working and determined individuals that continue to advance our industry. There are so many different skills and talents the come together to deploy critical infrastructures that most users never think about. They simply want to plug their device into a network outlet or connect to Wi-Fi and go about their business. When we do our jobs right, things just work, and we allow the world to exchange information and communicate seamlessly.
Congratulations to everyone who plays a small piece in this vast puzzle that is information transport.
TREND Networks
728 London Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP11 1HE
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1925 428 380
Email: uksales@trend-networks.com
Tech Support: Tech.Support@trend-networks.com