ASTM International is to develop standards for fibre-optic cable installation in underground utility pipes.

Existing underground sewage and pipe networks could be used to house new-generation cables designed to sustain the IT revolution that is sweeping the world. Dr Jey Jeyapalan, PE, examines the technology involved, the concerns over the issue and the criteria for selecting the right sewers.

Dubai Cable Company (Ducab) of the UAE has recorded a 30 per cent increase in production levels across the entire product range and more than doubled the production of medium voltage (33kV and 11kV) cables in the second quarter of 2002, compared to the corresponding period last year.

What role does a good cable network have to play in an office? Mike Atkinson, managing director of Telematics Networking and Communications, the UAE's leading networking company, puts it in simple terms: "The infrastructure should provide an effective, reliable and manageable, organisation-wide platform for application services.

Telematics Networking and Communications, one of the region's leading organisations in voice and data networking, is currently networking the new headquarters for Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) in Dubai, UAE.