"Just three of a million feet of our cables deviate from norm"

Robert H Lewis, managing director, Asia-Pacific, Belden International, in conversation with ABHINAV SINGH

* We have been hearing about Belden’s bonded pair technology being used in your CAT 6 cables. Can you explain its advantages in an enterprise set-up?

Belden has been commercially offering CAT 6 bonded pair technology since 1998, even before it was ratified by the Electronics Industry Association/Telecom Industry Association (EIA/TIA) in June 2002. Our CAT 6 bonded pair cables have built-in headroom with superior electrical performance. The copper used in the bonded pair cable is identical, and is perfectly centred or concentric with each insulated conductor. To maintain this perfect balance, the centre-to-centre distance or centricity between the copper conductors must remain fixed and should not vary. This process ensures that the signal does not radiate or bleed off the pair. The other advantage is in the bonded pair cable. Cross talk is minimal, which helps in the error-free passage of voice to its destination. The best part of the bonded pair cable technology is that the physical characteristic of the cable is not altered [any physical alteration can degrade the electrical performance of the cable] during implementation in an enterprise set-up. We have achieved six sigma capabilities in network cable manufacturing, and have also launched our CAT 7 bonded pair cable technology.

* You mentioned that your cables pass through strict quality norms. How would customers see this as an advantage?

We had embarked upon the six sigma initiative in 1999, and have a quality team in the United States which keeps assimilating six sigma practices in our manufacturing processes. As per the cabling standard, we have just three feet of cables that deviate or have errors out of the total production of one million feet of cables. This is comparatively less than our competitors who deviate or have errors in hundred feet of cable they manufacture. Besides, eleven [of our] manufacturing plants located across the US and Europe are ISO 9001 certified. All these best practices help us win customer confidence.

* Can you throw light on some important installations which Belden has in India? Do you have any plans to manufacture in this country in the near future? What will be your focus areas over here?

Although we have been a late entrant in the cabling market in India [Belden started its Indian operations in February 2003], many companies here are using our products. We have 30 installations in this country, which include the Motorola development centre (single phase CAT 6 bonded pair installation), Convergys (350 MHz CAT 5e installation), Cypress Semiconductors, HSBC (CAT 6 installation), ICICI OneSource and Adobe. Currently we have four people in India and two sales offices at Gurgaon and Bangalore. We will focus on the BPO sector and software development houses for our cables in India. Although we do not have any immediate plans to set up a manufacturing facility here, we may do so in the next few years depending on the growth of our business. The Indian market currently contributes nearly two percent to our Asia-Pacific revenue, and we hope to see it rise significantly in the coming year. In 2003 Belden India did business worth Rs 10 crore, and we are confident of doubling it this year. We will double our installation base from 30 to 60 by the end of 2004.