At a recent conference, an electrical and energy industry association has called for training and skills shortages to be properly addressed.

Chunghwa Telecom Telecommunication Laboratories (CHTTL), the research and development arm of Chungwa Telecom, has selected Spirent to validate the performance, availability, security and scalability (PASS) of cloud computing environments. CHTTL will use Spirent’s expertise in cloud computing testing to enable Chunghwa Telecom to become Taiwan’s largest cloud computing and data centre provider.

Safety is a key focus for the industrial compressed-air solution manufacturer Champion Compressors, a subsidiary of the global Sullair Corporation. Its management considers keeping its workplace safe just as important as meeting its financial objectives.

According to Wikipedia, polyvinyl chloride - commonly abbreviated as PVC - is the third-most widely produced plastic in the world, after polyethylene and polypropylene. It is widely used in construction because it’s cheap, durable and easy to assemble. The annual global production of PVC is expected to exceed 40 million tonnes by 2016. In spite of its ubiquity, there is mounting pressure to ban it.

The value of warranties can be well described by a famous speech by US Senator George Graham Vest in an address to a jury about the fidelity of dogs: “He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince ... if fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against enemies.”

All electrical installations are subject to a frequently distorted electricity supply. Uncontrollable anomalies such as lightning strikes and electromagnetic interference can and do distort the AC supply into buildings. Some can be catastrophic, destroying equipment from a single surge, while others can be too small to notice on their own, but have a cumulatively detrimental effect on equipment that inexplicably fails over time. But there are simple ways to deal with these challenges.

While emerging technologies like 40 and 100 gigabit ethernet, fibre channel over ethernet, IP convergence and server virtualisation offer benefits for data centres, understanding how they work, the implications for the data centre and the strategies and solutions that will best support them can enable data centre managers to ensure that their infrastructures are ready and able. Compounding the onset of these technologies is the need to lower total cost of ownership.

Changing the apprenticeship system so electrical apprentices complete all of their training in a classroom is a concept the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) opposes. This is known as ‘institutional training’. It is not in the best interests of the apprentice or our industry.

Communications Alliance has called on the recently elected federal government to take immediate steps in upgrading Australia’s communications infrastructure to maximise the country’s ability to benefit from the digital economy.

A draft of the standard for recessed luminaire barriers has recently been issued for public comment.

NECA has issued a warning to the community to avoid DIY installation of insulation batts, citing the need for qualified electricians to determine the electrical safety of the roof space.

A recent report on photovoltaic technologies points to a new opportunity to accelerate the deployment of solar panels.

A focus on improved power quality, green energy and lowering energy consumption, the Walkers Arms Hotel at Walkerville, South Australia, is a benchmark for the use of innovative new technologies.

A Nobel Prize winner has proposed that the world is potentially on the brink of a new era in human history where most energy will be sourced from solar and wind electricity generation.

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