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NVT Phybridge: Helping the Industry Re-Design Traditional LAN Design Principles

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Arvind David,Director, Global Digital Transformation & India Operations

Arvind David

Director, Global Digital Transformation & India Operations

As the traditional PoE switches continue to grapple with distance and cable type limitations, many organizations that envision leveraging the benefits of IoT are forced to accept rip-and-replacing network infrastructure to enable the IP endpoints. A global leader in long reach Power over Ethernet (PoE) solutions, NVT Phybridge makes the deployment of the IP and IoT devices quick, easy, secure, and cost-effective, using its cutting-edge solutions.

Over the past decade, NVT has redefined local area network design to more effectively support IP and the IoT. NVT Phybridge Chariot solutions allow organizations to leverage different cable types to enable PoE connectivity to up to 18 times the reach of standard Ethernet switches. The positive outcomes achieved through the company’s innovations have led to industry consultants re-writing local area network (LAN) design principles. Frost & Sullivan recently introduced Modern LAN principles, which imply an enhancement on traditional LAN design to support the ‘things’ of IoT most effectively. The foundation of these principles can be traced back to NVT’s PoE innovations. CIO Insider is delighted to engage in an exclusive interaction with the company’s director of India operations, Arvind David.

In conversation with Arvind David, Director, Global Digital Transformation & India Operations

NVT Phybridge boasts an industry experience of 14 years. What are the USPs that have helped the company establish such an intact reputation in the industry?
Over the past decade, we have been able to go beyond the expectations. Our PoE innovations deliver reliable, robust PoE connectivity over different cable types, while offering 18 times the reach of traditional network switches. This means organizations can transform their existing wiring infrastructure (single pair UTP (unshielded twisted

pair) coax cable or multi-pair UTP cable) into a robust and secure path with ideal power for the new IP endpoints. We also have single port solutions, and unmanaged & managed switches.

With the back-lift of our innovations, customers avoid the traditional rip-and-replace requirements resulting in lower cost. They eliminate IDF closet requirements (given the extended reach capabilities), repurpose existing wiring infrastructure, and reduce the professional services costs. They get better return on investment with more of the budget being allocated to better IP endpoints and applications; not to mention the reduced risk and disruption. On the other hand, our solutions make it easier for them to configure, deploy, and manage network connectivity, while also enabling environmentally responsible IoT modernization.

By next year, we are also launching our FLEX24 10GB switch, which will be the most versatile network switch in the market


Tell us about your products. What is the kind of thought process and innovations that power your flagship offerings? How do those products make life easier for your customers?
Oliver Emmanual, the founder, and inventor of our flagship PoLRE (Power over Long Reach Ethernet) switch believed in creating solutions that are simple, robust, and solve network problems in the most effective way. Einstien once said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created it.” When it came to LAN requirements for IoT endpoints, the same traditional thinking was applied – view things from PoE switch capabilities’ point of view first, regardless of the requirements of the new IP device being connected.

What did Oliver do to come up with an effective solution?
For example, the traditional distributed network design with every PoE port having a Gigabit makes sense for bursting neartime data requirements, but when it comes to voice application that only needs 100k of bandwidth, the most important requirement is reduced latency & priority of packet, otherwise we cannot understand the person on the other side of the line. The industry players approached these issues with a traditional mindset and came out with

complex network requirements, including new monitoring tools and configuration requirements.

Well, Oliver had a different approach. First and foremost, what did we know before moving to IP? The phone and CCTV wiring infrastructure have a purpose built point-to-point topology. That means every endpoint has dedicated bandwidth resulting in quality of service without complexity. Now remember, the most common cable types supporting the existing IP endpoints are single pair UTP for phones and coax for cameras. Oliver created PoE solutions that can leverage these two infrastructures and provide robust connectivity. The outcome was way better than the results after going through the costs, disruption, and risk of having to rip-and-replace the infrastructure. Hence, as a result of his out-of-the-box and logical thinking, we came out with the first PoE solution that can deliver Ethernet and power over a single pair of wire to over 1,200ft. This innovation was disruptive and game-changing.

Share with us a success story about one of your latest projects, including the challenges, your solutions, and the outcome.
We have worked on several projects in India, including the one with the Indian Railways through our India-principle distributor, Inflow Technologies. The customer was facing significant hurdles when it comes to re-cabling due to the challenges pertaining to long distances and service disruptions. They are now using our technology to overcome those challenges and deploy IP cameras without high costs, complexity, or disruption. Additionally, Soaring Eagle Casino (US) deploying 1,300 IP cameras using our CLEER24 Switch was also one of our most recent success stories.

Where is the company headed in the years to come? What’s the kind of future that Phybridge looks forward to?
As the IoT industry continues to grow, NVT Phybridge plans to capitalize on PoE and IP endpoint connectivity requirements. Everything as a service is gaining momentum and we are looking to offer our infrastructure solutions as a service as well. We are planning to launch more advanced and easy-to-use GUI as well as a tool that will help users configure multiple switches simultaneously. By next year, we are also launching our FLEX24 10GB switch, which will be the most versatile network switch in the market. It will be able to perform all tasks an enterprise grade network switch can, and also break reach-limitations by providing up to 2,000ft (610m) reach!


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