Conference Program

Tuesday, 26 November – Pre-conference workshop

WORKSHOP 1

1.00pm-5.00pm
BICSI WORKSHOP 1: Laser Safety Labelling and Optical Fibre Cleaning
(in support of Safety, Security and Reliability)
Murray Teale Director, VTI Services and Chair CT-001 and WC80 Standards committees

Overview: This workshop has been prepared for people involved in the specification, installation and maintenance of optical fibre networks. It will deal with key safety, operational and performance-related topics, targeting the common impediments to these issues and how to mitigate their risks and any detrimental impact on your optical fibre networks. The workshop will also explore the current applicable optical fibre and safety standards, as well as the soon to be released S008 and S009 cabling regulations to provide guidance on how to safely and successfully deploy and maintain optical fibre networks.

WORKSHOP 2

1.00pm-5.00pm
BICSI WORKSHOP 2: Hands-On Data Centre Thermal Fluid Dynamics Workshop

Dr Neil SilkeLead Engineer, DataCentreCFD

Overview: Hands-on education using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software to create a Digital Twin of a data centre to simulate the assessment, design and troubleshooting of heat loads in data centres. The workshop will assist attendees apply CFD modelling for data centre design and assessment and how to analyse simulation results and investigate solutions. As this workshop will be hands-on with software, you will need to bring your own computer or tablet with the appropriate software loaded on it. Once registered, you will receive a link and instructions on how to download a free ‘trial’ license (valid for 30 days, so you can explore its application to your data centres after the workshop).

Wednesday, 27 November – Day 1

8.30am-9.00am REGISTRATION / TEA & COFFEE

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION:
Paul Stathis — CEO, BICSI South Pacific

OPENING KEYNOTE: Implementing Digital Building Strategies and Applications within the Hospitality Space
Farukh Aslam
 — CEO, Sinclair Holdings (USA)

A truly ‘smart’ building should be a building where every single device can communicate with each other to become more efficient and enhance the user experience. As a building developer, we’re always seeking new ways to push the limit of efficiency and intelligence. In our current Marriott Autograph Hotel project in Fort Worth, Texas, we’re utilising a digital electricity backbone to power distributed Digital Building Switches that then provide PoE power and network connectivity to lighting, motor shades, mini bars, door locks, sensors, phones, cameras and electric mirrors. In our next project, we plan on pushing the envelope even further by going 100% DC power, moving TVs and VRF AC units to PoE, and creating a DC micro-grid which could allow us a net-zero building. What does all this achieve? A safer, more intelligent and effectively cheaper building where information and control is at your fingertips.

Digital city services: The new infrastructure for globally competitive communities
Adam Beck – Executive Director,  Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand

Delivering city services digitally is more than a trend — it‘s a race. Cities that successfully make the digital transition are able to achieve ‘happier for less’ — spending less to increase citizen satisfaction. Cities are also ‘going digital’ to gain competitive advantage, in what is a global internet economy. The internet, essentially, is the core backbone for the smart city. The recent experience of one local council endeavouring to deliver digital-solutions-as-a-service to its community, while netting $180m in benefits, demonstrates how digital inclusion presents economic opportunities.

10.45am-11.15am Morning Break

11.15am-12.00pm
Accountability in the age of IoT
Andrew Douglas
Managing Principal, FCW Lawyers

While IoT expands the capabilities of data networks, it also expands the accountabilities of those who provide it. IoT now facilitates life safety, security and other essential services. So when something goes wrong and injuries or losses are incurred, who’s to blame? Chances are the provider of the ICT infrastructure will be held to account, whether they’re to blame or not. This presentation will explore the legal framework that holds people to account and what they can do to minimise claims or prosection against themselves.

12.00pm-1.00pm
BICSI South Pacific 2019 Annual General Meeting
Richard Morrison ANZ Information and Communications Technology Practice Lead, AECOM; and BICSI South Pacific BoD

1.oopm-1.45pm Lunch Break

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES STREAM

AV STREAM

1.45pm-2.30pm
The State of Wi-Fi 6
Stephen Cooper Consulting Engineer, Mist Systems (a Juniper Company)

Wi-Fi 6 is the new benchmark in wireless technology. This presentation will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the IEEE 802.11ax standard that defines Wi-Fi 6, as well as discussing the relevant standards bodies concerned with Wi-Fi. Stephen will also present valuable guidelines for best practice with respect to Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi deployments in general.

1.45pm-2.30pm
Audio Visual – Designing for Usability and Practicality
Myke Ireland — National Technology & Innovation Manager, Engie Services

The audiovisual industry is one of ever-changing technology and fast-paced integration methodology, so much so that defining a set of ’standards’ needs to be balanced with the necessary understanding of how to ensure a roadmap that is futureproof. This session will cater for all levels of audiovisual experience and will cover key principles for designing solutions around digital display technology, audiovisual control standards, digital content and transmission standards, and basic audio principles.

2.30pm-3.15pm
TBC

Brendon WoodsManager EME – Program Advisory, Aurecon

2.30pm-3.15pm
Consumerisation of the Built Environment
Peter Coman RCDD ESSManaging Director, InDesign Technologies

Consumerisation of the Built Environment details the specific impact that consumer-originated technologies will have on the workplace, and how organisations will be affected by, and can take advantage of, new technologies and models that originate and develop in the consumer space.
Consumerisation of the Workplace also discusses what the workplace might look like in the coming years, how technology will be the driver behind this, and what you need to do to be ready for this transition.

3.15pm-3.45pm Afternoon Break

AFTERNOON PLENARY — SUCCESSFUL CONFLICT RESOLUTION

3.45pm-4.45pm
Minimising Conflict Resolution in the Construction Industry
Nat GrayBuilding Manager, Lendlease

The construction industry has many ‘bosses’ that often have disparate objectives and expectations, even though they’re all ‘working’ on the same project. For example, it’s common for the consultant to be engaged by the client; the consultant directs works by sub-contractors, but they are actually engaged by the builder, who is providing an office for the client; but engaged by the property owner, not the client. Disparate views lead to conflict that negatively impacts the project. With his extensive experience in both the engineering and construction industries, Nat will present valuable guidelines in how to work harmoniously on projects, in spite of the complexities of numerous ‘bosses’.

4.45pm-5.45pm
Applying Standards as Forensic Tools to Successfully Resolve Project Disputes
Peter Turnbull Director, P2C Engineering

While disputes are accepted as the norm in the construction sector, they don’t have to be. Peter will step through the contractual agreements that bind head contractors (typically builders) with subcontractors, service providers and suppliers together. He will then articulate the immense value that correctly applied standards bring to the contractual agreement in providing clarity to both parties, while minimising erroneous assumptions and disputes — ultimately keeping you out of court.

5.45pm Conference Close

Thursday, 28 November – Day 2

8.30am-9.00am REGISTRATION / TEA & COFFEE

LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITIES STREAM

TECHNOLOGY TRENDS STREAM

9.00am-9.45am
New Corporate Whistleblowing Laws in Australia — Effective Risk Management for the ICT Industry
Sally McDow Managing Director, CPR Partners

The newly changed whistleblower protection legislation that has recently been introduced to Australia has significant impact on many companies and employees, including the ICT infrastructure sector. This presentation will outline what workers and managers need to know about the legislation and what to do to comply with it. Failure to comply brings hefty penalties, including individual and organisational fines of $1 million, as well as jail sentences.

9.00am-9.45am
Smart Homes – Industry Disruption
Lawrence McKennaPrincipal EngineerCumarsaid

This presentation outlines the industry disruption posed by the smart home revolution during the next decade. In Australia 7 million homes will want to move from dumb to smart for a host of reasons, but 80% of Australian household do not have the disposable income. This will place pressure on a regulatory environment that has been in place for 22 years for life safety and network integrity. This will leave the Australian industry with challenges that will need to be urgently addressed: do we stop DIY retailers like Bunnings selling data cable and outlets; do we create a cost-free pathway for homeowners to undertake work and make regulatory changes; do we undergo full de-regulation? These are issues that will need to investigated, resolved and implemented in 24–36 months.

9.45am-10.30am
ICT Construction in the Kwajalein Atoll
Jeffrey Beavers RCDD, OSP, CFHPOSP/ISP Engineering Group Lead, Black & Veatch Telecommunications; and President at BICSI

The pursuit of a standards-based network deployment brings unique challenges inherent with a remote location. From UXO (unexploded ordnance), to cultural issues and the human element, to differing interpretation of contract documents, to long lead times, the challenges are  many, but not insurmountable. 

Value-based decisions should be practiced in all projects, not just when our backs are against a wall.

Attendees will review some of the lessons learned that provided for the safe and successful deployment of a standards compliant system.

9.45am-10.30am
Resolving a Modern-Day Healthcare Crisis with Technology
Julia Curtain — Telecommunications Project Engineer, Wood & Grieve Engineers

Most people take for granted how easily we control our environment. Historically, those with differing abilities have had to rely on carers to do this for them — impinging on their independence and privacy. With the evolution of technology and the introduction of NDIS, we as a society now have the opportunity to remove young people from aged care and lead more autonomous lives. And our ICT infrastructure industry has a massive part to play in granting this autonomy.

10.30am-11.00am MORNING TEA

STANDARDS & TRAINING STREAM

DATA CENTRES STREAM

11.00am-11.45am
Prepare Yourself for Major Changes in Local and International Standards in 2020
Murray Teale Director, VTI Services and Chair CT-001 and WC80 Standards committees

Brace yourself — while 2019 was a big year for changes in ICT standards, 2020 will be even bigger. The Chair of Australia’s CT-001 cabling standards committee, Murray Teale, recently attended a global ISO meeting in Japan and was stunned by the major changes being proposed by the ISO committee, that will ultimately impact Australia. This is a must-attend presentation for all ICT infrastructure professionals to keep up to date with key industry standards.

11.00am-11.45am
The Digital Twin for Data Centres — Prototyping using Computational Fluid Dynamics
Dr Neil SilkeLead Engineer, DataCentre CFD

This presentation will introduce the concept of a ‘digital twin’ of a data centre and address how computation fluid dynamics fits within this concept. Neil will provide examples of how the utilisation of a physics-based model — the ‘digital twin’ — can enhance the design and operation of data centres specifically with regard to thermal management within data centres. The importance of representation modelling for a design will be emphasised, and how to push the design to its limits. Examples will be presented on how the technology was used on an existing data centre to ensure the safe installation of future IT equipment.

11.45am-12.30pm
Panel Discussion: Transforming training and asset management across the Engineering, Construction, and Infrastructure Sectors
PANEL: Murray JamesCo-Founder, Chief Development Officer, Snobal, Rohan BakkerManager – Melbourne Survey, SMECShane DarwinGeneral Manager, JB Hunter

This panel discussion will address how virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and eXtended reality (XR) are disrupting the engineering and construction industries across the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance phases. One area specifically being transformed in these industries is the provision of high-consequence and safety related training via VR and AR. But how will the arrival of the 5G network, which is promised to accelerate enterprise cloud opportunities, impact high-consequence and safety related training not to mention asset management? This panel discussion will explore how these technologies will advance spatial computing and provide guidelines in incorporating such technologies into training, asset management and digital workflows.

11.45am-12.30pm
Space Division Multiplexing Breathing New Life into Multimode Fibre Networks
Professor Michael WithfordCEO & Co-Founder, Modular Photonics

Optical fibre has five basic properties that can be exploited for performance: time, wavelength, quadrature (phase), polarisation and space.
Telecommunications networks have evolved from pure time multiplexing in the 1970s to formats that utilise wavelength, quadrature and polarisation in order to stay ahead of the exponential growth in data demand. To meet future bandwidth demands, optical fibre designers are now exploiting the fifth frontier: space. New space division multiplexing (SDM) technology is now commercially available that can control individual modes in multimode fibre (MMF), in a similar fashion to how wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) controls narrow wavelength channels. This presentation will discuss SDM technology and some of the challenges that need to be solved to make this a viable technology. It will also show how that same technology is unlocking data bottlenecks in legacy MMF networks, making delivery of 40G possible over kilometre lengths.

12.30pm-1.30pm Lunch Break

AFTERNOON PLENARY — SMART CITIES

What is the progress of ‘Edge’ in South Pacific?
Verghese Jacob Managing Director, FMevolution

Driven by the exponential adoption of IoT and cloud applications, localised computing at ‘the edge’ is creating an insatiable demand for bandwidth across all networks. Carriers and ISPs alike are turning to an array of technologies to satisfy this bandwidth demand between devices and data centres. This presentation will analyse some locally developed innovations that are both on and beyond the horizon that not only solve bandwidth issues, but also empower ‘smart’ and mobile devices to deliver even more over the cloud.

ICT Infrastructure for Highly Connected and Autonomous Transport Systems
Professor Majid SarviProfessor in Transport for Smart Cities, University of Melbourne & AIMES Founding Director

This discussion considers the future of transport and mobility with an emphasis on Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor technology, including a spotlight on a particular project — the Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem (AIMES), a world-first living laboratory based on the streets of Melbourne. AIMES was established in 2016 to test highly integrated transport technology with a goal to deliver safer, cleaner and more sustainable urban transport outcomes.
With an effective transport system essential to the liveability of a city and current transport infrastructure under stress, the AIMES ecosystem provides a unique platform for collaborative trials of technology which integrates the movement of all road users (people and vehicles) with transport infrastructure.

3.00pm Conference Close