In Broadcast - March 2012 - 60

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 6 - MARCH 2012

InREPLY
Managing Director of In2Connect UK and Consultant for Bryant Unlimited Bob Hart steps up to the InBroadcast Q&A challenge…
Bob Hart

InBroadcast: How is In2Connect changing to meet client demands? Bob Hart: In2Connect’s diﬀerentiation factor is our very personal sales service to both customers and suppliers alike. Concentrating purely in products and suppliers that we solidly understand helps both ends of the supply chain get what they want, quality products at competitive prices and in the optimum lead time. We base our market oﬀering around the reputation of our brands and our ability to give customers the sort of individual advisory service that our far larger competitors don’t have time for. We made the decision way back to focus our resources on building an online oﬀering, providing access to update connector information by means of descriptive pages, search boxes and extensive data sheets. The ability of

environments like Avionics, Military and Broadcast. InB: Which territories are showing particular activity? BH: The UK remains a key market for us but global reach is important for survival as we witness large kit manufacturers building their PCBs in China. Well over half of our sales revenue comes from the Far East and the Indian sub-continent with enquiries accelerating a pace from Brazil and Russia. InB: Any innovations that you can discuss? BH: Broadcast applications from the simplest hand held kit to a fully blown ﬂyaway or OB vehicle have carried the world’s best loved I/O connectors into a harsher and less tolerant environment. Broadcast connectors face numerous environmental stresses, whether on the end of a cable or built into head end transmission kit. They must match the level of product technology and the rapid development and growth of the sector and must combat temperature and humidity; exposure to liquids, oils and chemicals; shock or vibration and RF/EMI interference. Above all, whatever the speciﬁc application, they must provide absolute fail safe always “on-air” reliability. Despite all the warnings to avoid the use of electronic devices in wet areas, broadcast equipment designers have to create devices that can cope with water and humidity as their kit may be ﬂown anywhere across the globe. Traditionally, most electronic boxes have been located in a sheltered, controlled environment. In broadcast applications, waterprooﬁng of components is arguably the ﬁrst major add-on to the features required of an indoor interconnect and it has become very clear that many engineers and designers don’t want to reinvent interconnects for the sake of it, they want manufacturers to adapt products that they’ve already got

built into BOMs. Cost of course is amongst the leading drivers, thus the design concept for I/O connectors will always be limited by it - so in order to save space and reduce equipment size the industry needs to get more and more signals, such as common signals, microwave signals, optical signals, high voltage signals, power signals into a single connector whilst maintaining circuit or signal separation. This has been achieved with the IP67 mixed layout d-sub. IP68 tends to be an applicationspeciﬁc rating, so there is no universal set of tests. With cost in mind, In2Connect has developed the “Pintail” range of low cost, functional waterproof connectors rated IP68 for indoor/outdoor interconnect solutions. These multi-pin, threaded coupling connectors will provide IP68 integrity when mated or when

ﬁtted with a waterproof end cap. InB: Give some examples of your products in action? BH: D-sub and circular multipin in/ out connectors are relatively chunky with or without additional protection, but the transition of RJ45, USB, FireWire IEE 1394 and Optical Fibre to the broadcast environment has required the application of the type of reinforcement associated with MIL-C circular connectors. For real-time-Ethernet, the industry has gravitated toward an RJ45 connector type with a bayonet latching or screw threaded coupling mechanism. This robust design with IP67 rating ensures reliable protection and easy connection under harsh environmental conditions. InB: Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. ■

Pintail connector

the internet to disseminate technical and design information direct from our website via Data Sheets enables us to run as a small operation but achieve big things. We have a single UK stock centre but serve blue chip customers worldwide. InB: What criteria does the market use to make buying decisions for your products/services? BH: We ﬁnd ourselves working at both ends of the cost spectrum at the same time. Cost and stock holding is a prime mover in selling into large scale, Far Eastern CEM box builders like Plexus, Celestica, Jabil, etc. but reliability and problem solving is more important in

Pintail connector on a Senceive Ltd Wireless Mesh Network

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In Broadcast - March 2012

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