Belden Advocates Ethernet, Security and Wireless

John Stroup, president and CEO of Belden.

Why would a longtime cable supplier support Ethernet, which uses fewer wires, and wireless that appears to use none? Because it's an intelligent company that knows it and its customers are really in the communications business."By 2015, there are going to be 16 billion connected devices, and by 2020 there are going to be 50 billion connected devices," says John Stroup, Belden's president and CEO. "The Internet of Things (IoT) and the industrial IoT will use increasingly intelligent network infrastructures, but this will create more risk and increase the need to protect those critical infrastructures and their data. That's why we're investing both organically and through acquisition in Ethernet, security and wireless—so we can help transform this interconnected world." Such has been the counterintuitive, but nonetheless successful evolution of Belden and the Hirschmann, Lumberg, GarrettCom and Tofino networking divisions it's acquired in recent years. Most recently, all of their collaborative efforts, synergies and solutions were highlighted in presentations and exhibits at the Belden Industrial Ethernet Design Seminar on Sept. 22-23 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Houston.  Belden demonstrated several managed Ethernet switches, firewalls and other products at its design seminar, including devices that protect network perimeters, secure zones in networks, and protect remote access for external devices.