From: BICSI, Inc.
8610 Hidden River Parkway 
Tampa, FL  33637
813-979-1991

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                     Contact: Janice Martin, 813-282-8767        

 Countries Seek Information To Prepare for Deregulation

TAMPA, FL -- When a BICSI representative travels to Korea in November, at the invitation of the government-regulated telephone company, he will carry the same message BICSI has offered in Europe, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Japan and elsewhere:

Since the information highway is being constructed in the present, BICSI argues, it makes sense to avoid pitfalls that are already known. The telecommunications industry has the opportunity to avoid technological splits like the one that created different electrical voltage and sockets in the U.S. and Europe.

BICSI, a professional trade association of people who are quite literally paving that information highway, has 15,000 members involved in cabling design and installation for voice, data and video technologies.

In Asia, where deregulation of the telecommunications industry looms large, "they don't have a clue as to what an organization like ours is or does," says BICSI Executive Director Jay Warmke. "All they know is that someone further down the road told them 'You need a BICSI.'

"Earlier this year, 650 people showed up to hear our president-elect speak in Japan, because they are deregulating next year. Developing nations like China, the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, they're all very eager for information."

BICSI offers certification and training programs for cabling designers and installers. It has a substantial voice in shaping product standards for telecommunications. Its technical manuals have become bibles of the industry. And it has forged a reputation for credibility and quality.

"We always are moving toward the rational," says Warmke. "We want to have good, safe, quality design and installation of telecommunications networks, because that benefits everyone.

"The industry is globalizing. Standard practices will converge. There will eventually be one world standard for telecommunications. The evolutionary process has speeded up. But w e also see countries getting involved in proprietary systems, like the US had with AT&T, IBM and DEC not so long ago, where systems and components wouldn't work together.
"There is no reason for these things to be different. But there are a lot of politics and ego involved. So we at BICSI work from the grassroots level, seeking universal solutions, trying to help others avoid re-inventing the wheel."

BICSI is a professional, not-for-profit telecommunications association that serves almost 15,000 members from every state in the US and more than 70 countries around the world. BICSI offers courses, conferences, publications and certification programs for telecommunications cabling distribution designers and installers. BICSI is based in Tampa, Florida, and has other offices in the US, Australia, Great Britain, Brazil and Canada.