Homes Of The Future, With Mike Syiek of NetworkTigers

An Interview With Jason Hartman

Jason Hartman
Authority Magazine

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Smart Homes are already here, but in their infancy. The improvement of materials and process has certainly increased efficiencies — from R value to customized interests — but the more important elements of the Smart Home are neglected by developers who aren’t quite up to speed on networking requirements for new builds. That, or it’s an afterthought.

As a part of our series about “Homes Of The Future”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Syiek.

Mike Syiek is one of the industry’s foremost experts in digital networking. Founder of NetworkTigers, Mike served as an Officer and Fighter Pilot in the United States Air Force, directing research on reshaping operations of key service for the federal government. He was also the regional director for ADP’s Financial Information Services and a former Marketing Director for Sears.

Mike earned a dual BS in Astronautical Engineering and History from the United States Air Force Academy, an MA in International Relations from the University of Southern California (at Cambridge University in England) and an MBA in Finance and Business Policy from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

He is a critical thinker in networking; pioneering “effective” workflows for small and mid-size businesses, governments, and hospitals around the world as they pursue digital competence.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

It’s funny — not many people think of networking technology as a “career goal”. Nor did I. After serving as an Officer and Fighter Pilot in the United States Air Force and completing various degrees in Astronautical Engineering and International Relations, not to mention my MBA in Finance and Business Policy, I fell into this business. It wasn’t the sexy thing to do, but there was a clear opportunity for me — one which has grown into a critical piece of today’s networking supply chain.

This is an important business, and has been well-hidden. And while the pandemic has helped our reputation (primarily as the Robin Hood of networking technology) there’s more awareness needed which could spark an era of “effective spending” for necessary technology not everyone — even our government — can duly afford.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Yes, the Hillary Clinton campaign.

It was her campaign which really showed me the power of how people can misunderstand technology. In 2016 we were asked if we wanted to buy their laptops leftover from the campaign Not actively as the technology backbone of her campaign, but passively — as a much more powerful forensic tool.

I asked them (prior to the offer) how the data was removed from their hard drives. Considering the sensitivity of the campaign data, I was expecting the hard drives to have been shredded. The campaign manager assured me they had been properly wiped. (No real wiping can remove data 100% because of rings of residual magnetism which we won’t explore here.)

I opted not to bid. Access to oppo data would have made us incredibly wanted. In both senses. One could have reconstructed the data from the hard drive without much effort, making high-level official’s email available to anyone who did the work. And even then, there’s a lot of grey area.

It showed me how much big business can easily disregard the basic plumbing that makes it all go smoothly.

The same applies to many of us who want innovative Smart Home technology and are largely ignorant of what’s required to actually run a Smart Home.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Homebuilding in the US has grown tremendously. We’d love to hear about some of the new trends and techniques that are being used to build the homes of the future.

As important as networking is to big business and government, it’s become indispensable in our homes. The economy is now officially transformed.

“Upwork estimates that 1 in 4 Americans over 26% of the American workforce will be working remotely through 2021. They also estimate that 22% of the workforce (36.2 Million Americans) will work remotely by 2025.”

This means that home offices will need (and have needed) critical digital updates. Not to mention the spike in home buying and the prioritization of networking needs for new, Smart Home homes which will forecast bold futurescape capabilities like holograms, enhanced security, and streamlined automation for everything from appliances to climate.

This may be obvious. What is not obvious is how to update these systems or speak with some basic knowledge about what’s required in a new home. Seeing how important this is, we’re interested in helping everyone understand what’s possible and what’s at stake.

There is a lot of talk about Smart Homes. Can you tell our readers a bit about what that is, what that looks like, and how that might help people?

Smart Homes are already here, but in their infancy. The improvement of materials and process has certainly increased efficiencies — from R value to customized interests — but the more important elements of the Smart Home are neglected by developers who aren’t quite up to speed on networking requirements for new builds. That, or it’s an afterthought.

What will help us most in transitioning to a Smart Home is understanding what actually makes that possible. I am delighted to see advancements in physical infrastructure of homes. Although the “Smart Home” is more accurately defined by its digital capabilities.

Aside from Smart Homes, can you talk about other interesting tech innovations that are being incorporated into homes today?

This is kind of fun. There are plenty, and many of them quite exciting. From distinct health benefits to plain fun, here are some examples we’re finding which will require a solid networking foundation:

Tunable Lighting — Studies have shown for a long time that lighting directly affects occupants’ moods. Bluish hues can boost your energy whilst reddish tones tend to calm you down.

Smart Beds — analyzes your sleeping habits and offers suggestions to improve your sleep and in turn, your life.

Robot Kitchens — Not only does the robot cook complete meals, it tells you when ingredients need replacing, suggests dishes based on the items you have in stock, learns what you like and even cleans up surfaces after itself.

Robotic-furniture — changes based on your needs, getting the bed out of the way when you need a desk, or hiding your closet when it’s dinnertime.

Smart-home robot concept — CARL rolls around your home, activating its retractable cameras and sensors to detect intruders, notify you of any harmful emissions or keep an eye on your pet.

Cameras and sensors embedded in refrigerators — suggest more nutritious alternatives if people are reaching for the sugary sodas a little too frequently.

Similar technology in medicine cabinets will check if residents have taken their prescriptions.

Sensors will even show up in toilets to check for signs of any potential health conditions by scanning human waste before it’s flushed. Bathroom-fixture company Toto has experimented with urine-sampling toilets, while one company has filed patents for devices including a mirror that’s meant to monitor users’ health just by analyzing their skin.

And finally, gaming. Immersive VR is growing at an incredible rate to the point where futurists believe they’ll be able to have avatars and toys that understand a child’s individual behavior so well that they can grow with them into the future.

These are all fine and well. But the Smart Home is powered ultimately by networking structure. You cannot have one without the other.

Is there anything that home builders can do to further help address these problems?

There are a number of solutions that Realtors, Buyers, and Developers should gauge (forgive the pun) when they’re considering the basic infrastructure. Internet bandwidth and Wi-Fi signal within the same house can segregate the haves and have-nots within the same address.

It’s a real issue. How often do you hear complaints about it in your own home?

Creating usable CPE or network infrastructure for your two, three, four, or more bedroom house is even more critical in this time of people working at home. Here are the simple steps to planning out a home network infrastructure:

a. Location: Pick a location near to the Demarc (the Internet router) where all the internal cabling can terminate. This location should generally be temperature controlled, offer cleaned conditioned air, and should offer protection from people that might accidentally hit the cabling or any other network equipment that you might choose to use for your house network. Ensure that there is sufficient electrical power to run the switches, routers, power strips, etc. that you will need for your network.

b. Plan for Wi-Fi: Decide on where you will put up wireless access points. These are generally locations near the ceiling or high on the wall. When designing your wireless network, treat the locations as spotlight locations. The Wi-Fi signal generally can be picked up where the light would travel. Signals do not transmit through brick or block walls but 2.4ghz wireless signals do transmit somewhat through a drywall with insulation. For walls, you will have to test before you decide. Access points are inexpensive. Re-running cables is far more expensive. If you get a choice of many access points or few, choose the many. If you are installing in an old home, your choice of location may be a compromise. You will not need electrical power if you power the access points using PoE (power over ethernet) from your switch.

c. Plan for RJ45 connections: Decide on where you will want your wall network connections. These are low on the wall near power outlets. Wall connections imply an electrical device such as a television or a computer. There is nothing more frustrating than accomplishing a network pull to a location that does not have electric power.

d. Security Cameras: Decide on where you are going to put your security cameras. Ensure that there would be a strong enough Wi-Fi signal for the cameras to attach to the network.

e. Double run each location: Plan on running two network cables to each location. The reason for two is that one cable is a “single-point-of-failure”. Two cables will provide a quick back up should one cable fail to work.

f. Choose your cabinet: Count the number of cables or “home runs” — a cable run from a room to your termination location. Suggest buying a wall cabinet for that location. The wall cabinet should provide room for the cable punch down block, a switch, a firewall/access point controller, and the ISP router.

g. Choose your punch down block: The cable punch down block is where the network cables for each room will terminate and get “punched down” into a block. Choose a high-quality punch down block where you will terminate the connections.

h. Pick your cabling: Choose the type of wire that you will use for your network. This is key and critical as it will tell you how much effort you will have to make to run the cabling. There are several types of cabling to consider:

1. Cat6a — Cat6 is the sixth generation of Ethernet cabling used in business and home networks. If you want a simple choice, CAT6 “typical” cabling standard used in modern office buildings. CAT6a or augmented CAT6 supports data rates of 10 Gigabit for the full 328 feet distance. The downside is CAT6a is thicker and more expensive than CAT6.

2. Cat7/Flat Cat7 — Cat7 supports high-speed Ethernet communication up to 10 Gbps. Cat7 cable is backward compatible with Cat6, Cat5 and Cat5e cable categories. It offers a 100-meter 4-connector channel using shielded cabling, and has been designed to transmit signals at a frequency of 600 MHz.

3. Cat8 — Category 8 is the official successor to Cat6A. The major benefit of Cat8 cabling is faster throughput over short distances: 40 Gbps up to 78’ and 25 Gbps up to 100’. From 100’ to 328’, Cat8 provides the same 10Gbps throughput as Cat6A cabling.

i. Choose the connector blocks for each wire connection: Decide how each pair of cables will terminate in the rooms and how they will be punched down.

j. Hire: Find a firm to do the work. These firms are usually listed as telecom installation firms.

k. If you are sure you can do the work, start with the installation.

If you have never worked with a punch-down tool or a cable crimper, doing your own network may not be the time. If you are an experienced “do-it-yourselfer” and can learn quickly there are many articles on the Internet that explain how to manage both devices to accomplish the block termination at each room and the punch down at the cabinet.

When finished, you will have to set up your Internet “plumbing” that can distribute the bandwidth to each room of your home. What we will cover in part II is how to choose the switches, routers, and firewalls so that this key infrastructure will provide the bandwidth.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I supply the fastest growing sector in networking technology. We help all sized companies and homes enjoy the benefit of new gigabit speeds and innovative, digital comforts which are hard to afford. We ensure and recycle smart-buying network equipment which are easier to buy at 1/10th the cost. For us, we’re recycling the most important piece of any reliable network and keeping the supply chain alive.

Used equipment companies are growing 25% each year and expected to continue for another 2 years of high growth.

Here’s what’s interesting if you’re in networking. OEM’s haven’t figured out how to embrace the secondary market with licensing opportunities. We believe that with improved device tracking and lineage, the OEM’s and the secondary market will become partners, not competitors.

A boon for customers and manufacturers.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

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Jason Hartman
Authority Magazine

Author | Speaker | Financial Guru | Podcast Rockstar