Fault Managed Power Explained

We break down what fault managed power systems are and why Class 4 “digital electricity” is becoming a real requirement for cabling pros, not a niche curiosity. With Ronna Davis from VoltServer and the FMP Alliance, we connect the code, the cabling, and the jobsite reality so techs and PMs can prepare instead of getting left behind. 

• fault managed power defined through NEC 2023 and UL 1400-1 and UL 1400-2 safety standards 
• why “limited energy” replaces “low voltage” as voltages rise but fault energy stays controlled 
• what actually runs over the pair and why FMPS data is circuit control, not network traffic 
• common cable gauges and what changes as FMPS moves toward data centers 
• leading applications like small cells, DAS, Wi‑Fi, security, powering IDFs and network enclosures 
• addressing fear about scope and focusing on labor shortages and getting more trained hands onsite 
• what changes in NEC 2026 and the push toward clearer code organization in future cycles 
• design best practices starting with load, power over distance, and centralized power planning 
• the transmitter cabling receiver model and why central UPS strategies can cut complexity 
• where to get trained through NECA, BICSI, the FMP Alliance, and vendors 
• why AI data centers care about power density, footprint, modular scaling, and rapid deployment 
• how to follow and join the FMP Alliance and where to learn more from VoltServer 

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Transcript

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Welcome And Listener Requests

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hey Wire Monkeys, welcome to another episode of Let's Talk Cabling. This episode, we're going to talk about why fault-managed power systems are becoming an important conversation in the low voltage industry. Welcome to the show where we tackle the tough questions submitted by apprentices, installers, technicians, project foremen, project managers, estimators, designers, IT personnel, even customers. We are connecting at the human level so that we can connect the world. If you're watching this show on YouTube, would you mind hitting the subscribe button and the bell button to be notified when new content is being produced? If you're listening to us on one of the audio podcast platforms, would you mind leaving us a five-star rating? Those simple little steps help us take on the algorithm so we can educate, encourage, and enrich the lives of people in the ICT industry. Wednesday night, 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, what are you doing? You know I do a live stream on TikTok, Instagram, uh, YouTube, Facebook, and eventually get back to LinkedIn again where you get to ask your favorite RCDD. You know that's me. Your favorite RCDD. Questions on installation, design, credentialing, certification, career path. I answer pretty much everything. But I can hear you never check them, drive them on checking, answer nice, it's like me up. I don't want to get into an accident. Relax. Breathe in. Breathe out. I record them and you can watch them at your convenience. And finally, while this show is free and will always remain free, if you find value in this content, when you click on that QR code right there, you can buy me a cup of coffee. You can even buy some Let's Talk Cabling merchandise. Or you can even schedule a one-on-one call with me after hours, of course. So, like I said, fault managed power systems, FMPS, digital electricity. What is that stuff? Is it witchcraft? Is it magic? I don't know. Chuck, I do low voltage, I don't do that kind of stuff. Yeah. Now you don't. But you really need to pay attention because the world is a changing. Okay. I remember when everybody used to say, Chuck, I don't ever do fiber. I just do, I just do cat three cable. Yeah, well, guess what? Cat 3 cable's not around anymore. If you want to be in this industry and you want to differentiate yourself from other people in this industry, you gotta stay well educated, always learning, always finding new stuff. Because if you don't, you will get left behind. And fault managed power systems is one of the things I see. When I talk to people and I say POE, they automatically know what I'm talking about. But when I say fault managed power systems or digital electricity, what happens is I get that deer in the head, like look, what? Huh? What's that? Yeah. So this is to raise awareness because number one, it's skills you're gonna have to learn as a technician. A project you're gonna have to manage as a project manager, and you estimators out there, you're gonna be designing this stuff. But Chuck, we're not yet. It's it's here. It is here, and it's growing more and more every year. Now, again, I can wax poetic about lots of things in the low voltage industry. Fault managed power systems is not one of those. And like I said, I don't, I I may not know everything, but I know a lot of people in this industry. So I asked a subject matter expert to come on, a good friend of mine that we've been friends for, I don't know, gosh, 10, 15 years now.

Meet The Fault Managed Power Expert

SPEAKER_04 3:42

We always chat at the Bixie conferences. Ronna Davis. Rona, how are you doing tonight?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Hey, Chuck, I'm doing fantastic. How are you?

SPEAKER_04 3:50

I am doing fantastic. Just trying to survive the Florida afternoon showers.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

You know, I'm in Vegas right now, and I'm we're actually having showers, which is not the normal, but uh we're actually having rainstorms here in in Las Vegas, Nevada as well.

SPEAKER_04 4:07

Are you in Vegas already for the Bixie conference? You don't live in Vegas, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:12

I do live in Las Vegas, yeah. Our uh Volks River's headquarters is in Rhode Island, but yeah, I live in Henderson, Nevada. Yeah, happy to share that with you, Chuck. How fault managed power is shaping up with uh within the industry. So um, yeah, I'm the chief revenue officer at Volt Server, um, and as you stated, the secretary of the FMP Alliance. So every day I get up, and this is all that I think about is how uh to get fault managed power through acceptance and adoption and proliferated throughout the market. Um, the good thing is we've made a ton of progress uh with myself and the other members of the FMP Alliance and customers out in the market. We uh it really is advancing. So first and foremost, if you're not really familiar with what fault managed power is, I guess I'll I'll start

What Fault Managed Power Really Is

SPEAKER_01 5:34

there. Fault managed power is a new class of power that was added into the National Electrical Code in 2023, and there is a corresponding UL safety standard. The power class itself is a um is uh really categorized by its ability to monitor an electrical circuit for faults or decay, interrupt the transmission of power uh in such a way or in such a manner that you're they're able to uh reduce the amount of energy into a fault and do that so quickly that it is not going to cause an electrocution or cause a fire. Uh and so that's what makes it safe. And uh uh and then when we make power safe uh at and fault managed power, uh it can go up to 450 volts that's uh within the National Electrical Code. So we're talking about significant power, you know, 10, 20, even 30 times more power than uh what we can do with PoE. Um and so it is a safe to interact with power, uh new class of power that is codified in the National Electrical Code, and there are UL safety standards that exist, UL 1400-1 and UL 1400-2, which is for the cabling specifically. So when we made this power safe, it's now kind of falling into this uh cat new category that's forming called limited energy. And so we're gonna have to get that word into our vernacular. But our traditional low voltage installers absolutely have the skill set to work with these, uh work with these systems. Um, and we expect that they will that our traditional low voltage cabling installers will be doing the infrastructure uh installations for fault managed power systems.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

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SPEAKER_04 8:55

I think the biggest hurdle that you have right now with with fault managed power systems, and and and you guys are doing a good job raising awareness, but there's still a lot of people who don't understand fault-managed power systems. They don't understand they, you know, I think I think there's a lot of what's the word I'm looking for? A lot of fear. A lot of fear when people talk about, especially when you're talking about electricians and low voltage people. There's a lot of fear on both sides of that. There's but there's not a lot of people who truly understand fault-managed power systems and what all they entail. I mean, because they they work over twisted pair of cabling, but if again, I am not a fault-managed power installer, but we're we're talking twisted pair cable, but it's not like cat 5e, cat six, twenty-four, twenty-five.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

That's right. Yeah. No, it's not. And so it it is um, so you got everything that you said there was correct. You you know more than um what you profess, Chuck. Uh yeah. So fault managed power um systems do run over unshielded twisted pair cable. That's the same medium type that we use for our category cables. The difference is we're using uh larger gauges. So still relatively small gauges for power distribution at this level, but higher than what it is for the category cable. So we're usually using the most common is 18 and 16 gauge. As the technology moves into the data center, it's probably going to be more like 14 and 12 gauge. Um, but it is still twisted pair cable. And the reason that we like those twisters because we are sending some data with the power transmission, and that really is kind of what makes this different than typical high voltage or higher voltage power distribution, is the fact that we've got this algorithm uh that we're using uh uh on top of uh our power distribution or our the flow of the electrons. Uh and so um because we have that data, we like to have just a little bit of twists in the cable. It's not gonna be tightly twisted like your category 6A cables or your category six cables, just a light twist in the cable is what we're looking for. Um, and it's gonna be slightly larger gauges.

SPEAKER_04 11:14

Because you're just you're really just using it for control, right? And for um for notification, turn on, turn off. So you're not really you're not sending, you know, 100 meg, 1 gig, 2.5 gig. You're you're really sending lower bandwidth, so you don't need to have that same frequency. And and I guess the reason I picked up on this because I th you said it you could do, I think you said 450 volts. I think you said, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. 450 volts. And I happen to know just from being a wire monkey, the bigger the conductor, the smaller the number, AW, you know, 18 gauge, 16 gauge, the more voltage you can put across. That's why, you know, I kind of put that together, you know. I guess that and I've listened to other fault managed power stuff too. So I'll admit that. I'm I'm a wire monkey junkie. Oh, I'm gonna go to the patent that wire monkey junkie. Yeah, like that. Um, so I'm always paying attention to what's going on. Um, what so what are some leading applications that you see out there using fault managed power system, but people may not may not be aware of?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

So, okay, you said something real quick before I answer that. Do you mind if I you said something that I think is really important for the audience to understand that's a differentiator of fault managed power? So you said you've just got a little bit of data going over that line, and it's really to control the circuit, okay? That is very that's how fault managed power works and how it's different than PoE. So, yes, I'm sending some data across the line, right? But it is data related to the energy on that circuit. It isn't a separate data stream like how PoE is, where we're sending our data and our power over those same conductors. So Chuck, I just wanted to point that out because I think that is really, really important, um, a really important piece as a takeaway because fault managed power is like PoE in that it's DC, it's connected, and it's smart, um, and it can be installed by low voltage installers or you know, or uh traditional low voltage installers. It's different in that it's not sending the actual network data stream, it's only sending data that relates to its circuit. Um yeah, to control it. That's that's

Cabling Basics And Key Differences

SPEAKER_01 13:34

right. So let's talk about applications because there's um where fault managed power got its start, where it's sitting right now, and where it's

Real World Uses Beyond PoE

SPEAKER_01 13:44

going. And so uh really the first place uh that there was a really strong value proposition and customers really uh jumped on the technology is in the telecommunication space, empowering wireless networks and large public venues. And uh so because the venues that they were working in had vast distances, and because the uh cellular antennas and radios that they needed to power required more power than what is available for PoE, Vault Managed Power was a no-brainer for them. So certainly powering telecommunication networks, specifically powering small cells, DAS antennas, radios, um is a great application for the technology. But in the last few years, we've been powering all kinds of stuff. So I would say overwhelmingly, it's things connected to the network, right? And so it's a great audience because you guys run all the infrastructure to connect things onto the network. And so the um it that's really what we've been doing. So powering PoE switches, which then are powering all different types of devices and applications, powering uh uh building automation, industrial automation controls, and then also powering um lighting solutions that are low voltage, uh low voltage DC lighting and high voltage DC lighting. Um so those are the primary applications. Where we're seeing the most utilization today is in powering security and Wi-Fi and powering IDFs. So those three things. Um security and Wi-Fi, especially out at distances that are um you know beyond where you have um adequate infrastructure to support them, both for power and uh for your network connection. So think how we're there's campus Wi-Fi now and security going to all these places and sensors being added outside of uh maybe the realm of where uh our traditional infrastructure can support them. And then powering the telecommunication rooms or IDFs, powering them themselves. Uh, and uh so that uh your uh really the um network and ICT contractor can take control of that entire scope, including power, to all their telecom rooms or telecom enclosures.

Electricians Vs Low Voltage Fear

SPEAKER_04 16:13

And that's where the the fear comes in because you said the low voltages guys can take over and start doing the power to their telecom rooms. And I uh because you know, again, uh I function in both worlds of of you know, I function in the the limited energy, the low voltage side, but I also I'm not a journeyman electrician, but I also do a lot of stuff with the IBW and Nika, and I got friends who journeymen, you know, JATC instructors. So I kind of I kind of hear both sides of this all the time, right? And uh so the the thing I really want to focus in on is you know a lot of people are kind of again, they're they're afraid of that you know we're gonna take over the electrician's work, or the electricians are afraid we're gonna do less work because of us. What would you say to those naysayers?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah, I guess I would say that ultimately with fault-managed power, you have to install less stuff. It takes less hours. And it's safe, right? So um certainly it isn't out of the purview of um the electrician scope, not at all. It it's not. Um, and we have a real shortage of labor and talent uh in the market. And so I think that we have to look at this uh instead of you know it uh in an insulated way, we have to look at this from a broad market approach and recognize that we have X amount of people that can do this work. Fault managed, especially the work, the um the higher voltage or less safe electrical work, it does take more training and more skills to be able to work on those systems. And there is a set of people out in the market that can do that work. And then there's fault managed power and the existing um set of workers that are in the ICT space that can immediately transition into doing this work or add this work into their scope, but also people that we're bringing into the industry. So into all of those apprenticeship programs, if they're uh if they're electrical or voice data video, um, either one, the fact that we can bring people into the industry and scale them up quickly to go out on job sites and do meaningful work is the point. It isn't really about who gets to do this work, it's really that we need all hands on deck. How many people can we get mobilized on the job sites out there doing actual meaningful work earlier given uh the setbacks that we do have within workforce development right now?

SPEAKER_02 18:51

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Training Pipelines And Workforce Reality

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Yeah, I think the electrical side is is in a way better position um because they always have had a really deep and thorough training program, the JATCs, right? Um and and and and you know the funny thing is is you know, just to kind of off off the wall kind of thought here, when I used to work for a small little company called Hinkles and McCoy, we had like 23, 24 offices across the United States. And I thought every office worked the exact same way my office did, and had the same views on everything that my office did. But when I started going to other office, I realized that wasn't the case. And that's you know, that's the way with JATCs because as I start talking to more and more JATCs, for example, you're in Vegas, right? You got the Southern Nevada J ATC out there. I don't remember the Union Hall number, but I got one of their challenge coins. Um they got a great JATC program. They do they do you know Bixie training, FOA training, fire alarm training. I think they I think they then the the assistant director out there told me, I think they even do welding um and a bunch of other stuff. And you know, so they're they're obviously gonna adopt that first, but then I've talked to other J ATCs at like, for example, like Anika. They are just now starting to realize, oh, well, we need to have a a limited energy or low voltage training program. And they were coming around talking to people about it. I was like, wait, you're not as advanced as the Las Vegas people, right? Yeah, that that's that's always a kind of cool thing. So you know it changes, right? You met you say limited energy. Thank you, 2026 code book for for changing that for us,

NEC 2026 And Limited Energy Language

SPEAKER_04 21:10

right? What are the big changes that you see in the 2026 code book that that really addresses FMP?

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Well, I mean, I think that it's um the big one is the addition to uh residential, that you can use it inside of residential. And in the 2023, they limited it to commercial and then up to the dwelling. And so now you have more spaces that you can um utilize fault managed power. Uh there wasn't anything that changed in terms of uh um the rate, the like voltage range or means and methods that didn't, but we do know what's underway within um the National Electrical Code, which is a reorganization of the chapters so that all Of you know, for for us, um I think it's a it's a full rework of the NEC, but for us specifically, that the limited energy stuff will be categorized together, and I think that will be very helpful uh when that work is done. Um, but I believe, and I I could be wrong about this, but I believe that it that correction won't happen until 2029. So the work is underway getting it reorganized for the 2029. And so we do want to start using the correct nomenclature. And and the reason that it's limited energy and not low voltage anymore is because technologies like fault managed power are not low voltage. It can go, you know, up to 450 volts. And so they're using the term low voltage really um kind of confuses it or muddies it up. Limited energy is uh means that it's limited energy into a fault. Uh it means that there's limited energy that the um whoever's working with uh the technology is going to be exposed to. And and that's what's important, right? So the code needs to evolve with the uh current state of the art of the technology.

SPEAKER_04 23:16

Well, you you've been around this industry long enough to know this.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

I have.

SPEAKER_04 23:22

Our industry lives off of acronyms, right? Um I think the only thing our industry likes more than acronyms, I think it likes changing acronyms. We have we have we have multiple acronyms that mean the same thing. And we can have you know um multiple things that can be have different acronyms. And the point I'm trying to make here is you talk because you talk about limited energy, and you're right. We gotta get used to saying limited energy. But we still got people out there calling it the the MDF, the IDF. Those terms are ancient, they're as old as Chuck. They're ancient. Right?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

They're just baked in the brains, and so I know I go between, you know, talking about main equipment room, telecom room, and uh telecom enclosures to MDF and IDF because some, you know, for some folks it's burned in the brain with the original terminology. And so um, yeah, and you know, fault managed power is gonna, we're gonna have uh some of our own new acronyms, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

I'm gonna have to bool those into my acronym challenge. You're gonna have to send me some so I can make some graphics for them.

SPEAKER_01 24:34

Yes, you will have to. Uh there's uh there and there'll be some confusion because we definitely use transmit and receive, uh, transmit and receiver, so TX and RX is pretty common nomenclature on uh the fault managed power side. And we know that's a big part of fiber terminology too. So yeah, yeah. And um, so you uh I have been in the industry for a long time. I I came over to Volt Server in 2023, um, but previous to that, uh, you know, I was with Commscope for almost 18 years. I was in the design and construction of low voltage systems for about eight years, and a couple years in wholesale distribution within the space. So um that, you know, structured cabling in um low voltage special systems really is my that is my background in my in my home. And and I do it's in your blood. Yeah, it is, it is. And I I feel like it's so important for fault managed power um to to be able to have those values of structured cabling as well. Like it needs a structured cabling system and should um and it should adopt those values that we've um that we've uh we've put in place for um network infrastructure.

Design Starts With Knowing The Load

SPEAKER_04 25:52

So FMP has been getting more and more popularity. Well, the first step is going to be actually designing it. So what are some best practices for designing fault-managed power systems?

SPEAKER_01 26:05

I love when people ask me this because there's there's a few kind of simple rules to level set, right? To understand what you uh may be designing around and what power what systems that you would be powering or devices, would you be powering the building? So the first question that you uh need to answer is what's your load? What are you powering? Do you know it? If you don't know what's going to be at the end of that circuit, then fault managed power may not be a good fit. So um, so let's think about the things that we do know about what we're powering in the building. And it really is our network systems and our building subsystems. We know that. We know that through design, and we're typically designing the energy systems or the power distribution for those systems up front. So I'd start with that. You need to understand what you're going to be powering. Um, and if you uh do know what you're going to be powering, there's a good chance that fault managed power can do it. Typically, what we know up front is that we understand where network is going and we know where building subsystems and their devices are going.

SPEAKER_04 27:17

And I think that's a great tie-in because you know the the limited energy, I'm gonna struggle to say limited energy this whole entire asset. That's okay. The the limited energy estimators are used to calculating fiber optic budgets. Right? So an FMP budget, well, not technically the same, but they're kind of the same, right? You gotta know how much power those equipment needs, how much power you're putting out, how much voltage you're gonna lose from going down the cable. I believe it's called voltage drop. I'm not a German electrician, but I'm good friends with one. I think it's called voltage drop. And the vast majority of limited energy people can't calculate that. Um so I guess that's the first thing they the designers are gonna have to learn. Are there are there free tools out there for the the brand new the brand new uh uh limited energy estimator who doesn't know how to calculate voltage drop or are the tools?

SPEAKER_01 28:12

There okay, so there are tools um that will make it really easy. I'm not um an electrical engineer, I'm not an electrician. I came from the IT, ICT industry. That's my background, and I design fault managed power systems every day. And um one of the the beauties of fault managed power is that we we speak in kilowatts and um and and everything really can be designed around kilowatts, and and we have really nice calculators that can give you what we call our power over distance um calculators that make it really easy for you to design to put together a fault managed power design. It is incredibly simple, and actually, what uh a lot of the work that uh that you guys are doing today out there to design networks is more difficult, frankly. So it's it is different than what you're used to. So it's a different set of rules, um, and there's different considerations and a process that you go through, but it actually is really easy, and I think that's what one of the reasons I was so drawn to this technology was obviously the safety aspect of it, the sustainability aspect of it, um, but it also was that it was it really is um simple to design. Um, the architecture uh today is a point-to-point architecture, and so you're just provisioning each uh circuit for each one of the endpoint devices that you're powering. There are some considerations that you need to think through around uh where you need to get your power for your transmitters.

Architecture Transmitters Receivers Central UPS

SPEAKER_01 30:00

So a font managed power system really uh has three components it has a transmitter, the cabling, and a receiver. Okay, so the transmitter takes power familiar. Yeah, transmitter, cabling system, and a receiver. Transmitter is going to take power from the utility or from your UPS or your battery system. It converts it into the fault managed power that travels over the circuit to a receiver. That receiver then converts that power back into a um a more typical traditional power class that can power your endpoint device. Maybe that's AC power, maybe it's um uh high voltage DC, or maybe it's low voltage DC to power the load. So the provisioning that you need to do for the power distribution system for all of your network connected devices is really just all in your main equipment room. And if you had a massive facility, maybe you have more than one main equipment room. But um, that is really where you're gonna talk with the electrical engineers about how many circuits you need to feed your transmitters. Okay. Then from there, whether you're going up to telecommunication rooms and you're powering each of the telecommunication rooms with fault managed power, or if you're going out to telecom enclosures that may be, you know, way out into your campus, maybe up in a ceiling space, maybe down in an underfloor distribution. All of that power ultimately is going to be centralized in a main equipment room. So you don't have to have the electrical engineer provision power on every in every single telecommunication room or at every telecom enclosure. You can take the scope from there and use fault managed power to distribute to all of your telecom rooms and to all of the telecom enclosures. But what it does mean is that your power requirements in your main equipment room are gonna be different. So it is that is something that you want to understand within the design process is that now I'm centralizing all of my network power needs into a single room, which is gonna cost, you know, save the customer money too, right? Because now they don't have to run those circuits through multiple IDFs. They don't have all the conduit and things uh breakers that go along with it. It also means that customers can now centralize their UPS as well, and they can take advantage of those economies of scale of having one centralized UPS that will require less maintenance than many. Sometimes it even gets to thousands of distributed UPSs within a facility. Fault managed power makes it really easy to design in centralized UPS. So there are some things you have to consider when you are designing fault managed power around the power that you need to get to your transmitters, and then from there, you're just doing a point-to-point design design plan based on what each one of those endpoints or power devices uh requires for power.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

You you mentioned early on about um getting an electrical engineer, we were talking about the designing aspect of it. And so a thought came to my mind can I can I just call up any electrical engineer and will they be able to work through that? Or should I really maybe you know talk to you know, there's only a couple companies I think that actually do fault managed power systems, and and Volt Server is obviously one is obviously the one the head leading the pack right now. So would they have to talk to an electrical engineer who works for VoltServer to figure that out?

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Well, so typically we we usually are involved in most designs, not a hundred percent of the designs that are out there because engineering firms are getting up to speed on how this technology works. Um but we are um typically involved in the design phase and work with the electrical engineer and the contractor and the low voltage engineer to make sure that um all of those requirements are laid out appropriately for that project. Um I will say there isn't anything that is special, right, about about the font managed power circuits. We're just going to ask the electrical engineer to land X amount of power circuits near where the transmitter racks go. So it's not different than what we do today when we ask for electrical provisioning in our TRs or IDFs. Um it's it's really the same process. It's just that instead of them having to distribute it, um distribute that power in every TR IDF, they're only have they're gonna bring more power circuits basically into that single room.

Where To Get Trained And Who Sells It

SPEAKER_04 35:00

So let's talk about educating the people in the field, right? So right now we're pulling, you know, category 5E, category 6, category 6a, 22 gauge, 23 gauge, 24 gauge, turning on a 110 panel. You know, what kind of training does the industry need to start thinking about or implementing to get people up to speed for fault managed power systems?

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Yeah, well, the good thing is we have a lot of support from the industry trade groups and that are already offering training uh within their platforms on fault managed power. So um, for instance, NECA has training uh for fault managed power. Um, the fault managed power alliance that of course I'm the secretary on, we've offered um training, uh virtual trainings, and then um Bixie has trainings as well at each of their events. Well, if you were recently at Bixie Beyond, we actually had three different um presentations uh that we provided uh at that conference. We did a master class with Jeff Kraunts, uh, and so three hours of nothing but fault managed power designing around specific applications. We did a session on data centers, uh, and then we did a panel limited energy, limitless possibilities. So definitely check out Bixie conferences. We typically do attend those and like to participate in the educational sessions. Think NECA, Bixie, the FMP Alliance for uh industry training, and then directly to the vendors. So um, while Vault Server, we do consider ourselves the industry leader for fault managed power. Um, there are lots of people getting into this space. And so there are multiple manufacturers now that are uh that uh are using this technology within their solutions. So uh we have um Comscope and Belden and Southwire and DC Packet, um, Clearfield, uh, and then uh Panduit has uh has a solution as well. So it's we're certainly growing the footprint of providers that are offering power, um, fault managed power solutions to the market. And then all the cable vendors too. Most of the cable vendors today they are developing portfolios of class four cables. Typically, the first ones that we're seeing are uh usually uh plenum rated versions and then an indoor, outdoor or a wet type, wet environment um cable construction.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

And that all sound that should sound very familiar to limited energy again. I'm struggling to say, not say low voltage, that should all sound familiar to limited energy installers because that's stuff we deal with every day. You mentioned data center, so I gotta ask you is fault managed power systems in AI data centers?

AI Data Centers Power Density And Speed

SPEAKER_01 37:56

We we're definitely going there. Um and it's it's one of the more exciting elements of fault managed power uh because I I really do believe it's gonna be such a great fit and such a great help uh with this big, big, big objective we have in front of us to uh increase our compute capability. And uh so yeah, we actually are um in 2025, Volt Server proved that we or demonstrated that we can get three kilowatts per channel, uh, which is a significant amount of power on one little pair of cable. And so that we felt like, okay, now we've reached this power density level, uh, we can go into the data center space, um the AI data center space, but really all the data center spaces. What's unique about AI, and where I think that this fault managed power technology uh has such a strong value proposition is that they have some things that the power density is increasing vastly. So we're talking 1020 by times the power in each individual cabinet. Fault managed power doesn't require conduit and all that stuff. You have to hang around traditional electrical to make it safe. So its footprint is smaller. We don't use as much space in the power distribution area, and then also even down in into the rack. And they're trying to um, they really have to get all those GPUs close together. They can't spread them out and just go, hey, we'll just make the data center bigger, right? They can't really do that because they really need to get those GPU clusters really, really close together. So, you know, think up and down and maybe side to side. And um, so fault managed power, the smaller footprint can really help there. And we've got the power density. So we've got the power density, we have a smaller footprint, more flexible cables. That's great. But there's something that's even more intriguing, I think, about fault managed power in regards to the way AI is being deployed and is going to need to be deployed. And that is that because our fault managed power platforms are so modular, meaning that you can go from kilowatts to megawatts, you can literally through um prefabrication and rapid deployment, you can um add both in the gray space and in the white space, um, your power infrastructure literally as you grow. And when I say as you grow, I mean within hours, right? You can have power up within hours in a data center to add a new AI rack. Um and so the the fact that it's modular and at the same time scalable. So going from a really, you know, maybe a half a megawatt data center and scaling uh all the way to gigawatt um campuses, you can do that with Font Managed Power. And I think that that is going to be very helpful for the capital structures on these AI projects. People want to spend their capital closer to when they're going to see revenue from that compute. You may hear um, you may hear terms like tokens per watt, right? Like how many of these AI tokens can be created per watt of energy that they have to spend. So I think that those are some of the, so yes, ball managed power is coming to the data center. Absolutely AI, but we can help all areas network, compute, storage, um, your typical production type data center, um, and by the way, everything else, all of the ancillary systems inside of the data center as well, not just the cabinet. Um, and then AI, there are some things that are going on with the capital structures around AI where I think we can really help.

Join The Alliance And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_04 42:00

So if if somebody because I have companies actually listen to my podcast, if there's a company listening and they they want to get involved in the fault managed power alliance, how would they do that?

SPEAKER_01 42:09

Yeah, so you could just go on to the um fmalliance.org website and you can fill out a contact form, interest form there. Also, we're on LinkedIn as well. So follow us on LinkedIn, you'll get uh updates. We do these kind of ask the expert uh videos and we post about industry events where fault managed power providers or the alliance will be in attendance. Uh and we also publish a newsletter that keeps everybody up to date on the current state of the art of the technology.

SPEAKER_04 42:42

And you got a podcast.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Oh, Volt Server. Oh, yes. Okay. Well, I so you had kind of I shipped the gears on. I I you did. You shifted gears. Okay, so yes, yeah. Um has a podcast, and uh it's called The Future of Power. Please check it out. Uh we do episodes, some longer episodes, some shorter episodes. Um oftentimes um our founder and the inventor of the technology, Steve Eves, is on those podcasts, and he always has just excellent insights. He's such a great, uh he's so great to listen to and learn from. Um on this topic.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

Love his LinkedIn posts.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Yeah, um, he really um he really is he's great to work with and um a great industry contributor who has a broad knowledge about energy distribution systems and batteries and stuff uh in general. So um yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

I feel smarter just for hanging out for you the last 45 minutes. I appreciate you coming on the show.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

Yeah, no, I you know, you know, I enjoy our interactions at the show and online, and every I'm always looking for your posts on LinkedIn. Why I want to get your the answers right when you quiz us. I want to stay up to speed on everything that's going on in ICT. Um, you know, yes, I'm over here in Fault Managed Power, but I it's really You're still part of the low voltage family.

SPEAKER_04 44:05

I mean limited energy family.

SPEAKER_01 44:07

I am still part of the family, and I I feel passionate that that uh fault managed power deserves an elegant structured cabling system uh that uh really takes the all of these great things that the industry's done to improve the longevity and the administration of network infrastructure, and it needs to be the same way for fault managed power.