Engineer Habib UR Rehman Farooqi, with an experience of 25 years in the industry started his career in the electrical engineering field, then in automation, and now leading as one of be pioneers of Passive Network Infrastructure, he has professional degrees in diverse but connected fields. He did his BE in Electrical Engineering in the year 2000 and Ms in Computer Science in the year 2003 both from NED University of Engineering and Technology Karachi followed by MBA from IoBM formerly CBM in Karachi during the year 2008-2009. He has been in different fields in different organizations starting from Clipsal Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd, he was leading the Clipsal Automation System and Structured Cabling Division, Later joined 3M Pakistan(Pvt.)Ltd where he initially looked after CMD Markets than later he got responsibility for EMD, EEMD, and RED marketing divisions technical, Support Sales, and Marketing. Currently, Mr. Habib is working as Country Manager for Corning Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd. In this exclusive interview with
ARCHI TIMES, he talks about his successful professional journey and other related issues.
CAN YOU TAKE US BACK TO YOUR EARLY YEARS, AND HOW YOUR UPBRINGING INFLUENCED YOUR PATH TOWARD BECOMING AN ENGINEER?
Habib Ur Rehman Farooqi: My father was teaching at NED University, at a young age I used to go with him, and by going there it became a fantasy to be part of the institution everyone dreamed of. From the beginning I was good at cricket, it was known to all that Saeed Anwar and Rashid Latif belonged to NED, so thought it was an institution where not only I study but can play some decent Cricket too. I see that engineering fits my habits and profession.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PURSUE A CAREER IN ENGINEERING WITH A FOCUS ON ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING?
HRF: My brother was in electrical engineering so for me electrical engineering is an easy choice straight away, it is the human psyche that you see and inspired you want to turn into. The only difference is that I didn’t stop over there later I did my Master in Computer Science, gained some hands on in Java Scripts, and finally ended my professional studies with an MBA in Marketing.
WHAT SERVICES AND PROGRAMS ARE OFFERED AT CORNING AND HOW ARE THESE DESIGNED?
HRF: Corning is 176 Years old Organization from the USA, Corning is known for its Glass technology, even the time when Thomas Eddison needed glass for Bulb it was a Corning’s Glass to help him, so you may say some indirect relation with electricity. Corning is the inventor of Low Loss Fiber Cable, the cable that turns the world into a global village, if Fiber was not there, there is likely to be no fast internet.
Corning in Pakistan offers end-to-end Passive Networking Solutions, we have expertise in fiber and Copper product lines, and we have a defined set of partners, Distributors, and Network Preferred Installers who were trained by us on time and on time. We support consultants, end users, and real estate developers by educating them with new technologies and development in the Networking field, we organize training sessions time on time-related to fiber and copper networking solutions, moreover Data Center and GPON design too .
Training and knowledge sharing sessions are organized in different manners. We do time on time webinars where we educate and update our network on the upcoming technologies or news related to Networking field, like in recent days we are focusing on AI Data centers, FTTE, Fiber Deep Networks.
We also conduct physical training sessions, where Corning Subject experts visit and provide training to our partners both theoretically and practically and they have been awarded with Certificates.
We also organize special sessions related to specific project requirements, which are planned as and when base needed.
We are mainly a technology manufacturing and trading firm, so our main interest will always remain trade but for sure without knowledge sharing nothing is possible, so we keep on educating verticals on the ground.
WHAT ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AT CORNING?
HRF: My responsibility in Corning Pakistan is to manage Corning Pakistan Operations, which includes sales at first, technical support, training sessions, marketing activities, education sessions, and building a network for longer reach. Building strong relations with Consultants, Contractors, End users, Distributors, and Network channels, is a 360 Degree job. Company operations till market penetration or rather I say sustainable market penetration.
HOW DO FIBER OPTICS WORK?
HRF: There are two main types of fiber Optic cores, single mode and multimode, in fiber data travels in the form of Light, and both cores which I mentioned here allow a light source to pass through it, multimode fiber uses multiple rays to transmit data hence called as multimode, it uses LED light source as a medium it is designed for shorter distances mainly up to 550 Meters, whereas Single-mode fiber allows Laser light to pass through it, it is a pointed light and can travel data to KM’s. For long-haul networks single mode fiber is preferred.
Irrespective of the mode of fiber, the fiber core is designed in three layers, the first layer is the core, and the core is surrounded by cladding which itself is a fiberglass but has a lower refractive index that allows the light to remain within the core and finally primary coating. Single-mode fiber has 8/9 um of core whereas cladding is 125um of cladding, whereas multimode fiber has 50/62.5 um of core but cladding will remain 125um.
There is the further bifurcation of fiber concerning bandwidth in multimode and it is classified as OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, and OM5 fibers they all are standardized as up to 1gig,1Gig,1Gig, 40 Gig, and 100 Gig applications, on the other side Single mode fiber have different fiber cores which are used for different requirements, like for longer distances G652 Core is preferred it is a low loss core and has higher bend insensitivity, the other is G657 this is bend insensitive but with higher loss compared to G652 when there is a place we need to run the fiber on longer run’s we go with G652 when there is a place where higher bends are involved we go with G657. In between there is a core called Ultra-low loss which simultaneously provides both features. There is a lot to share but obviously, time will not allow us to go into that detail.
HOW ARE FIBER OPTICS DIFFERENT FROM COPPER CABLES?
HRF: Data travels in fiber in the form of Light whereas Copper cable use electrical impulses. Fiber has immunity to electrical interference which provides much smoother and much faster transmission, whereas copper deployments require lots of precautions to make sure it will not be impacted by cross talk /attenuation.
Fiber can run in parallel with an electrical circuit, whereas for Copper special measures are to be taken while running in parallel with electrical wires/ installations.
Copper Ethernet network is restricted to 90 meters link whereas fiber multimode can confirm standard performance up to 550 meters and single mode in KM’s.
The performance of a Copper cable lot depends on the Copper Core it is mandatory to have 99.99% pure copper for specific performance, whereas Fiber optic is dependent on fiber Glass the purer it is the finer the transmission.
Fiber optic is harder to tap into compared to copper cables, copper can easily be taped out.
HOW DOES FIBER OPTIC TECHNOLOGY WORK?
HRF: Fiber Optic technology works by transmitting signals as pulses of light, this is possible with the help of thin glass strands. The core is designed to carry fiber signals to long distances with minimal loss of signal quality. Data is converted into light pulses using a laser or LED light source.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST ENGINEERING-DESIGNED PROJECT.
HRF: There are many projects which I called them as first projects in different sectors I will divide them as under:
Training Period:
I started as a training engineer a long time back with an organization working to upgrade the Hoist control system at the Pakistan railway.
Troubleshooting:
When joined Clipsal my first task was to rectify the problem faced in one of the leading hotels in Pakistan where we already deployed lighting automation called Scene Master, that was very tricky, and I learned thing the product was designed for single phase network whereas deployment was made on three-phase network cause waves to interact and cause flickering it took a lot of research and time to sort out that issue.
Home Automation:
I will call myself fortunate to be the leading person to initiate this concept in Pakistan, when we were pitching it I still remember the comments, why do I need to automate home when we have so many servants at home who can turn the appliances as and when needed, but the same very project was my first one. It was on a very well-known personality and industry owner in Pakistan, I had the pressure of being the fresher as well as the first one to do such deployment in any home at least in Karachi for sure, and after deployment the magic happens, the lights starting turning on and off on their own without getting commands, then again research work done and we realizes the voltage is an issue, sorted out the problem and never looked back after that, it was start of a new era and new business industry in Pakistan.
LAN Networks:
When people did not know about Ethernet networks, I was pleased to be part of some major structured cabling installations, where convincing the IT team was key, they used to deploy networks by just placing wires and putting in connectors, I was fortunate to be one of the few individuals in the market who educate the market about doing networking in a structured way.
GPON in infrastructure:
After joining 3M, I got a task from one of the classified projects to deploy the GPON network on their side, GPON was new to me and not known in the market at that time, not even ever heard from PTCL, Nayatel, Mutlinet, Storm fiber about GPON at that time, PTCL was pure on copper network and thinking of deploying DSL and ADSL networks. Short there was no one to help me out in this, but with some research and studies able to gather /gain information about the GPON network and deploy the first commercial GPON network in Pakistan with the help of the Alfuttaim team along with Alcatel products.
GPON in Commercial buildings:
I feel proud to be the first one to design and deploy the GPON network in a commercial building in Pakistan, it was Emporium Mall Lahore where FND came up with an idea to work out the solution with lesser copper and improved network. GPON in buildings was just introduced and I was fortunate to engage with FND we managed to deploy the first-ever in-building GPON network in Pakistan, it was recognized by the 3M Global team it was the first ever commercial GPON network for 3M globally.
Actifi Composite Cable class 2 power up to 600 meters:
The most recent one, just deployed a hybrid (fiber copper) cable network at IBA Karachi, running class 2 power up to 600 meters which is usually never considered as per UL standard 62368-1. The maximum power at the source is 90W. The maximum distance is 100 meters or 328 feet. So, we deployed the first ever 600-meter class 2 power network at the leading management institute IBA in Karachi.
PAKISTAN’S ENERGY CRISIS HAS WORSENED. IN YOUR OPINION WHAT CAN BE DONE TO COME OVER FROM THIS CRISIS?
HRF: Better planning half work done, I see a lack of planning and execution. For years we always heard we have line losses, and even a non-technical person in this country knows what is the problem and what are the possible solutions, I failed to understand why this is not been sorted out. Either the ownership is missing or No one is there to lead from the Front.
WHAT MEASURES WOULD YOU SUGGEST TO BE CONSIDERED FOR REDUCING ELECTRICAL LOADS IN BUILDINGS?
HRF: Automation and better building planning, Architects and Civil Engineers can play a very strong role in this by designing infrastructure with more Natural light and structure which can adjust the temperature to avoid the use of HVAC to the max. I must say all major buildings should be LEED certified allowing not only reducing electrical load but also saving energy resources.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ABOUT THE USE OF SOLAR ENERGY IN BUILDINGS GENERALLY IN PAKISTAN?
HRF: It is a very good option, I must say we are too late to adopt this, if it is planned much earlier, we will not be facing such crisis situation.
DESCRIBE A PROJECT THAT YOU HAVE WORKED ON THAT WAS OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO YOU.
HRF: There are many in the list for different reasons, some due to new technology, like the first time I worked for GPON network when even our Telco’s were not planning for it and I was fortunate among to not only design but deploy it, there were some challenging projects like deploying first POL ( Passive Optical LAN ) project in Pakistan ( Emporium Mall Lahore), deploy huge lighting automation project in Deans Shopping Mall Peshawar way back in mid-2000, be part of PTCL first Pilot GPON project in Karachi, and recently Actifi Solution in IBA ( Hybrid Fiber and Power Solution). There are many other projects that were always there for one reason or another like Dolmen Mall Karachi and Lahore , Packages Mall Lahore, Shukat Khanum Hospital Karachi, Indus Hospital Karachi and Lahore, Islamabad International Airport, Gets Pharma, SAPT ( South Asia Port Terminal), P&G Pakistan Hub Plant, Habib University, Saleem Habib University, Bharia Town Karachi, Qarshi University Islamabad, Sarena Hotel Peshawar, SIUT Karachi, IBA Sukkhar , Lucky Cement Karachi and Pezu Factory, as I said list his huge but these few always embark me with some memories.
WHAT CHALLENGES AND DIFFICULTIES ARE PAKISTAN FACING TODAY?
HRF: Brain Drain is a major threat for Pakistan, when skilled people leave your country it has a long impact on development, and why they are leaving for sure it is because of a lack of opportunities, for opening opportunities economy needs to improve.
HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO WORK IN OTHER COUNTRIES, WHAT DIFFERENCES DID YOU SEE IN THE APPROACH TOWARDS ELECTRICAL DESIGN?
HRF: No! I never opted to leave Pakistan, so never experienced designs in person, so I am not able to comment on this. But as a tourist, I observe Automation and Green Buildings across which might be the case that other countries do not face energy crises like we do.
HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR FREE TIME TELL US ABOUT YOUR HOBBIES.
HRF: I spend time with my friends and family, hobbies do not remain as such, I used to play sports like Cricket, Hockey, Badminton, Squash, and chess in the past but not anymore, but yes still I manage to work out to remain active.
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS?
HRF: Enjoy the time, and love the thing you are doing, if you do not enjoy and love it, it will become a burden for you. Do not limit yourself to your field, try to learn every day from life, from ideas across the world and from the failure you face. Until you are trying back again and again do not consider yourself a failure, failure is the one who quit not the won who come back harder. Remember the time you are in, is the best of the times, enjoy it and utilize it at max.
