About Cabling Installation & Maintenance

Our mission: Bringing practical business and technical intelligence to today's structured cabling professionals

For more than 30 years, Cabling Installation & Maintenance has provided useful, practical information to professionals responsible for the specification, design, installation and management of structured cabling systems serving enterprise, data center and other environments. These professionals are challenged to stay informed of constantly evolving standards, system-design and installation approaches, product and system capabilities, technologies, as well as applications that rely on high-performance structured cabling systems. Our editors synthesize these complex issues into multiple information products. This portfolio of information products provides concrete detail that improves the efficiency of day-to-day operations, and equips cabling professionals with the perspective that enables strategic planning for networks’ optimum long-term performance.

Throughout our annual magazine, weekly email newsletters and 24/7/365 website, Cabling Installation & Maintenance digs into the essential topics our audience focuses on.

  • Design, Installation and Testing: We explain the bottom-up design of cabling systems, from case histories of actual projects to solutions for specific problems or aspects of the design process. We also look at specific installations using a case-history approach to highlight challenging problems, solutions and unique features. Additionally, we examine evolving test-and-measurement technologies and techniques designed to address the standards-governed and practical-use performance requirements of cabling systems.
  • Technology: We evaluate product innovations and technology trends as they impact a particular product class through interviews with manufacturers, installers and users, as well as contributed articles from subject-matter experts.
  • Data Center: Cabling Installation & Maintenance takes an in-depth look at design and installation workmanship issues as well as the unique technology being deployed specifically for data centers.
  • Physical Security: Focusing on the areas in which security and IT—and the infrastructure for both—interlock and overlap, we pay specific attention to Internet Protocol’s influence over the development of security applications.
  • Standards: Tracking the activities of North American and international standards-making organizations, we provide updates on specifications that are in-progress, looking forward to how they will affect cabling-system design and installation. We also produce articles explaining the practical aspects of designing and installing cabling systems in accordance with the specifications of established standards.

Cabling Installation & Maintenance is published by Endeavor Business Media, a division of EndeavorB2B.

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Milliman analysis: Corporate pension funding falls for second straight month in September after discount rates drop 14 basis points

Declining rates cause third-quarter loss of $12 billion in funding surplus for Milliman PFI plans

Milliman, Inc., a premier global consulting and actuarial firm, today released the results of its latest Milliman 100 Pension Funding Index (PFI), which analyzes the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans.

During September, the Milliman 100 PFI plans’ funded ratio slipped from 102.6% at the end of August to 102.4% as of September 30. While monthly investment gains of 1.74% lifted the market value of plan assets by $17 billion, to $1.362 trillion as of September 30, a 14-basis-point drop in discount rates, to 4.96%, increased the plans’ projected benefit obligation by $19 billion, to $1.330 trillion at month’s end. A similar pattern was seen throughout the third quarter, as strong market performance was not enough to counteract falling discount rates and the PFI plans lost $12 billion in funded surplus for the period.

“Asset performance in the third quarter was quite strong, but liabilities trended upward as discount rates fell. September’s 4.96% discount rate was the first time rates fell below 5% since April 2023,” said Zorast Wadia, author of the PFI. “Although markets are still at all-time highs, we need to focus on both sides of the balance sheet to manage funded status volatility. As the Fed contemplates further rate cuts, asset-liability matching portfolios continue to be very relevant to plan sponsors.”

Looking ahead, under an optimistic forecast with rising interest rates (reaching 5.11% by the end of 2024 and 5.71% by the end of 2025) and annual asset returns of 10.4%, the funded ratio would reach 105% by the end of 2024 and 118% by the end of 2025. Under a pessimistic forecast with similar interest rate and asset movements (4.81% discount rate at the end of 2024 and 4.21% by the end of 2025 and 2.4% annual asset returns), the funded ratio would be 100% by the end of 2024 and 91% by the end of 2025.

To view the complete Pension Funding Index, go to www.milliman.com/pfi. To see Milliman’s full range of annual Pension Funding Studies, go to https://www.milliman.com/en/retirement-and-benefits/pension-funding-studies. To receive regular updates of Milliman’s pension funding analysis, contact us at pensionfunding@milliman.com.

About Milliman

Milliman leverages deep expertise, actuarial rigor, and advanced technology to develop solutions for a world at risk. We help clients in the public and private sectors navigate urgent, complex challenges—from extreme weather and market volatility to financial insecurity and rising health costs—so they can meet their business, financial, and social objectives. Our solutions encompass insurance, financial services, healthcare, life sciences, and employee benefits. Founded in 1947, Milliman is an independent firm with offices in major cities around the globe. Visit us at milliman.com.

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