Structured cabling

Data center.

Structured cabling is building or campus telecommunications cabling infrastructure that consists of a number of standardized smaller elements (hence structured) called subsystems.

Structured cabling falls into six subsystems:^[1][2]

• Demarcation Point is the point at which the telephone company network ends and connects with the wiring at the customer premises.
• Equipment or Telecommunications Rooms house equipment and wiring consolidation points which serve the users inside the building or campus.
• Vertical or Riser Cabling connects between the equipment/telecommunications rooms, so named because the rooms are typically on different floors.
• Horizontal wiring can be IW (inside wiring) or Plenum Cabling connects telecommunications rooms to individual outlets or work areas on the floor, usually through the wireways, conduits or ceiling spaces of each floor.
• Work-Area Components connect end-user equipment to outlets of the horizontal cabling system.

Structured cabling design and installation is governed by a set of standards that specify wiring data centers, offices, and apartment buildings for data or voice communications using various kinds of cable, most commonly category 5e (CAT-5e), category 6 (CAT-6), and fibre optic cabling and modular connectors. These standards define how to lay the cabling in various topologies in order to meet the needs of the customer, typically using a central patch panel (which is normally 19 inch rack-mounted), from where each modular connection can be used as needed. Each outlet is then patched into a networkswitch (normally also rack-mounted) for network use or into an IP or PBX (private branch exchange) telephone system patch panel.

Lines patched as data ports into a network switch require simple straight-through patch cables at the each end to connect a computer. Voice patches to PBXs in most countries require an adapter at the remote end to translate the configuration on 8P8C modular connectors into the local standard telephone wall socket. No adapter is needed in the U.S. as the 6P2C and 6P4C plugs most commomly used with RJ11 and RJ14 telephone connections are physically and electrically compatible with the larger 8P8C socket. RJ25 and RJ61 connections are physically but not electrically compatible, and cannot be used. In the UK, an adapter must be present at the remote end as the 6-pin BT socket is physically incompatible with 8P8C.

It is common to color code patch panel cables to identify the type of connection, though structured cabling standards do not require it, except in the demarcation wall field.

Cabling standards demand that all eight conductors in Cat5/5e/6 cable are connected, resisting the temptation to 'double-up' or use one cable for both voice and data. IP phone systems, however, can run the telephone and the computer on the same single cable.

Structured Cabling Standards

Structured cabling standards are used internationally and are published by ISO/IEC, CENELEC and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). Building Industry Consulting Service International is a recognised independent trainer of structured cabling installers with manufacturer independent design and installation best practice documents, it also plays a major role along with industry leaders in developing and designing the US standards.

• TIA-526-7 Measurement of Optical Power Loss of Installed Single-Mode Fiber Cable Plant – OFSTP-7 - (February 2002)
• TIA-526-14-A Optical Power Loss Measurements of Installed Multimode Fiber Cable Plant – OFSTP-14 - (August 1998)
• ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 1: General Requirements: General Requirements, May 2001.
• Adenda ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1-1-2001, Addendum 1, Minimum Curve Radius for 4 pair UTP and ScTP cable, July, 2001.
• TIA/EIA-568-B.1-2 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 1: General Requirements Addendum 2 – Grounding and Bonding Requirements for Screened Balanced Twisted-Pair Horizontal Cabling - (February 2003)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.1-3 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 1: General Requirements Addendum 3 – Supportable Distances and Channel Attenuation for Optical Fiber Applications by Fiber Type - (February 2003)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.1-4 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 1: General Requirements Addendum 4 – Recognition of Category 6 and 850 nm Laser Optimized 50/125 μm Multimode Optical Fiber Cabling - (February 2003)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.1-5 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 1: General Requirements Addendum 5 – Telecommunications Cabling for Telecommunications Enclosures – (March 2004)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.1-7 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 1: General Requirements Addendum 7 - Guidelines for Maintaining Polarity Using Array Connectors – (January 2006)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components - (December 2003)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-1 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 1 – Transmission Performance Specifications for 4-Pair 100 ohm Category 6 Cabling - (June 2002)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-2 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 2 – Revision of Sub-clauses - (December 2001)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-3 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 3 – Additional Considerations for Insertion Loss & Return Loss Pass/Fail Determination - (March 2002)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-4 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 4 – Solderless Connection Reliability Requirements for Copper Connecting Hardware - (June 2002)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-5 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 5 – Corrections to TIA/EIA-568-B.2 – (January 2003)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-6 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 6 – Category 6 Related Component Test Procedures – (December 2003)
• TIA/EIA-568-B.2-11 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard Part 2: Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling Components – Addendum 11 - Specification of 4-Pair UTP and SCTP Cabling – (December 2005)
• TIA/EIA-568-3 Optical Fiber Cabling Components Standard - (April 2002)
• TIA/EIA-568-3.1 Optical Fiber Cabling Components Standard – Addendum 1 – Additional Transmission Performance Specifications for 50/125 μm Optical Fiber Cables – (April 2002)
• TIA-569-B Commercial Building Standard for Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces - (October 2004)
• TIA-598-C Optical Fiber Cable Color Coding - (January 2005)
• TIA/EIA-606-A Administration Standard for Commercial Telecommunications Infrastructure - (May 2002)
• J-STD-607-A Commercial Building Grounding (Earthing) and Bonding Requirements for Telecommunications - (October 2002)
• TIA-758-A Customer-owned Outside Plant Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard – (August 2004)

Some European countries use these although CENELEC or ISO standards are more relevant in European countries, the main CENELEC document being EN50173 which introduces contextual links to the full suite of CENELEC documents. ISO11801 heads the ISO documentation.

See also

• ANSI
• BICSI
• Fibre optics
• ISO/IEC 11801, the International Organization for Standardization standard for generic cabling for premises
• On-premises wiring
• TIA/EIA-568-B, the Telecommunications Industry Association standard for telecommunications cabling in commercial premises
• Registered jack, a set of standards for telephone cabling termination (including RJ11, RJ15, and RJ45)
• Entrance facility

References

1. ^ EIA/TIA 658B http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/catalog/
2. ^ ISO 11801 http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue

External links

• TIA
• ANSI
• BICSI
• EIA
• Fiber Optics LAN Section (FOLS)
• <http://www.CETweb.com>