Be Wise About Structured Cabling

1. What is Structured Cabling?

• structured cabling (premises cabling) is a standardized approach to connecting wires and divides the entire facility infrastructure into manageable blocks which is then integrated to form high-performance user networks that serves as the lifeline for businesses.
• Structured cabling design is governed by standards on how to lay out cabling in a star formation with all outlets terminating at a central patch panel. It also provides standard labeling and coloring mechanisms and methods to make it easy to manage the system.

2. What is a Structured Cabling System?

• Structured Cabling System (SCS) is the foundation of an intelligent mixed media network and consists of cables and connectivity products designed to maximize data rates (measured in bits per second) in commercial and residential environments.
• Structured Cabling System (SCS) is the common platform for several information technology system types and applications and integrates data, voice, video and building automation/management systems.
• Building Management Systems (BMS) includes:
  • Energy management systems (EMS)
• Fire, life, and safety (FLS) or fire alarm (FA)
• Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)
• Security and access control (SAC)
• These systems have similar transmission characteristics (analog or digital data signals) and delivery methods (conduit, cable tray, raceway, etc.)

3. Sub Systems of a Structured Cabling System

• Building Entrance Facilities - point at which the network service cables enter and leave the building.
• Equipment Rooms – house main network equipment and serve users inside the building (uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), network servers, shared network devices, telecommunication equipment, etc.).
• Telecommunications Rooms or Intermediate Distribution Frame (TR/IDF) - houses telecommunication/ network equipment and cable terminations and serves as the main cross-connect between the backbone cabling and the horizontal cabling subsystems and typically serve the needs of a floor in a building.
• Backbone Cabling - connect the entrance facilities, equipment rooms and telecommunications rooms using backbone cables, cross-connects, terminations, etc.
• Horizontal Cabling - Extends from the telecommunications room/closet out to each individual workstation in the work area.
• Work-Area Components - connect end-user equipment (computers, phones, etc.) to outlets of the horizontal cabling using patch cords, PC adapter cables, fiber jumpers, etc.

4. Standards of Cabling

The objective is to define a common method of connecting data, voice and video equipment independent of the type of equipment will be used or vendor that will be selected. Main cabling standards:

• EIA/TIA 568A - American standard
• ISO/IEC 11801 - International standard
• CENELEC EN 50173 - European cabling standard

5. Twisted Pair Cables

Twisted pair cables can be shielded or unshielded (UTP), which is most popular. The cable consists of four pairs of copper wires inside the jacket. Each pair consists of two insulated copper wires twisted together. The wire pairs are twisted to reduce cross talk and noise susceptibility. The quality of the cable therefore depends on number of twists per inch and the tighter the twisting the higher the transmission rate. High quality twisted pair cables have about 1 to 3 twists per inch and the twist rate between pairs in a cable should vary substantially to obtain the best result. The Electronic Industry Association (EIA) and Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) have established standards of UTP as follows:

• Category 1 - Telephone Wire.
• Category 2 - Data to 4 Mbps (LocalTalk).
• Category 3 - Data to 10 Mbps (Ethernet).
• Category 4 - Data to 20 Mbps (16 Mbps Token Ring).
• Category 5 cable (Cat5) used for 100 Mbit/s (Fast Ethernet) networks with a maximum length of 100 m.
• Category 5e - Data to Gigabit Ethernet and network protocols up to 150 Mhz.
• Category 6 cable (Cat-6) is standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols up to 250 MHz.
• Category 7 cable (Cat 7) for 10 gigabit Ethernet over 100m. Cat 7 cable is rated for transmission frequencies of up to 600 MHz.

Twisted pair cables can also be shielded in attempt to prevent electromagnetic interference.

6. Coaxial Cable or Coax

Cable with an inner solid center conductor surrounded by a tubular insulating layer typically of a flexible material with a high dielectric constant, all of which are surrounded by a tubular outer conductor (typically of fine woven wire for flexibility, or of a thin metallic foil), and finally covered with a thin insulating layer on the outside. Coaxial cables have a wide bandwidth and are capable of simultaneously carrying many data, radio, voice and video signals. Coaxial cabling is the primary type of cabling used by the cable television industry and is also widely used for computer networks such as Ethernet.

7. Fiber Optical Cable

Fiber Optical Cable contains one or more optical (glass or plastic) fibers that carries light along its length with little attenuation and permits communications transmission over long distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than twisted pair cables. Single-mode fibers are commonly used for communication links longer than 600 yards at rates normally between 10 or 40 Gbits/s. Fiber optic cable has low signal loss per unit distance, high capacity, smaller physical size and is immune to interference.

Twisted Pair Cable - Category 6 Cable		RG Coaxial Cable		Fiber Optical Cable

8. Benefits of Structured Cabling

• Fault isolation and correction: It is easy to test, isolate and fix connectivity problems within the structured cabling system with minimal downtime to the network.
• Severity of failure: The failure of a cable within the structured cabling system is less likely to result in the failure of the entire network.
• Consistency: Using the identical cables everywhere in the building ensure in consistence in performance of the network.
• Multi-vendor choices: Structured cabling system provides the flexibility to support various applications and equipment/hardware from different vendors.
• Low Maintenance Cost: The structured cabling network requires very little maintenance.
• Return on Investment: As an investment the structured cabling system has an excellent ROI and will in general outlast all other components in the network.
• Flexibility: Structured cabling systems is designed to quickly and cost effectively support frequent moves, adds and changes to improve workflow without disruptions and minimum network downtime (if any).
• Future expansion: Structured cabling systems (Cat 5 or Cat 6) support future technology applications (e.g. video conferencing, multimedia, etc) with modest, if at all, upgrades required to the cabling system.

9. Costs Reduction for Structured Cabling System

• The costs associated with structured cabling can be significantly reduced by integrating the cabling and delivery methods (pathways and spaces) of the building management system (BMS), telecommunications (voice) and data networks.
• Tenant setup costs can be significantly reduced by installing an open office horizontal cabling grid (prewired zone cabling) during the construction phase. Open office and zone cabling reduces the material and labor cost of cabling significantly during initial installation but also for moves, add-ons, changes and upgrades.

10. Ensure Success with Structured Cabling System

The best way to ensure success in installing your system is to use a reputable with properly trained staff that is able to design, implement and test the system. The RCDD qualification from BICSI is essential since it is the only qualification that covers all aspects of structured cabling.