Horizontal vs Backbone Cabling

Horizontal Cabling Backbone Cabling

• Connects your desk (work area) to the • Connects telecom rooms, floors, and
telecom room on the same floor buildings
• Usually Cat6 or Cat6A copper cable • Usually fiber (single-mode or multi-mode)
• Max permanent link: 90 m • Handles the heavy long-distance traffic
• Max channel (with patch cords): 100 m • Think of it as: the highway between
• Think of it as: same-floor wiring rooms/buildings

Quick rule: Horizontal = same floor users | Backbone = between rooms / floors / buildings
Network Components: Work Area · TR · ER

Work Area Telecom Room (TR) Equipment Room (ER)

• Laptops, desktop PCs • Core switches & routers

• Access layer switches
• IP phones • Firewall / security devices
• Copper patch panels
• Printers • ISP handoff point
• Fiber patch panels
• Wall jacks (RJ45 outlets) • Servers
• Equipment racks / cabinets
• Access Points (APs) • ODF (Optical Distribution
• Fiber uplinks to ER
• CCTV cameras Frame)

Signal path: Work Area → TR (same floor) → ER (backbone) → Internet

Copper Cable Categories: Cat5e · Cat6 · Cat6A · Cat7

Speed Max Distance

Older standard, still common in basic
Cat5e 1 Gbps 100 m
office setups

Speed Max Distance

Most popular today. Supports 10G at
Cat6 1 Gbps / 10 Gbps* 100 m / ~55 m*
short distances

Speed Max Distance

Best choice for new installations.
Cat6A 10 Gbps 100 m
Future-proof

Speed Max Distance

Heavily shielded. For premium
Cat7 10 Gbps+ 100 m
environments (data centers, factories)

* Cat6 achieves 10 Gbps only up to ~55 m (not the full 100 m channel)
Cable Shielding: UTP · STP · FTP

UTP FTP STP

Unshielded Twisted Pair Foil-shielded Twisted Pair Shielded Twisted Pair

No shielding around the wires. The A single foil layer wraps all the pairs Each pair is individually shielded —
cheapest and easiest to install. together. maximum protection against noise.

• Best EMI immunity

• Lightweight and flexible • Better EMI protection than UTP • Reduces crosstalk between
• Cheapest option • Still relatively flexible pairs
• Easy to terminate (crimp/punch) • Good for moderate-noise areas • Required in high-noise
environments

Standard offices, schools, homes — Areas with some electrical equipment Factories, electrical rooms, generator
where EMI is not an issue nearby areas, industrial spaces
RJ45 Termination — Step by Step

Strip Jacket Insert into Plug

1 Remove ~1 inch of the outer jacket using a cable stripper 5 Slide all 8 wires fully into the RJ45 connector — each in its
— don't nick the wires inside own channel

Untwist Pairs Crimp

2 Carefully untwist the 4 pairs of wire so they can be 6 Use a crimping tool to lock the wires in place securely
arranged flat

Arrange (T568B) Test

3 Order the wires: W-Or · Or · W-Gr · Bl · W-Bl · Gr · W-Br · Br
7 Use a cable tester to verify all 8 pins are correctly wired
and no shorts exist

Cut Evenly
4 Trim all 8 wires to the same length (~0.5 inch) for a clean,
even entry

T568B Color Order: White-Orange · Orange · White-Green · Blue · White-Blue · Green · White-Brown · Brown
Cable Limitations: Distance · EMI · Bend Radius

100 m Distance Limit (Copper)

Copper cables can carry data reliably up to 100 m only. Beyond that, the signal weakens too much to be useful. If you
need longer runs, use fiber instead.

EMI — Electromagnetic Interference

Electric motors, UPS systems, generator panels, and fluorescent lighting emit electromagnetic noise that can corrupt
data on copper cables.

Solution: Use STP/FTP cables, increase distance from power sources, or route through conduit.

Bend Radius
Both copper and fiber cables have a minimum bend radius — the tightest curve they can handle without damage.

Copper: Generally 4× the cable diameter.

Fiber: Much more sensitive — sharp bends cause signal loss (attenuation) and can crack the glass core.
PoE — Power over Ethernet

What is PoE?
PoE lets a single LAN cable carry both data AND electrical power at the same time. No separate power outlet
needed for the device.

Common devices powered by PoE:

Access Points IP CCTV IP Biometric Smart

(Wi-Fi APs) Cameras Phones Devices Lighting

The PoE switch injects power onto the cable — no changes needed at the wall socket end.
Fiber Types: SMF · OM3 · OM4

SMF — Single Mode Fiber MMF — Multi Mode Fiber (OM3 / OM4)

OM3 (Aqua jacket)

• Supports up to 10 Gbps at 300 m

• Used in data centers and short backbone runs
• Jacket color: Yellow
• One single beam of light travels through
• Designed for very long distances — kilometers OM4 (Violet jacket)
• Used in telecom networks, ISP links, WAN
backbone
• Laser-based light source • Supports up to 10 Gbps at 400 m
• More expensive, but unmatched range • Improved version of OM3 — same concept, more
range
• Standard in modern data centers

Rule of thumb: SMF = long distance (telco/ISP) | MMF = short, fast links (data centers)
Fiber Connectors: LC · SC · MPO

LC Connector SC Connector MPO Connector

LC stands for Lucent Connector. Small, SC stands for Subscriber Connector. MPO stands for Multi-fiber Push On.
latching push-pull design. Square-shaped, push-pull design. One connector holds 12 or 24 fibers.

• Most widely used connector

today • Older standard, still common in • Used in high-density data centers
• Compact — fits SFP/SFP+ ports telecom • Trunk cables: pre-terminated
on switches & routers • Larger than LC but very reliable bundles of fiber
• Comes in duplex (two fibers side- • Easy to snap in and out • Saves huge amounts of space
by-side) • Found in older buildings and ISP • Enables very fast, structured
• Found in data centers, enterprise infrastructure installs
networks

Use when: Use when: Use when:

Modern installations — your go-to Telecom gear and older fiber Data center trunks and high-density
choice infrastructure cabling
Fiber Cable Color Coding

The jacket color of a fiber cable tells you what type it is — at a glance.

Yellow SMF Single Mode Fiber — long distance, telecom & backbone

Aqua OM3 Multi Mode — 10G up to 300 m, common in data centers

Violet OM4 Multi Mode — 10G up to 400 m, improved OM3

Lime OM5 Multi Mode — supports wavelength division (WDM) for denser links

Orange Older MMF Legacy multi mode — older buildings and early fiber installs

Tip: When in doubt, look at the jacket color before plugging anything in — it tells you the fiber type instantly.
Attenuation & Signal Loss in Fiber

What is Attenuation?
Attenuation means the signal gets weaker as it travels through the fiber. Too much loss = data errors or complete signal
failure.

Main causes of signal loss:

Long Distance Dirty Fiber End

Signal weakens naturally over distance — worse in MMF Even a tiny dust particle on the fiber tip scatters the light —
than SMF always clean before connecting

Bad Connectors Too Many Patches

Dirty, cracked, or misaligned connectors cause loss at each Each extra patch panel or splice adds small losses that stack
connection point up

Poor Splicing
A badly fused or mechanical splice introduces significant
loss
Fiber Splicing — Step by Step

Splicing joins two fiber ends permanently. Fusion splicing (using heat) gives the best result.

Strip Fusion Splice

1 4
Remove the outer buffer/coating to expose the Place both fiber ends in the fusion splicer — it aligns
bare glass fiber core them and uses an electric arc to fuse them together

Clean Heat Sleeve

2 5
Wipe the exposed fiber with IPA (alcohol) to Slide a heat-shrink protection sleeve over the splice,
remove dust and oils then heat it to seal and protect

Cleave Splice Tray

3 6
Use a precision cleaver to make a perfectly flat, 90° Place the finished splice neatly into a splice tray
cut on the fiber end inside the ODF or splice enclosure
Copper Patch Panel

User Desk Cat6 Cable Patch Panel Patch Cord Access Switch

Laptop / PC → Runs through → Cable punched → Short cable from → Connects to

wall socket floor / ceiling down on rear ports panel to switch network backbone

What does a patch panel do?

The patch panel is a passive termination board mounted in the rack. The permanent cable from each desk is "punched
down" onto the rear of the panel. On the front, short patch cords connect each port to the switch — making it easy to
move, add, or change connections without touching the permanent cable.

Key benefits:
• Keeps the rack neat and labeled
• Protects the permanent cable from constant plugging/unplugging
• Easy to reconfigure — just swap the patch cord
Fiber ODF — Optical Distribution Frame

What is an ODF?
The ODF is a rack-mounted enclosure that organizes and manages all fiber terminations in the equipment room. It is
the fiber equivalent of a copper patch panel — but for fiber optic cables.

Fiber Terminations Pigtails

Incoming fiber cables land and terminate here as Short pre-terminated fiber stubs that are fusion-
pigtails or direct connectors spliced to the incoming cables

Splice Trays Patch Ports (front)

Protective trays that hold and organize the fusion LC / SC ports on the front panel — patch cords
splices neatly connect these to active devices (switches, routers)

Think of the ODF as the 'hub' where your fiber backbone meets your active network equipment.
Full Passive Network — End-to-End Flow
How a data packet travels from your desk to the internet:

User Desk Cat6 Cable Wall Jack Patch Panel Access Switch

→ → → →
Laptop / PC at the work Horizontal copper cable Copper patch panel in
RJ45 outlet in the wall Aggregates floor traffic
area (max 100 m) the TR

ISP / Internet 🖧 Core Switch ODF Fiber Uplink

← ← ←
Your connection leaves the Routes traffic to Optical Distribution Frame in
SMF/MMF fiber to core
building internet/servers ER

Telecom Room (TR) Equipment Room (ER)