Suite 206
Tamuning, GU 96913
Tel: 1 (671) 647-4824
Fax: 1 (888) 900-4917
545 Chalan San Antonio
[Link]
Guam Technology Associates Inc.
Solution for
Your IT Solutions forTomorrow’s
Tomorrow’sBusiness...
Business...
Structured Cabling
Structured Cabling
Structured cabling is building or campus telecommunications cabling in-
frastructure that consists of a number of standardized smaller elements
(hence structured) called subsystems.
Structured cabling falls into six subsystems:
• Entrance Facilities are where the building interfaces with the
outside world.
• Equipment Rooms host equipment which serve the users inside
the building.
• Telecommunications Rooms house telecommunication equipment
which connect the backbone and the horizontal cabling subsys-
tems.
• Backbone Cabling connect between the entrance facilities,
equipment rooms and telecommunications rooms.
• Horizontal Cabling connect telecommunications rooms to indi-
vidual outlets on the 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 stan-
dards that specify wiring data centers, offices, and apartment buildings
for data or voice communications, using category 5 (CAT 5E) or cate-
gory 6 cable (CAT 6) and modular sockets. These standards define how
to lay the cabling in a star formation, such that all outlets terminate at
a central patch panel (which is normally 19 inch rack-mounted), from
where it can be determined exactly how these connections will be used.
Each outlet can be 'patched' into a data network switch (normally also
rack mounted alongside), or patched into a 'telecoms patch panel' which
forms a bridge into a private branch exchange (PBX) telephone system,
thus making the connection to a voice port.
The reason for having a 'Standard' is to define a method of connecting
all types of vendor’s voice and data equipment, over a cabling system
that uses a common media, common connectors and a common topol-
ogy. This means that a building can be cabled for all its communications
needs without the planner or architect ever having to know what type of
equipment will be used.
Now for the good news, the standards are mostly concerned with the
performance criteria of the components of a cabling system, and, as that
is guaranteed by the manufacturers of the different cabling components,
you don't have to worry about it.
Page 2
Using Stranded vs. Solid
Stranded cable is used for patch leads because it is more flexible than solid
copper. The solid cable is used in the fixed part of the installation, i.e. the ca-
ble between the patch cabinet and the wall outlets (ref. Horizontal Cabling
above). Solid cable has better performance characteristics than stranded and
it is cheaper to make, however; by design, it is not recommended for Patch
Cables because the solid cables are susceptible to failure as the cables are
miss-handled improperly. Careful consideration should be made when using
solid copper for patch cables since there is an exposure as the single point of
failure on any given network.
You should also avoid splicing solid copper directly into an RJ45 and plug-
ging it directly to a Switch from a workstation. Again, the standard is to
terminate this type of connection via Horizontal Cabling as described above
and connect the equipment with the Stranded Patch Cables to complete the
connectivity.
Exceeding Cable Length
Length limits are not for particular types of cables. They are for the type of
data signal that they carry. For some proprietary networks such as Thinnet,
the distance is set at the maximum length that the signal will work reliably
at a given speed over a given type of cable.
When we talk about Cat 5, 5e, 6 etc. these are cabling ‘Standards’ which
define a method of connecting all types of networking protocols, over a ca-
bling system that uses a common media, common connectors and a common
topology. So the length limit was arbitrarily set for the worst case scenario.
10BaseT may well work on Cat 5 for 150m (492 ft.) but ATM, AS400, To-
ken Ring etc. may not, and because a structured cabling system has to work
for all networking methods, a limit had to be set.
With the current speeds of Gigabit Ethernet it is more critical not to exceed
the minimum length of 100m (328 Ft.).
Page 3
Standards
U.S. Cabling Standards are administered through the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) along with Standard Committees such as Building Industry Consult-
ing Service International (BICSI), the association supporting the information transport
systems (ITS) industry with information, education and knowledge assessment. BICSI is
an ANSI-accredited standards development organization.
As the voice of the U.S. standards and conformity assessment system, the American Na-
tional Standards Institute (ANSI) empowers its members and constituents to strengthen
the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy while helping to assure the safety
and health of consumers and the protection of the environment.
The Institute oversees the creation, promulgation and use of thousands of norms and
guidelines that directly impact businesses in nearly every sector: from acoustical devices
to construction equipment, from dairy and livestock production to energy distribution,
and many more. ANSI is also actively engaged in accrediting programs that assess con-
formance to standards – including globally-recognized cross-sector programs such as the
ISO 9000 (quality) and ISO 14000 (environmental) management systems.
References
[Link]
[Link]
Page 4