What is Structured Cabling?
Structured cabling is the design and installation of a cabling system compliant to existing standards such as TIA or ISO that will support multiple hardware uses and be suitable for today and future needs.
While more commonly known as network or data cabling due to its more popular use of interconnecting computer terminals to form a network, the idea of a s systemized cabling system applied to an office or building allow its application beyond computers, namely:
- Data, allowing information to propagate across spaces, offices, buildings, campuses and through the Internet, to the world.
- Voice, for both analog and digital POTS and VoIP, PABX and PA systems.
- Video, for surveillance as in CCTV, teleconferencing and projection.
- Signal, for feeding sensor information to security or automation systems.
- Power, for low-powered electronic equipment such as VoIP desk phones, wireless AP, surveillance cameras, door access panels and others, bypassing the need for additional cabling for power.
Media
There are two kinds of media widely used in structured cabling:
- Twisted-pair Copper as Horizontal cabling between Work areas and its nearest Telecommunications room (TR) or Equipment room with limited use as Backbone cabling,
- Optical Fiber as Backbone cabling between Telecommunications rooms or enclosure, Equipment room across floors, building and campuses.
Twisted-pair Copper
Currently, Cat 5e is the bare minimum for installation, with Cat 6 and Cat 6A currently deployed on new installations to support current and future bandwith requirements of 1Gbps and beyond for up to 100 meters in length.
Optical Fiber
Multi mode fiber (MMF) OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4 are popular for interconnecting floors and building in a single campus below 500 meters, while Single mode fiber (SMF) OS1 and OS2 used for further distances up to 20 kilometers to connect campus buildings.
