Structured Cabling
Structured cabling simplifies the installation of a cable infrastructure supporting diverse voice and data communication equipment, whether in a home coaxial outlet or a skyscraper's extensive wiring. The components adhere to specific standards for electrical transmission, resistance, cable lengths, connectors, and fabrication.
Structured cabling offers several benefits, including simplified installation, troubleshooting, and maintenance of cable infrastructures. This standardization of hardware components and cable types not only saves money but also reduces installation time.
Structured cabling, by simplifying the process of installing voice and data communication equipment, supports the use of new technologies such as IoT systems.
The six subsystems of structured cabling include:
- **Entrance Facilities (EF):** The point where telecom facilities enter a building, passing through an opening in the exterior wall, leading to a room with network connection points and other devices.
- **Equipment Room (ER):** The area where entrance cabling connects to the internal building wiring infrastructure, often housing network switches, PBXs, servers, and other devices.
- **Backbone Cabling:** Riser cabling that links Entrance Facilities, Telecommunications Rooms, and other spaces. It includes two subsystems: cabling between horizontal and intermediate cross-connects, and cabling between an intermediate cross-connect and the main cross-connect.
- **Telecommunications Room (TR) and Telecommunications Enclosure (TE):** Environmentally controlled spaces for terminating horizontal and backbone cables, using local cables (jumpers or patch cords) on patch panels for cross-connecting different cables.
- **Horizontal Cabling (Cabling Subsystem 1):** Cabling responsible for bringing telecom resources from TR to users at their work areas or other rooms on a floor.
- **Work Area (WA):** The final destination of a structured cable system, from a connector in a wall outlet to a user device.