Important Subsystems Of Structured Cabling

11:52 AM // 0 comments // Sajib Barua // Category: communication , communications , language , media , news , telephone , voice over ip , VOIP //

Structured cabling refers to the cabling infrastructure in a building. It is composed of a lot of elements called subsystems. The design was originally developed to promote cable management which is a good network management strategy.

In the year 1991, EIA and TIA released a joint wiring standard named Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard 568-B which is called structured cabling for short. Its purpose is to create a unified, multi-vendor system. This standard was defined in order to maximize the performance of network devices and wiring.

The different parts are the main and intermediate distribution frame, vertical and horizontal cross-connects, entrance facility, telecommunications closet, backbone wiring and work area. The distribution frames are usually specified in large companies. In some, they are not needed as the telecommunications closet already suffices. Multiple telco rooms are usually connected by an equipment room.

The building LAN all begins at the entrance facility. Conveniently named as such, it is also called the demarcation point or demarc. This demarcation point acts as the separation between the internal and external network. This point is highlighted in order to determine where a problem lies. Problems within the demarc are internal to the network while those outside are external. Internal problems need to be handled by a system administrator while the ISP handles the external problems.

Workstations on every floor are connected by the backbone wiring. It uses horizontal cross-connects to deliver signals to the work area. Aside from connecting different floors, backbone wiring is also used to connect buildings to one another. Twisted pair or fiber optic cable is usually used to implement this.

The telco room, short for telecommunications room or closet, holds all the network connectivity devices except routers and servers. The telco room is part of the horizontal cross-connect along with the horizontal wiring. This room gets the signal from the backbone wiring and sends it out to all the workstations through the switches via the horizontal wiring.