Does your organization’s IT department need to increase its capacity for growth while enhancing its performance? Learn how a structured cabling system can help.
A structured cabling system is essential to any organization that manages its IT infrastructure in-house. The scope of such a system extends beyond the act of arranging cables and wires in an organized fashion. In fact, a structured cabling system should be regarded as a wired network that links personnel, technology, and systems. The transmission of data is another primary use for structured cabling. Although many may think of structured cabling as simply as a group of wires, the system actually integrates technology-related hardware, management applications, work facilities, networks, and equipment that work together to transmit data through both wireless and Ethernet cable connections. Any organization that does not currently use a structured cabling system can achieve additional growth and operational efficiency once the conversion to the system takes place. A strategically and properly designed system can become a long-lasting asset that outlives most other IT-related equipment.
Qualifications and Standards
The Electronic Industry Alliance/Telecommunications Industry Association (EIT/TIA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) set the qualifications for structured cabling systems. The qualifications govern how the systems are designed, installed, maintained, expanded, and documented. While qualifications exist, it is difficult to find two organizations with identical systems. The qualifications set by the EIT/TIA and the ANSI help streamline costs and mitigate associated risks. According to the qualifications and standards detailed by RMM Solutions, a structured cabling system must contain the following:
- An entrance facility: The place where the network service provider’s cabling and equipment connects with the organization’s backbone cabling.
- A work area: The place that contains all of the components in-between the telecommunications outlet and the equipment that serves as the network’s termination.
- An equipment room: The room where the organization stores its servers, phone systems, routers, and switches. This is sometimes referred to as a NOC or network operations center. Some organizations combine the equipment and telecommunications rooms.
- A telecommunications room: This is where the termination equipment that links the horizontal and backbone cabling is stored.
- Horizontal cabling: This is the cabling that runs horizontally either in the ceiling or beneath the floor. The cabling includes all components between the telecommunications outlets and the telecommunications room.
- Backbone cabling: The backbone cabling is the wiring between equipment rooms, telecommunications rooms, facilities, and entrances.
Structured Cabling In Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach & Surrounding Areas
Investing in the conversion to a structured cabling system means ensuring that at a minimum these six components are in place. Following the standards helps optimize an organization’s IT operations, while ensuring that data is transmitted in the most sound and efficient ways possible. Implementing the standards and qualifications also ensures that employees, technology, and systems are properly linked. Proper implementation of a structured cabling system is a must for organizations that wish to develop or maintain a competitive advantage, increase performance and cost-efficiency, maximize and sync resources, and maintain the capacity for growth.
