Structured Cabling System

Overview

Network cables are the nerve pathways of this rapid and constantly advancing digital revolution. They connect the nodes of the Internet, companies, and people. Without them, global communication and information flows would cease, supply chains would shudder to a halt, self-driving cars would be grounded , and aircraft would be rounded. These are just a few examples that illustrate the dependence of modern societies on smooth data communication

Data centers form the backbone of this communication infrastructure, whether they are hyperscale facilities, telecommunications provider hubs, edge data centers, or the enterprise IT data centers of all sizes found in almost every company across all industries. Vast volumes of data transmissions are concentrated in data centers, in a relatively small space. Flawless communication between all devices and the integrity of data links to and from the outside world are critical. This is dependent on wholly functioning structured cabling and the interaction of the cables with all the active and passive components of the network.

Structured cabling standards

The development of structured cabling systems was greatly helped with the release of the ANSI/TIA-568 standard in 1991. Its sections included Generic Telecommunications Cabling for Customer Premises (C.0) and Commercial Building Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard (C.1). The two standards have been updated numerous times in the past 30 years, and the current iterations are ANSI/TIA-568.0 (customer premises) and ANSI/TIA-568.1 (commercial buildings). Both were most recently updated in March 2020.

Structured cabling benefits

The installation, troubleshooting and maintenance of cable infrastructures are greatly simplified with structured cabling. This saves money through standardization of all hardware components and cable types. It also saves time with installation as connectors and their wiring are greatly simplified. The ANSI/TIA-568 standard is adaptable to virtually any kind of residential and

Cable Management in Data Centers

Cable management in data centers covers all the capabilities that support initial installation, operation, and expansion of the cabling infrastructure, its ongoing development, and adaptation to new architectures and transmission technologies.

The purpose of structured cabling in a data center is to raise data transmission rates while keeping the space requirement the same by increasing the density, boosting capacity utilization, guaranteeing high reliability and availability, minimizing downtime in the event of outages, and simultaneously reducing running costs.

Documentation plays a key role in all of this. Structured cabling incorporates many passive elements that cannot be automatically detected or interactively queried, so the documentation represents the central “‘memory” of the cable infrastructure.

Making management of this cabling as simple and cost-efficient as possible, despite its inherent complexity, is a critically important part of professional data center management. However, that is easier said than done. There are plenty of real-world examples of what happens without appropriate cable management in a data center:   

1. Insufficient knowledge of existing connections leads to duplicate installations, which drives up costs and prematurely exhausts capacity reserves for cable management elements (trays, clamp rails, etc.).  
2. Existing installations are expanded ad hoc as needed, without any consultation and without the changes being documented.  
3. Incomplete knowledge about the as-is cable network makes planning future changes difficult, since key knowledge about prerequisites, dependencies, and undesired cross-effects is lacking.  
4. Uncontrolled and uncoordinated use of cable media (copper, fiber, coax) leads to elevated maintenance costs, disruption of data transmission, and a higher risk of outages.  
5. Poorly planned and often incomplete removal of cable connections, where the cable is left in place for possible use again in the future, can no longer be identified at a later date and makes an existing cable spaghetti problem even worse.

Main Components of Structured Cable Networks

Entrance Facilities (EF).

Telecom facilities entering a building or residence from the outside -- from a local service carrier or private network -- pass through an opening in the exterior wall via a conduit. This cabling enters a room where other devices are deployed, including network connection points, patch panels, equipment racks, hardware connectors, power supplies and protection devices for grounding, shielding and lightning protection.

 Equipment Room (ER).

The area where entrance cabling connects to the internal building wiring infrastructure is the equipment room. It houses patch panels that provide connections for backbone cabling, horizontal cabling and intermediate cabling. As this room may also house network switches, PBXs, servers and other devices, it should be environmentally controlled to ensure that temperature and relative humidity levels are maintained according to equipment vendor specifications.

Backbone Cabling.

Also called riser cabling -- as it typically is installed in vertical channels, or risers, that connect to each floor -- backbone cabling links EF, telecommunications and other ERs, and carrier spaces. Two subsystems have been defined for backbone cabling:

1. Cabling Subsystem 2 is cabling between a horizontal cross-connect and an intermediate cross-connect (IC).
2. Cabling Subsystem 3 is cabling between an IC and the main cross-connect (MC).

The cable types used in backbone cabling include the following:

• 100-ohm twisted-pair cabling: Cat3, Cat5e, Cat6 or Cat6a;
• multimode optical fiber cabling: 850 nanometer laser-optimized 50/125 micrometer (recommended); 62.5/125 μm and 50/125 μm (permitted); and
• single-mode optical fiber cabling.

Note: Entrance cables are usually determined by the carrier and are not the user's responsibility.

 Telecommunications Room (TR) and Telecommunications Enclosure (TE). This environmentally controlled area can be a dedicated room (TE) or part of another larger room (TR), such as a general utility room. Hardware in these spaces terminate horizontal and backbone cables. It's also where local cables, called jumpers or patch cords, are used on patch panels to cross-connect different cables. ICs or MCs may be installed here as well to provide additional connection resources.↳

Horizontal Cabling (Cabling Subsystem 1).

Getting telecom resources to users at their work areas or other rooms on a floor is the job of horizontal cabling. A typical cable run goes from the user's device to the nearest TR on the same floor. The maximum allowed cable length between the TR and user device is 295 feet, regardless of cable type.

Horizontal cabling includes the cable, connectors, patch panels, jumpers and patch cords in the TR/TE. They may also include multiuser telecommunications outlet assemblies and consolidation points to connect multiple devices or cables in a single connector.

The cable types used in horizontal cabling include the following:

• four-pair 100-ohm u7nshielded or shielded twisted-pair cabling in Cat5e, Cat6 or Cat6a;
• multimode optical fiber cabling, two-fiber (also with a higher fiber count); and
• single-mode optical fiber cabling, two-fiber (also with a higher fiber count).

Work Area (WA).

The area from a connector, or jack, in a wall outlet to a user device using a cable is considered the WA. It's the final destination of a structured cable system.

Structured cabling has greatly simplified the process of installing voice and data communications equipment. Its continued use means new equipment, such as IoT systems, will be easily supported.