STRUCTURED CABLE SYSTEMS

While we deliver CISCO wireless networking solutions, copper cable is alive and well.

As of publishing this document, the data cabling industry associated with delivery of installed cable infrastructure is in a poor condition. The industry is hampered by a number of factors:

• Poor training of design and installation staff, end user misunderstanding.
• The idea that a structured cable element is equivalent to a “telephone wire”, the structured cable element may be constructed of the same material i.e. copper and PVC, but that is the point that the similarity ends
• Price per point of the cable installation and the acceptance of lowest bid wins.
• The market push, currently CAT6, CAT6 and more CAT6, when there is no need for category 6 deployment or use. Currently category 5 and category 5e cabling as specified within EIA/TIA 568 standards, can deliver gigabit Ethernet.

At 1000MB the following question arises:

Q. How much bandwidth does an End User require?

A. Lets be very generous:

• Voice - 1M
• Data  -  5M
• Video -  10M
• Total –  16M

As the above figures are generous, a 10M full duplex link would suffice most users. A 100M Fast Ethernet link is overkill for most users with today’s applications, a 1000M link for individual desktop users is not required, but is still available in category 5 and category 5e, why use category 6? The argument for category 6 is improved headroom and future performance for new technologies and end user applications, the fibre optic industry would argue that if you want improved performance, install fibre to the desktop. The argument continues as to the choice of medium, cat 5e, cat6 or fibre, but all medium selections are derived from good initial network design, by those individuals who can demonstrate accreditation equal to or holding  the BICSI RCDD accreditation see www.bicsi.org

FastNetworks has therefore partnered with Panduit and Nordx to deliver superior structured cabling systems for End User requirements. The use of structured cable systems is part of our overall infrastructure delivery for LAN, WAN and End User software applications. If installed in a correct manner, i.e. utilising standards based and BICSI installation methods, then the structured cable system will last for many years, delivering current and future applications. Of particular importance is the reference to category X specifications. When a cable system is determined to be compliant to generic cabling systems, the compliance is measured against a measurable electrical, mechanical and electronic characteristics. The generic cabling specification does not warrant or state successful operation with, as an example, windows networking. On numerous occasions, FastNetworks deploys engineers in response to cable faults reported by our customers within the network It is surprising how often the faults are nothing to do with the physical cabling, but with the following:

• The network is slow due to bottlenecks elsewhere
• Mis-matches in between desktop client and access switch.
• Mis-configuration of NIC card
• Lack of knowledge regarding IP protocols i.e. no default gateway installed.
• Broadcast storms

The above faults are found by FastNetworks utilising our extensive knowledge of networking, protocol analysers and embedded software tools. The above types of network problems could not be found with a generic cable certification tool, that indicates “PASS” or  “FAIL” . Therefore for successful technical support of the installed cable infrastructure requires more in depth knowledge of just generic cabling standards. In fact Nordx offer application support across the IBDN cable system, as well as compliance to generic cabling standards see http://www.nordx.com/public/htmen/4_12.htm#3

I.T. Managers guide to Structured Cable Systems - http://www.nordx.com/public/htmen/pdf/IT_Managers.pdf

FastNetworks delivers superior network cable infrastructure based upon copper and fibre optic cabling by ensuring the following:

• The use of superior structured cabling systems
• Design experience and industry qualifications
• Understanding networks protocols
• Switch configuration and desktop client configuration
• Use of embedded SNMP management and protocol analysers