What Is Structured Cabling?
A structured cabling system provides a universal platform upon which an overall information system's strategy is built. With a flexible cabling infrastructure, a structured cabling system can support multiple voice, data, video and multimedia systems regardless of their manufacturer. Wired in a star topology, each workstation links to a central point and facilitates system interconnection and administration. This approach allows communication with virtually any device, anywhere, at any time. A well-designed cabling plant may include several independent cabling solutions of different media types, installed at each workstation to support multiple system performance requirements.
A structured cabling system consists of several building blocks:
Backbone cable: originates at the main distribution point and interconnects all telecommunications closets in a building. Cross-connect products: provide a means for terminating cable while establishing a field for moves, adds and changes
Horizontal cable: the medium over which communication services are transmitted to the workstation. Information outlets: the termination point for cable at or near the workstation Patch cable assemblies: connectorized cables that attach workstation equipment to information outlets--these make moves, adds and changes quick and easy.
The six subsystems of a structured cabling system
Just as the efficient exchange of information is vital to your organization, structured cabling is the life of your network. No matter how your network grows throughout its life span, a flexible and reliable structured cabling system will adapt to meet new demands.
Choosing a structured cabling system is an important decision--one that will affect the performance of your entire network. Structured cabling's extended life expectancy requires you to consider all potential bandwidth requirements for the next ten years. What will your network be running? 100BASE-TX? 622 Mbps ATM? Gigabit Ethernet? Although your exact requirements are difficult to predict, the demands on your network will surely continue to grow at a rapid pace.
