Structured Cabling is Worth it

What is structured cabling and when does it apply?

If you have an office building, warehouse, industrial plant, or data center, structured cabling is most likely an important component for your business. Structured cabling is your company’s telecommunications infrastructure. This allows for a standard way of having all of your communication systems such as; phone, data, ethernet, audio systems, and much more in one unified infrastructure. This will simplify troubleshooting issues and streamline future cabling and technology updates. Without a structured cabling system, you risk errors, prolonged troubleshooting, and unsightly cable management.

For a system to qualify as a structured cabling system there are multiple points that need to be met. Each building has a unique setup and proper grounding is pivotal to maintaining safety and ensuring proper equipment protection. If a building is large enough that cables exceed their manufacturer's recommended lengths then multiple data rooms must be installed and each of these rooms must be cabled with backbone cabling to one main data room. This backbone cabling is typically fiber optic for data and multi-pair copper cabling for voice circuits. After this infrastructure is installed all of the station cabling can go these satellite data rooms (IDF’s) that connect back to the main data room (MDF). Within these rooms there are many stipulations on proper setup to allow for future growth and present technologies. It’s best to work with a company that has knowledge of Bicsi® standards and is up to date with their most current TDDM manuals.

Structured cabling will save your organization time and money in the long run by putting in place a proper cabling infrastructure. This infrastructure allows moves, adds, and changes to run smoothly. Fewer errors happen when cabling is well organized and labeled with a streamlined solution that is easy to access. This has the future in mind so that as your business changes, your structured cabling system can change with it. It is important to make sure this is done by an experienced data cabling contractor. They will know the ins and outs of the system to maximize efficiency and be up to speed on the latest and greatest in standards. The correct design and implementation will allow for your business to see cost savings in the long run, by having the most streamlined and efficient system in place.