STRUCTURED CABLING

Introduction
A structured cabling system is the wiring network that carries all
your data, voice, multimedia, security,VoIP, PoE, and even wireless
connections throughout your building or campus. It includes
everything from the data center to the desktop, including cabling,
connecting hardware, equipment, telecommunications rooms, cable
pathways,work areas, and even the jacks on the wallplate in your
office.

Technical
a. Six Subsystems of a Structured Cabling System:

Diagram 1. Subsystems location

1. Entrance Facility – the point where the outdoor cable connects
with the building’s backbone cabling. This is usually the
demarcation point between the service provider and the
customerowned systems.
 Terminal Blocks
 Service Entrance Cable (CAT5 multipar/
Alpet/ Fiber Optic Cable)

Design considerations:
2. telecommunications room cross-connects to the
telecommunications outlets in the work area. It’s called
horizontal because the cable typically runs horizontally above the
ceiling or below the floor from the telecommunications room,
which is usually on the same floor. Note: maximum horizontal
cable distance up to 100 meters including patch cords.
 CAT5/CAT6
 Diagram 2. Horizontal cabling distance

3. Work Station – consists of all the components between the

telecommunications outlet and the user’s workstation
equipment.
 Information Outlet (I/O)/ Faceplate
 Patch cord

b. Network Topology
There are three basic network topologies: star, ring, and
bus.

1. Star.
The star network features individual point-to-point cable
runs radiating from a central equipment room, which can house
a PBX in voice networks or switches in data networks. The
advantage of a star network is that you can connect and
disconnect equipment without disrupting the rest of the network.
The star network facilitates smooth moves, adds, and changes.
10BASE-T and later versions of Ethernet use a star topology.

The TIA/EIA makes a few design recommendations for star

topologies.
• There shall be no more than two hierarchical levels of
backbone cross-connects.
• Bridged taps and splices shall not be installed.
• Proximity to sources of EMI shall be taken into account.
 2. Bus.
A bus topology consists of one continuous cable, commonly
called the backbone cable. Devices are connected along that
cable, and information travels in a linear fashion along the entire
length of the bus. Devices can be removed from the bus without
disrupting the entire network. The original Ethernet topology was
a bus.

c. Cable standards
a. Simplify troubleshooting – with structured cabling systems, problems
are less likely to down to entire network, easier to isolate and easier to
fix

b. Support for future applications – structured cabling system supports

future applications like multimedia, video conferencing, etc. with little
or no upgrade pain.