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If your company has a limited budget for network infrastructure, your team may be tempted to find numerous way to economize. Unfortunately, this may lead to buying CCA cabling in order to save money. Although marketed as a sufficient substitute for solid copper cabling, CCA cables are far from being the right answer for trimming budgets.

Definition of CCA

CCA stands for copper coated aluminum. A CCA cable’s core is an inner aluminum conductor that is coated with copper. As a result, it weighs considerably less than solid copper cables.

A CCA cable can be made at a significantly reduced cost than the solid copper version. This gives a manufacturer an increased profit margin and a significant competitive edge over those companies who continue making solid copper cable.

CCA cables may look similar and are advertised to function just like standard CAT5e or CAT6 cabling, but they have serious flaws that could result in network issues, business continuity problems, and safety hazards as discussed below.

Non-Compliant

CCA twisted pair cables are non-compliant with UL and TIA standards, which require solid or stranded copper conductors. The National Electrical Code (NEC) also does not provide CCA cabling a valid safety listing. Thus, CCA cables cannot be installed legally if the facility requires CM, CMG, CMP, CMR, or CMX rated cables.

Inflexible

As CCA conductors are brittle and easily break, just transferring a faceplate or patch panel can result in failures. CCA wires have low tensile strength, and they are known to break from shearing or pulling, which can happen during packaging or delivery. Moreover, CCA cables have a very limited bend radius.

Oxidation

Aluminum begins oxidizing very rapidly when it is exposed to air. This oxidation and the resulting corrosion may lead to failed terminations inside the network infrastructure, resulting in connectivity issues.

Part 2 will continue discussing CCA cabling related issues and counterfeit copper cabling.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Utilizing best practices developed over time, structured cabling determines the design and construction of an organization’s IT infrastructure. Standardized practices ease modifications and additions and promote compatibility and reliability. The following will discuss the benefits of structured cabling for your organization’s IT infrastructure.

Efficiency

There will be times when it will be necessary to move forward with changes to your IT infrastructure. When this involves dealing with improperly placed cables without a labeling system, each project will take longer than what would be necessary for a well-organized system. Structured cabling’s best practices decrease downtime and minimize mistakes.

Flexibility

Structured cabling allows flexibility, meaning repairs and changes to the infrastructure become easier and faster to perform. This means data center managers will not hesitate to implement needed changes because they don’t have to deal with disorganized cabling that make their jobs much harder.

Future Proofing

The perpetual improvements of telecommunications technology make it crucial to have an IT infrastructure that can adapt to future technical advances. Structured cabling makes this possible by ensuring upgrades are not difficult to integrate with the existing system. Structured cabling enables future proofing, and so it can be considered a sound investment for companies anticipating expansion.

Redundancy

Structured cabling allows the creation of an IT infrastructure that features redundancy, which helps ensure reliability and accessibility, particularly during maintenance or repair. If a cable is somehow compromised, data communications can keep functioning over redundant cabling as repairs are being performed.

ROI

Business owners should consider structured cabling as an investment that will improve their IT infrastructures. As it will significantly increase the efficiency of its data operations, the ROI (return on investment) could far exceed the initial outlay for implementation over time.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As discussed in Part 1, structured cabling is now considered the foundation of network infrastructure, and organizations and their data centers are seeking ways to improve its efficiency and functionality through several trends. Part 2 will discuss Modularization, Optimization, and Virtualization.

Modularization

New data centers are now being built to support ever-increasing networking demands. Companies are participating by determining which modular data center cabling solutions to implement in order to be future-proofed as this technology grows more sophisticated.

They are also seeking the ability to better scale data and network resources, which will decrease capital expenditure for infrastructure and thus increase the potential for profits.

These organizations are also rapidly implementing virtual data center solutions.

Featuring modules and components that are specially designed, modular data centers are portable, scalable, and containerized. Capable of supporting converged infrastructures, a modular data center requires sound data cabling infrastructure to be effective.

Optimization

An organization that may not be able to build a new data center can still upgrade its existing data cabling. In addition, data center providers are rapidly being chosen as a cost-effective method for optimizing network infrastructure.

Although copper and fiber cabling are considered adequate, there is a growing demand for connectivity that is speedier and more efficient for apps, computers, servers, and storage systems. Optimizing data cabling is the most direct way to obtain this by standardizing components such as cabling, racks, cabinets, etc.

Virtualization

Research has found that more than half of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are now running workloads on virtual machines. In comparison, data center providers are utilizing virtualization at a rate of at least 95%.

Virtualization technology is establishing itself as a proven, scalable, and cost-effective option for networking. Virtualization most commonly functions on computers, networks, servers, and storage systems. The most essential feature of network virtualization is well-designed structured data cabling.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Organizations and their data centers have come to recognize that structured cabling is the foundation of network infrastructure. As time passes, they will look for methods to make their structured cabling designs work with more efficiency and functionality. This article will discuss the emerging trends for data center cabling in 2018.

Cloud Integration

The industry is seeking ways to further integrate cloud technology with structured cabling. Data centers are gravitating to affordable and effective cloud products that improve performance, enable expansion, ensure security, and handle big data. In addition, business owners are upgrading their data cabling with copper and fiber technologies. 

The crossover cable connects two Ethernet network devices to each other. They were invented for temporarily supporting host-to-host networking when a network router or another intermediary device is not available. Although crossover cables appear the same as a standard straight-through (patch) Ethernet cable, their internal wiring structures are different.

Straight Through vs. Crossover

A straight-through cable is used for connecting two different kinds of devices, such as a network switch to a computer. In contrast, a crossover cable is for connecting two devices that are identical.

The straight-through cable’s ends can be wired in any manner, but both ends must be identical. This is different from the crossover cable’s internal wiring, which reverses the signals for receiving and transmitting. The first and third wires and the second and sixth wires are crossed.

High-quality Ethernet crossover cables have special markings which allow users to distinguish them from straight-through cables. They are often red in color and the word "crossover" will appear on its casing and packaging.

Crossover Cable Needs

Crossover cables came into use during the 1990s and 2000s because the most common types of Ethernet were unable to support direct cable connections between hosts. Intended for using specific wires for both receiving and transmitting signals, the original and Fast Ethernet standards required the communication of two endpoints through an intermediary device to avoid conflicts.

The Ethernet feature MDI-X has auto-detection for the prevention of signal conflicts, enabling the Ethernet interface to automatically determine and negotiate the expected signaling convention of the device at the other end of the cable. The majority of home broadband routers and Gigabit Ethernet adopted MDI-X.

As a result, crossover cables are only necessary for the connection of two Ethernet client devices if they are not configured for Gigabit Ethernet. Nowadays, Ethernet devices are compatible with crossover cables because they can automatically detect them.

Ethernet Crossover Cables Usage

Crossover cable usage should be limited to direct network connections. When a user tries connecting a computer to an antiquated router or network switch via a crossover cable rather than a standard cable, the link can be prevented from working.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive Office teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

Structured cabling that is properly installed can help your business grow by helping to improve its network performance and IT capability. The following will discuss structured cabling’s Top Ten Tips for installing cabling systems.

#1 Cable Labeling

Although cable labeling will slow installation, it will help save lots of time and effort during future repair, reconfiguration, and maintenance tasks.

#2 Cable Testing

Ensure every cable is tested and confirmed to be functioning properly during the installation process. A cable with a nominal performance should not be utilized as it may decrease overall system performance.

#3 Short Patch Cables

Do not use long patch cables when they aren’t required. They are inefficient, look disorganized, and are prone to tangling.

#4 Select Quality Terminations

Avoid purchasing cheap terminating cables because time will be unnecessarily spent on troubleshooting in the future. Select those that are of high quality and terminate properly and rapidly.

#5 Avoid Overheating

Keep in mind that maintaining proper cable temperatures to avoid overheating is crucial for stable and reliable network performance.

#6 Measure 2X, Cut 1X

Precise measurements prior to cutting will minimize damaged and wasted cables during installations.

#7 No Kinky Fiber Cables

As fiber cables have great flexibility, they can kink bend, and knot. These will result in flaws in the fiber cables, negatively affecting performance of the network.

#8 Maximum Cable Length

Do not exceed the maximum length of a cable run, which is typically 100 meters for network cabling systems.

#9 Allow for Expansion

Network cabling systems should always have room for interior expansion. As a business grows, its network should have the room to be able to upgrade or expand.

#10 Qualified Installation Company

In order to ensure that a company’s network cabling system will be properly installed, management must select a qualified installation company and request references.  Their technicians should be BICSI certified and experts in ANSI standards.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of our clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Efficiently working together, Progressive teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call our toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.

As mentioned in Part 1, a structured cabling system is a type of open network structure that can be used by data, telephony, access control, building automation, and other systems. Its advantages are operational flexibility and economy. Part 2 will describe each of structured cabling's six subsystems below.

The Six Subsystems

1. Entrance Facilities

Entrance facilities house the protection devices, network demarcation points, cables,  connecting hardware, and other equipment that connect to private network cabling or the access provider. Connections between the inside building and outside plant cabling are included.

2. Equipment Room

Featuring environment control, the centralized area for telecommunications equipment is typically more complex than a telecommunications room. Usually containing the main cross-connect, it may also house the horizontal and intermediate cross-connects.

3. Backbone Cabling

Backbone cabling provides the interconnections between entrance facilities, telecommunications rooms, equipment rooms, etc. Typically, backbone cabling is comprised of fiber optic cables, intermediate and main cross-connects, mechanical terminations, and patch cables utilized for backbone-to-backbone cross-connections.

4. Telecommunications Room

Housing the terminations of backbone and horizontal cables to connecting hardware with patch cords or jumpers, a telecommunications room may also house the intermediate cross connects or main cross connect for different portions of the backbone cabling system. This space is a controlled environment containing telecommunications equipment, connecting hardware, and splice closures.

5. Horizontal Cabling

Extending from the work area’s telecommunications information outlet to the telecommunications room, the horizontal Network Cabling consists of horizontal cables and mechanical terminations, along with the jumpers and patch cords located in the telecommunications room. The system may also incorporate consolidation points and multi-user telecommunications outlet assemblies.

6. Work Area

The work area’s components typically extend from the telecommunications outlet/connector end of the horizontal cabling system to the work area equipment. At least two telecommunications outlets should be installed in every work area. If utilized, multi-user telecommunications outlet assemblies (MUTOAs) are a component of the work area.

Progressive Office Cabling

Founded in 1986, Progressive Office’s success has been a direct result of years of commitment to seeking solutions on behalf of their clients in the Washington, D.C. and New York City areas. Working together, their cabling teams get cabling installed and operating as fast as possible while minimizing disruption and downtime. Call their toll free number (800) 614-4560 today.