ethernet | Progressive Office Cabling

Data Center Cabling Best Practices – Part 2

13 May 2017

Cat5e Cat6/6a Cabling,Office Cabling As mentioned in Part 1, modern data centers must be flexible, scalable, reliable, and manageable, making best practices required. Part 2 will cover cabling for Modular Data, High Density/High Port Count Fiber Equipment, and Standards.

Modular Data

Increasing in popularity, modular cabling systems for fiber and copper connectivity introduces the plug-and-play concept, which simplifies cable installation and significantly decreases costs and labor. Typically, cables are factory-terminated and tested.

While modular cabling is less costly when the infrastructure is modified in-house, it will not be as flexible because of the possible required commitment to a vendor for ongoing compatibility.

High Density/High Port Count Fiber Equipment

When networking equipment gradually grows in density and port counts rise to several hundred, the proper management of the connected cabling will also require increased effort.

In the past, the direct connection of cables to individual ports of equipment with low port-counts was thought to be manageable. Unfortunately, the same task will be very time consuming for high-density/high-port-count equipment. Eventually, the addition or removal of cables directly connected to these ports will be almost impossible.

The utilization of Multifiber Push-On (MPO) cable assemblies featuring a single connector at one end of cable and multiple duplex breakout cables at the other end will ease cable management.

The concept revolves around pre-connecting high-density/high- port-count Lucent Connector (LC) equipment with LC-MPO fan-out cable to dedicated MPO modules inside a dedicated patch panel. Once completely cabled, this patch panel will work as "remote" ports. Ideally the patch panels should be located on top of the cabling equipment to facilitate access to overhead cabling. This method significantly decreases cluttering of equipment and cables, resulting in improved cable management.

Standards

The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association) are the main organizations that develop structured cabling standards for the industry. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) committees do the testing and then set performance specifications.

Standards compliance makes sure that systems function at specified levels, allows backward compatibility, and a greater variety of equipment will be available internationally. Widespread global acceptance of standards allows the sourcing and use of equipment manufactured by different countries.

Color Identification and Naming Scheme will be discussed in Part 3.

Union Network Cabling

When union work requires a unionized cabling group, call on Union Network Cabling for your commercial Cat5e/6/6a and fiber cabling projects. Specializing in cabling for data, voice, security and even the latest WiFi and LiFi solutions. Phone: (202) 462-4290

Data Cabling,Structured Cabling, Cabling Design-Washington DC

Structured Cabling Benefits for Your Business

28 Apr 2017

Stu Kushner

Structured cabling, cable, Washington DC The structuring of cabling will result in better organization and easier management of the cables. If you are a building manager or business owner, you may already know a bit about structured cabling. You may be currently thinking about its installation in your premises. In the most basic terms, structured cabling allows for several devices like computers and telephones to be connected via a cabling system infrastructure. The following discusses several benefits of structured cabling for a facility or office. Consult with experienced structured cabling professionals to get the best results.

Adaptability

Structured cabling is technology that allows business managers to plan and prepare for the future, making its implementation a valuable investment. Structured cabling that installs a newer cable such as Cat 6 will provide adequate bandwidth, making it viable for an extended period as a business’ IT needs gradually expand. The high bandwidth of a structured cabling system will also give a business the increased ability to adapt newer applications, devices, and technologies.

Diagnosis and Repairs Made Easier

Whenever issues occur on multiple, disorganized cabling systems, determining the source of the problems will be difficult. Although structured cabling is a unified system, it is organized in segments, making it much easier for technicians to locate malfunctions and repair them.

Flexibility at Lower Costs

The people, equipment, and offices of an organization are not static. Businesses evolve and restructure as time passes. Employees of a department may have to move to another area. The entire area of an office may also need renovation. Typically, changes like these grind business to a halt, hurting the bottom line. However, a structured cabling system allows a company’s staff to move to another part of an office, connect, resume working, and remain productive without missing a beat.

Networking

Employees will also be able to connect their devices into any outlet of a structured cabling system as opposed to a particular wire, promoting flexibility and productivity. In addition, a structured cable system will be able to convey data in multiple forms, allowing staff on a network to connect with other computers, servers, printers, and telephones.

Simplified Management

One of the greatest advantages of a structured cabling system is the elimination of disorganized and unsightly wires. The replacement of a configuration using multiple cabling with a structured cabling system will result in easier and less costly management by technicians as they will save time on repairs and restructurings.

Union Network Cabling

cable,Data Cabling ,Cat5e, Cat6/6a Cabling

Category 5e Cabling Becoming Obsolete

4 Apr 2017

Stu Kushner

cable,Data Cabling ,Cat5e, Cat6/6a Cabling It is inevitable that applications requiring speeds greater than 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps will increase. The growing use of wireless devices, high resolution images, HD video streaming, surveillance, and multimedia are straining the capacity of Category 5e infrastructure, and there will come a point when it will be unable to cope.

Although it is capable of handling 1000 Mbps speeds at 100 MHz, the upgrading of Category 5e cabling will be necessary in the near future in order to support new applications and emerging technologies that will be deployed by businesses that are bandwidth intensive.

Category 5e Inadequate in Near Future

Cabling will be migrating from being behind walls to above ceilings, where it can end at a wireless access point (WAP). Much more cabling will be needed to serve an increasing utilization of WAPs for numerous users.

The advent and growth of new Wave 2 WiFi devices, which transmit at data at ranges of 1 Gbps up to perhaps 7 Gbps, will require faster Ethernet links for the connection of these WAPs. Installing Category 6A cabling may be the only effective solution for companies. The need for average speeds greater than 1G is increasing, perhaps to 10G. Category 5e is incapable of carrying speeds of 10 Gbps speeds over a required distance of 100 meters.

An emerging technology using balanced twisted-pair cabling, HDBaseT is used to transmit uncompressed HD video, audio, Ethernet, control, and power over 100 meters. Category 5e will be unable to support it, while Category 6A cabling is capable.

4-cable pair PoE, the next power over Ethernet standard, provides power more efficiently. However, the gauge of cable must grow in order for the reduction of resistance and permit higher power delivery. Consequently, 4-pair PoE has superior performance on Category 6A 23 AWG than Category 5e 24 AWG.

Cabling Standards Recommend Category 6A

For certain organizations, such as educational institutions, commercial buildings, data centers, and healthcare facilities, new installations require or recommend at least Category 6 cabling. Even though Category 6A may require greater capital expenditure than Category 5e cabling, costs will be decreased in the long term. A company’s network will be future proofed and will be capable of supporting new applications and emerging technologies.

Union Network Cabling

Gradual Phase Out of CAT5e Cabling in Office Buildings

13 Mar 2017

Stu Kushner

Class E (CAT6), Network Cabling, DC After their Milan working group meeting in 2015 regarding cabling standards, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), together known as the ISO/IEC, made the announcement that Category 5e (CAT5e) cabling will be considered obsolete for new installations in commercial and industrial buildings.

Setting the first international standard for cabling more than 20 years ago, ISO/IEC continually works on the development, maintenance, and promotion of technology and communications technical standards. A major change for the cabling of office buildings is now being implemented worldwide, raising the minimum horizontal cabling requirement from Class D (CAT5e) to Class E (CAT6), along with recommendations for installing Class EA (CAT6a) or faster cabling. Essentially, this will result in making CAT6 the minimum requirement for installations in new office building installations.

Providing a maximum performance of 100 MHz over computer networks, CAT5e has been utilized in structured cabling for both Ethernet and IP communications. Considered adequate for fast Ethernet and gigabit Ethernet, CAT5e has the additional capability of carry video and telephony signals. The original ISO/IEC 11801 standard now has cabling classes that were added for enabling the support of up to 10 gigabits a second, such as CAT6, CAT6A, CAT7 and CAT7A.

CAT5 is not capable of matching the speed of data that CAT6 or CAT7 cabling can deliver. CAT6 has a maximum performance of 250 MHz, while CAT7 has a maximum performance of 600 MHz, enabling ultra-fast Ethernet. In addition, CAT7 features better durability and a longer service life than either CAT5 or CAT6 cabling.

More than 20 years have passed since ISO/IEC 11801 made its debut as an international standard, and it has led the way for the reliable implementation of data and voice cabling globally. However, CAT5e is now in the process of being phased out. Superior classes of cabling are being installed at new office buildings. Wireless LAN infrastructure is upgrading at a rapid pace, along with its speed, to keep up with the growing number of smartphones, laptops, and tablets. These demands have forced the gradual replacement of CAT5e with newer cabling that will meet current and future user expectations for fast and efficient data capability.

Union Network Cabling

When union work requires a unionized cabling group, contact Union Network Cabling for your commercial Cat5e/6/6a and fiber cabling projects. They specialize and excel in cabling for data, voice, security, and even the latest WiFi and LiFi solutions. Phone: (202) 462-4290

Comparing Cat 7 to the Other Cats

3 Mar 2017

Stu Kushner

Data cabling, network cabling Nowadays offices and homes utilize either a wireless (Wi-Fi) connection or wired network connection. Usually faster than Wi-Fi, wired connections also have lower latency. These two types of network connection continue to progress technologically, providing users ever increasing speeds.

In the case of home networks, the speed of the internet connection is typically the issue, and the cabling may not be a factor. However, a company must consider the specifications of particular cables and how these would meet its requirements in order to properly decide which to select. There can be a vast difference between the network speeds of the various Ethernet cables.

Types

Cables are differentiated by standard categories. Category has been abbreviated to “Cat” by the industry. Currently, the most common cables in use are Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6, and Cat 6a. The newest type is Cat 7. Every type is backward compatible, allowing users to insert a newer cable into a device that was manufactured for an older cable without any compatibility issues arising.

Progress

With every new cable category, users were provided increased speed and decreased crosstalk. Newer category cables provided faster speeds at increased lengths of cable. The following offers comparisons at 100 meters of cable, illustrating the differences between the ethernet cable categories:

Cat 5 - Considered slow and inadequate for business networks, providing up to 100 Mb/second at 100 Mhz.

Cat 5e - provides up to 1 Gb/second internet speed at 100 Mhz.

Cat 6 -provides up to 1 Gb/second, and cable lengths up to 55 meters can give internet speeds of 10 Gb/second at 250

Cat 6a -can provides speeds up to 10 Gb/second, to 100 meters of cable length, at 500 Mhz.

Cat 7 - provides speeds up to 10 Gb/second to 100 meters of cable, at 600 Mhz.

History

Cat 5 was the standard in 1995, Cat 5e became standard in 2001, and Cat 6 was introduced in 2002. Arriving in 2008, Cat 6a is typically the newest cable the majority of companies have used because it is not considered necessary to update to Cat 7 yet. Cat 7a and Cat 8, which were respectively released in 2010 and 2013, are still waiting in the wings.

Union Network Cabling

When union work requires a unionized cabling group, call on Union Network Cabling for your commercial Cat5e/6/6a and fiber cabling projects. We specialize in cabling for data, voice, security and even the latest WiFi and LiFi solutions. Phone: (202) 462-4290

structured cabling, Data Cabling ,Cat5e, Cat6/6a Cabling

Powerful Networks in Structured Cabling

16 May 2015

Stu Kushner

structured cabling, Data Cabling ,Cat5e, Cat6/6a Cabling It is known that structured cabling systems are fabricated to guarantee that information flows efficiently through the network. Such system are made up of transmission products installed based on appropriate guidelines in engineering design. These enable users to put into operation voice and data systems that capitalizes on speed.

This particular configuration has emerged as shared platform for multiple information technology applications. These include voice and data, building automation, security mechanisms, telecommunications conferencing, and fire alarms. This union transformed the structured cabling platform into the most essential network element. Therefore, it calls for a crucial investment in a very reliable, adaptable and scalable cabling structure.

High-performance Networks

This efficient and complex cabling scheme segregates the whole infrastructure into controllable blocks. After that, it puts them together to come up with a high-performance network. This end product is the vital link for many enterprises and all data hubs. Such a system facilitates consistency across the network particularly for commercial building structures. Consistency generates cost-effectiveness by standardizing maintenance processes, cutting down on manpower requirements, and improving reliability.

The “structured” design makes possible easy management by identifying specific distribution points, regular labeling and color codes, cabling management, and distribution techniques. As a rule, data facility managers use dynamic methodologies to fill the center with information technology equipment. This accommodates the evolving needs of business operations which frequently compel the need for the most modern IT equipment. Since companies rely on equipment as well as infrastructure, management believes requirements for additional IT capability should be made promptly. If the infrastructure is below par, upgrades will be much more difficult.

Crucial Concerns

The best IT specialists see to it that problems in structured cabling systems are dealt with immediately. One of the primary concerns is to employ highly competent service providers and coordinate entry points/space for each provider. This procedure enhances flaw tolerance of the overall system design. The high-performance model supports aggregate telecommunications requirements and thereby leads to a maximum returns on investments.

Centralized Intermediate Distribution Frames (IDFs) should be in centralized locations in the office facility. This will produce efficient cable management and will ease the addition of new equipment. This design technique has been adopted to avoid any disruption of the data unit or minimized once changes or upgrades are implemented. Telecommunications rooms contain the IDFs, main distribution frames and entrance facilities. Switches are installed in the middle of server rows for economical management.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your office network cabling.

Is it Practical to Use Cat6 Cable?

26 Apr 2015

Stu Kushner

cat 6,structured cabling, Data Cabling Data volume has grown extensively. Also, the processing capacity to users continues to get grow. Specialists in data management forecast that information production will be 44 times larger in five years with enterprises needing to process and safeguard 80 percent of the new data.

Data Cables

For these reasons, you might need to become more familiar with different types of cabling. There is Category 5 (Cat5) cable but it is only capable of transmitting 1000 megabits data rate per second on an Ethernet network. Transfer of data demands are increasing due to new and more sophisticated applications. That is why many companies prefer to work with Category 6 (Cat6) cables. Cat6 has a maximum data transfer of 10,000 megabits per second. Cat6 is also backward compatible which means your Cat5 connectors will plug i and work (at the lower speeds).

Future Proofing

Cat6 infrastructure guarantees that your system will be relevant well into the future. This allows users to easily cope with any modifications, new features or technological developments. The Cat5 standard has been used for a long time. However, your enterprise needs adequate bandwidth to handle these continuing and future changes. It is not merely a possibility or “let's say” situation. It is to be anticipated as the online experience continues to progress.

Demand for Cat6 escalates as the world-wide web is now offering premium video streams, online applications, highly-responsive and media-heavy portals. If you decide to upgrade to a more reliable network, consider Cat6 cables. It is fast becoming the new standard in this industry.

Downsides

Cat 6 is more costly compared to Cat5e cables. On average, we are finding that projects cost about 20-25% more. This is because you are not guaranteed full speed unless all the components operate at gigabit speed. So, you need Cat6 cable, connectors, patch panels and Gigabit switches too. If one part is not rated as gigabit, the network will run at Cat5e speeds. Call or contact us to help you make this decision.

Nevertheless, experts say Cat6 will sooner or later surpass Category 5e. And the initial upfront costs will pay future productivity gains for many, many years to come.

Things to Avoid in Running Network Cabling

28 Feb 2015

Stu Kushner

What can cabling that has not been installed properly do?

network cabling,Data Cabling It can lead to a lot of negative outcomes such as paralyzed network performance, maintenance troubles and hidden costs. Network cabling can be especially troublesome if it is installed by individuals without the proper knowledge and tools. When it comes to twisted pair cabling, there are many factors that you need to consider.

In the past, many companies installed different cable systems since twisted pair cabling was expensive. At present, full installation is still costly although a greater part of the expense is labor since raw cables is not pricey. Cable management is another concern.

Structured Cabling,,Office Cabling.connectors

Important Facts About Cabling Infrastructure

23 Jan 2015

Stu Kushner

Network cabling that has not been installed properly may result in various communications issues. Even minor problems such as a connector that has not been terminated properly can prevent Power over Ethernet from performing well.

Wiring Standards

See to it that you use appropriate wiring patterns which are T568a and T568b. Refrain from bringing together T568a and T568b in the same cable. And always use premium quality Cat6 or Cat5e cables. We prefer solid over stranded wire.

Network Cabling ,Data Cabling,CAT2 6A UTP

Issues to Avoid with Cat6a Cables

22 Dec 2014

Stu Kushner

A newly popularized cable is Cat6a. It is the new “cable on the block” which has prolonged the life of copper cabling. Cat6a has the shielded twisted and untwisted pairs with different advantages and features. It supports Gigabit Ethernet up to a hundred meters. However, you need to understand and cope with several issues.

Contentions

The size of Cat6a cable is larger than Cat5e. Copper is inherently unreliable due to Bit Error Rates or BER. This is why manufacturers have designed Cat6a cables with a smaller cross-section. It takes up less space in the tray. Yet, this space is needed to minimize crosstalk between cabling pairs. The protective shield in Cat6a cable adds to the expense.

Electricity and Mechanical Facets

Aside from the electrical issues, Cat6a Untwisted Pair (UTP) is fabricated with bigger conductors. It has more rigid twists compared to Cat5e and Cat6 and these heavier conductors plus large and stiffer jacket combines to make for more difficult cable installation. Besides, the external diameter of the UTP means that the Cat6a cable takes up more room in the trays and conduits.

Electrical and mechanical issues should not be overlooked since this can affect performance. The physical stability of Cat6a is essential to its transmission performance. Cat6a can be more sensitive to degradation of signal compared to Cat5.

These may be produced by the following:

Cable twisting generates signal reflection.

Excess insertion pressure on cables can cause poor connector performance.

Weakness of RJ45 (communications) connectors.

For example, if the cable is wedged in a door or compressed or squeezed by a heavy object, can result in sporadic network problems which may not be easy to detect. Nevertheless, Cat6a functions at enhanced specifications compared to Cat6 UTP. Considering all of these issues it may seem that fiber cable will become the ultimate future for 10 Gigabit Ethernet. It is up to users and the market forces to make the choice.

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