Tag Archives: New Cable

Now that your business is ready to install new cabling or perform an upgrade, you will be meeting with a cabling installation company that has been vetted to discuss the project. Typically, the contractor will ask several standard questions to gain a good understanding of the project and make an evaluation. The questions are organized under topics and discussed in the paragraphs below.

Moving

When does your business plan to move? If the move is in the next two months, have arrangements been made for the phone or T1 lines with the telecommunications provider?

Although this is a key component when moving an office, many companies neglect it. Some telecoms need a 45-day notice for a T1 installation, so your move must take this into account.

Voice and Data Drops

What will be the number of voice and data drops required? A drop is a cable run usually starting from a server room or wiring closet and terminating at a cubicle, workstation, or office. Keep in mind that each station will typically require a drop for each computer and telephone line. Drops will also be needed for office equipment such as fax machines and network printers.

Construction

What kind of construction was done at the new office location? Does it have a hard cap ceiling, which most houses have, or a drop/acoustic ceiling? Facilitating access for running cables, drop ceilings are far easier than hard cap ceilings for installations, modifications, and upgrades.

Cabling Type

Is plenum or non-plenum cabling needed at the new office location? When cabling has to run over a ceiling where the space is already utilized for a HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system, then plenum-rated cable will be required because of its fire retardant and smoke-limiting capabilities. Plenum is a bit more expensive, but required to comply with code.

Phone System

Will the current phone system be transferred to the new office? The cabling installation company may not be capable of handling the type your business is using, therefore a subcontractor may be retained to handle this aspect of the project as it requires specialization.

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.

If you are busy running a business every day, you probably don’t consider the IT infrastructure of your company very often. However, if you let it become outdated, you will make your enterprise un-competitive and prevent it from achieving its potential.

Think of your IT network as the transport system for your data and some of the services your firm provides. Using structured cabling is the best way to ensure its efficiency. This system is advantageous because it allows the connection, movement, and removal of devices without needing new cables every time there is a change.

A structured cabling system that is up-to-date can run optimally in the present and also allow a company to readily expand in the future as its business grows. The following are five advantages of a structured cabling system.

Decreased Maintenance Costs

Replacing old cabling with superior high-quality cabling will ensure better performance and longevity. Structured cabling also makes it much easier to trace and repair problems, resulting in less downtime and monetary losses from maintenance work. The unification of data, voice, and video on a single IT network will also reduce the time needed for maintaining and repairing components.

Ease of Management

The consolidation of cabling under a single system that can handle data in several formats will be much easier to manage than a disorganized system of multiple point-to -point wiring. Structured cable also allows longer cable runs, which help decrease errors and interference affecting data. Cabling will also be easier to remove and install.

Greater Speeds

Slow data transmission hurts the bottom line because time is money. If your company still has obsolete CAT3 cables, upgrade to CAT5e or CAT6 cables to keep up with your competitors. Fiber optic cables will provide even better performance. Upgrading will also allow your organization to more easily expand when more bandwidth is needed.

Less Clutter

A well-organized office projects the desired image for clients and customers. It also helps promotes company pride among employees. Clutter and poor data transmission caused by bundles of disorganized wires and cables will be eliminated by the simplified organization of structured 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 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.

As mentioned in Part 1, structured cabling systems are so standardized that good practices should merely entail following ISO/IEC, CENELEC or Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) documentation. Part 2 will discuss three more common errors of structured cabling.

Error No. 3

Failing to properly test a structured cabling system after installation is the third error. Structured cabling represents a large commitment of capital expenditure and will typically have the same length of service life as the facility itself. Ensuring that the entire system is installed to specification and the data is at the capacity and speed expected is crucial. Finally, properly testing the cabling system is required to validate the warranty.

Cables installed during the early period of construction may have been subsequently damaged by other workers performing their roles later during the project. Moreover, new cables that appear fine on the exterior may actually be faulty because of damage underneath the coating as a result of being mishandled. All cables require calibrated testing.

Error No. 4

Using unqualified technicians for installation is the fourth error. Scrimping on the quality of workers installing cabling is an unwise way to save money. Problems will eventually be revealed over time. Prior to committing to a service contract with a structured cabling service, review their credentials and confirm their references. Have conversations with previous customers whose project is similar in scope to yours. Working with a reputable structured cabling firm will help make sure your project will be successful for the long term.

Error No. 5

Letting structured cabling patch panels become disorganized is the fifth error. It will harm both the performance and reliability of a company’s IT systems. As time passes, the patch panel or switch ports may be damaged, causing intermittent problems that are very hard to pinpoint. The use of proper cable management hardware for supporting patch cables is good practice. Complying with the specified patching standards required for a particular structured cabling system will result in a sound and reliable network.

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.

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

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

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