To Make All The Right Connections, System Cabling Must Be Structured

- Why Structured Cabling Is Essential to Technology Performance, Reliability, and Life Safety
- What to Look For When Planning New Technology Services or New Office Construction

Making all the right connections is as crucial in its most fundamental, literal form -- technology system cabling -- as it is in the bigger picture for effective communication and successful business.

But cabling is hardly a simple matter to be dispatched simplistically. The advanced voice, data, and video communications systems that today's businesses depend on are themselves dependent on an extensive body of reliably implemented engineering standards for technology cabling.

In instances where office renovation or new office construction is planned, it is far wiser and more cost-effective to design the appropriate technology cabling at the initial planning stage, rather than backtrack and retrofit critical technology infrastructure later on.

Like so many technology-industry standards, those for cabling are developed by extensive consideration and consensus. The engineers who develop the standards work for rival technology manufacturers, but they share a common, crucial interest in seeing their products and innovations perform reliably and optimally in the marketplace -- aka your office.

For the same imperatives -- reliability and optimal performance -- Rockefeller Group Technology Solutions carefully applies current engineering standards to assure the quality and appropriateness of the cabling for every client installation it designs and implements, and for RGTS's own technology infrastructure as well. RGTS has been doing this successfully for more than 25 years.

Look for Essential Quality Assurance at the Outset

Here, in brief, is why proper cabling is essential at the outset. Often, technology components connected together haphazardly will manage to "see" each other, register connections, and perform successfully to some degree. But in the absence of a disciplined structured cabling configuration that conforms to appropriate engineering standards, the reliability and performance of a system may be compromised. At some point after such a system has been brought into service, it will likely fail to perform as expected.

When the failure occurs, it typically manifests itself vaguely as a slowdown or interruption in service, which can often be difficult and time-consuming to diagnose, test, and isolate among numerous system hardware and software components and numerous user interactions. The trouble source can be especially difficult to pinpoint in instances where the problem occurs intermittently under varying loads or usage situations. When such problems arise, they can be extremely disruptive, transforming essential business tools into business obstacles. It's far wiser, of course, to avoid such problems by assuring a proper disciplined cabling design and implementation at the outset.

Look for Structured Cabling to Meet Current and Future Needs Efficiently, e.g. VoIP

In a modern office environment, it is possible to meet current needs efficiently and flexibly for voice, data, and video technology when the office's cabling infrastructure is expertly designed. The best-designed cabling infrastructure is also the best candidate to meet future needs and future technology innovations as well, with minimal or no modification.
The more recent growth of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) provides a good illustration of this consideration. Since the mid-1980s, each desk or workspace in a typical office has been provided with one wall outlet for voice, dedicated to a specific telephone extension; a separate data outlet to connect a PC to a local- or wide-area network; and often a second data outlet to connect a networked printer.

With the introduction of VoIP services in the office, the need to configure separate wall outlets for voice and data has largely disappeared, and a new level of performance possibilities has opened up. In a VoIP system, the extension numbers are programmed into the telephone sets, not wall outlets and cabling, permitting plug-and-play compatibility for any phone set at any common voice/data port within the office.

But the ability of a given office's existing cable infrastructure to support new VoIP services and an existing data network depends on 1 -- the age of the cable media and the engineering standards it conforms to; and 2 -- the quality of the cable's infrastructure design, which is also addressed in engineering standards and recommendations.

If the cable behind the wall at each desk outlet makes a clean, unspliced "home run" back to a patch panel in a telephone wiring closet within the office (a long-established standards recommendation also known as a star pattern), then such cabling may be an excellent candidate to support new VoIP services. Such existing cables can be reassigned readily by reconfiguring their short patch cables in the telephone closet. No new cable would have to be installed.

The "Structured Cabling" that RGTS applies is a technology-industry discipline that defines building telecommunications cabling infrastructure in the following six standardized subsystems, each with its particular performance role, operating considerations, and corresponding engineering standards:

- Entrance Facilities, where the building interfaces with the outside world;

- Equipment Rooms, which house technology equipment serving the building;

- Backbone Cabling, which connects the entrance facilities, equipment rooms, and telecommunications rooms;

- Telecommunications Rooms, which connect the backbone and the horizontal cabling subsystems;

- Horizontal Cabling, which connects telecommunications rooms to individual outlets on a building floor;

- Work-Area Components, which connect end-user equipment to the outlets of the horizontal cabling system.

Look for Crucial Technology Planning Early in Office Construction

All too often, technology planning is given short shrift during a building's all-important planning phase. And this often leads to costly, disruptive retrofits later on. Here are five keys to well-planned technology-ready office construction:

Key 1: Plot your business strategy. Consider how your business operates today, where it is likely headed in the future, and how your operations rely on technology.

Key 2: Determine how you use technology -- whether it facilitates or constrains your business goals. How could technology be better utilized in your company?

Key 3: Build a network for today and tomorrow. Networkable utilities can stretch far beyond point-to-point voice and data communications. A well-planned building may include building automation, lighting control, and building security.

Key 4: Plan the space properly. Have you designed adequate, appropriate space to accommodate today's -- and tomorrow's -- technology systems? This encompasses data centers, telecom closets, entrance facilities, and horizontal and vertical pathways. Does your plan support technology diversity and redundancy?

Key 5: Choose the right infrastructure media. The right cabling to support today's and tomorrow's technology will dictate the network's effectiveness from day one, and prevent a major construction disruption later on.

Look for Cabling Designed to Your Specific Needs

Disciplined structured cabling does not mean one size must fit all. There is plenty of flexibility within the established engineering standards and best practices to tailor cabling cost effectively to meet the specific needs of your company.

Look Out for Safety and Liability Hazards Posed by Abandoned Cables and Uncertified Cables

The proliferation of technology cabling over the last several decades has created a growing fire-safety hazard, as older cables are often left abandoned in place above ceiling tiles, behind walls, and beneath raised floors when they're replaced by newer cables. The outdated abandoned cables may contain highly flammable and toxic materials in their insulation, posing accumulating hazards to people and property in the event of a fire. Some of the insulation materials used in the past have the BTU content of gasoline.

The hazard has prompted increased scrutiny by fire protection professionals, property owners, and local governments across the country. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) revised the National Electrical Code in response. Now, any unused low-voltage cables that are not identified for future use must be removed. Voice, data, audio, coaxial, and fiber-optic cabling are all subject to the change in code, and local authorities have stepped up their enforcement efforts. Insurers are becoming equally vigilant in their fire coverage.

In localities where the revised NEC code has already been adopted, violations can subject owners to government sanctions. Additionally, such violations can affect a building owner's loan covenants, access to insurance, obligations to tenants, and liabilities to victims in the event of a fire.

More recent engineering standards for cable manufacture address the safety of the insulating materials. Cables that are certified to the newer standards typically have their UL (Underwriters Laboratories) certifications imprinted on their insulation jackets. But the safety hazard may persist with newer imported cabling that is uncertified and of unidentified manufacture.

Cable Abatement Service from RGTS: Since many facilities have several generations of cables snaking through floors and ceilings, the task of distinguishing between functioning and abandoned cable can be difficult. But RGTS has the expertise to survey a client's facilities, inventory and document those cables that are in use, and remove abandoned cables with minimal disruption to business operations.

Look to RGTS for Cabling Reliability, Performance, and Safety

As longtime experts with over 25 years of experience in voice and data communications cabling and network installation, RGTS specializes in the build-out of certified structured wiring systems for commercial, multi-use, and government buildings.

Before installing a single cable at your site, let RGTS conduct a complete evaluation of your existing cable infrastructure and develop a solution to meet your communications needs. RGTS will work with you to design an integrated cabling infrastructure of copper, fiber, or both. RGTS delivers comprehensive cabling services that address clients' needs for reliability, performance, safety, cost efficiency, and environmental aesthetics.


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