Introduction to Cabling
Standards
The emergence of the cabling
standards
Presentation #2
©prgodin @ gmail.com
Updated Aug 2015
1
How were the Structured Cabling Standards established?
EMERGENCE OF STANDARDS
2
1837: Samuel Morse & 1st commercial telegraph in USA
1861: 1st coast-to-coast telegraph in USA
1866: 1st transatlantic telegraph
1876: A.G. Bell & first telephone
1878: 1st commercial telephone exchange
1904: 3 million telephones in the USA
1915: 1st coast-to-coast telephone in USA
1930’s: Electronic television is developed and commercialized
1947: 44 thousand televisions in the USA
1950: 10 million televisions in the USA
1956: 1st transatlantic telephone via cable (TAT-1), 36 channels
1963: 1st satellite-relayed telephone connection
1969: APRANET and first WAN network
1973: 1st cellular telephone call
1984: Longest voice fiber optic line in the world, 3268km, in Saskatchewan
1990: Elimination of party telephone lines in rural Saskatchewan
1981: IBM PC and MS-DOS introduced
1985: Ethernet standard
1991: Structured Cabling standards in America
1995: Internet commercialized and available to everyone
For your reference only - not on any test
Important Milestones in Telecom
3
The U.S. Communications Industry

The telephone created a
communications revolution.

In 1900, AT&T and its Bell
Subsidiaries were responsible for all
telecommunications across the USA.

They maintained a monopoly,
although they eventually permitted
smaller communication companies to
hook up to their systems.
Image: http://www.porticus.org
4
The U.S. Communications Industry

In the late 60’s and the 70’s, companies such as MCI
(Microwave Communications Inc) requested the courts for
permission to create their own communication links and
circumvent the AT&T monopoly.

Main Reason: create competition in the new data
communication market.

1984: Deregulation.
5
Telecommunications Standards

The telecommunications industry deregulation
began with the divestiture of AT&T, leading to
the breakup of the Bell systems
 With no centralized guidance, the
divestiture caused mass confusion and
problems for customers, manufacturers,
long distance carriers and service providers
 After deregulation, anyone could design,
install and maintain telephone systems
 Computer technology was quickly maturing
and growing and more organizations
needed communication links
Image: http://medicalconnectivity.com
What standards are we following? Who sets these standards?
6
Prior to De-Regulation

The telecom industry used to be
heavily regulated by governments but
government did not want to get
directly involved in setting technical
standards

Telcos (TELephone COmpanies) set
their own standards and system
practices


AT&TSPs-BSPs-NTPs
Users and other companies had almost no
say
TSP=Telecommunications Service Priority (service related requests)
BSP=Bell System Practice (documented practices)
NTP=Notice to Proceed (documented procedure)
7
After De-Regulation

Governments have limited regulatory say:



Regulate the use of transmission frequencies
Auction transmission frequencies
Act as mediators but maintain competitive environment

Any company can offer telecom services

Large telecom R&D agencies associated with
governments had to become commercial.

Non-government means of establishing
communication standards and acceptable
practices needed to be found.
8
Canadian Cabling Practices

In Canada any company could install computer
communication cabling within premises but the telephone
companies held the monopoly on voice cabling.

Customers and installation companies wanted the ability
to install both the voice and data communication cabling.

Telcos brought legal action against companies that used
computer cabling for voice communications.

Results of the court cases? Deregulation!
9
Canada’s Deregulation

Although not as far sweeping as the US,
Canadian deregulation ended the monopolistic
practices of the telecom companies and
permitted other companies to participate
competitively in the market.

Deregulation was accomplished in stages:



1992: CRTC approves competition in residential markets
1994: Decision 94-19 allows all communication companies to
provide all services
1997: Customers are free to choose their service providers
10
Review

The US Telecommunications structure used to be mostly
monopolized by AT&T and in Canada the Telcos were
protected, but both countries deregulated and the protected
monopolies ceased to exist.

AT&T used to set all the standards for telecommunications
but with deregulation and no central body some confusion
resulted.

The governments did not establish regulatory bodies for
cabling structure and left it to industry to determine their
course of action.
11
Optional Further Reading & Links

Search for Colbert explaining the confusing name changes with AT&T companies.

http://www.porticus.org/bell/att_divestiture.html explains the AT&T Divestiture in
detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoYq6uA_Lhw Direct Dialing and computer
systems at Southwestern Bell in 1959. High tech, considering the microprocessor is
20 years into the future.
12
The Data Perspective

The late 70’s to the mid 80’s were considered the
age of mainframe systems, and saw the
beginning of PC-based networks in industry.

Mainframe systems consist of “dumb” terminals
connected to a central processing system.
Expensive, only larger organizations could afford
them.
13
Mainframe and PC-Based Cabling

By the late 80’s each system had its own vendorspecific software, its own cabling type and its
own structure.
14
Mainframe and PC-Based Cabling

IBM 3270: RG62 Coax & BNC connector (star)

IBM System 3X: Twinax Cabling (daisy-chain)

IBM: STP Token Ring (ring)
http://www.connectworld.net
http://www.cs.csustan.edu
http://tech.mattmillman.com
Mainframe and PC-Based Cabling

DEC: Shielded Locap (“RS232”) cabling (star)

Apple & Arcnet: RG58a/u or RG62u coax (mod star)
http://www.connectworld.net
http://www.cs.csustan.edu
http://tech.mattmillman.com
Mainframe and PC-Based Cabling

IBM-PC: Thicknet & Thinnet Coax (bus)

WANG: RG59 Twinned Coax (tree)

…and there were more
http://www.connectworld.net
http://www.cs.csustan.edu
http://tech.mattmillman.com
Mainframe and PC-Based Cabling

A software change often created a hardware
change which required a cabling change.

Cable vendors and installers were happy
18
Standards

Without standards in place, each manufacturer of
computing equipment set their own cabling
structure and requirements.

Customers were frustrated with having to recable their facilities whenever a system was
changed. This was both expensive and
disruptive.

Users looked for a solution to this problem.
Some vendors came up with a solution.
19
The Balun

A basic device called a Balun
(BALanced-UNbalanced)
impacted the direction of
vendor-specific cabling.

This simple device,
essentially an electronics
transformer, converts
between a basic telephone
cable, called UTP (Unshielded
Twisted Pair, balanced) and
a Coax (unbalanced).
A Variety of Baluns
Image: http://www.trovacomputer.it
20
The Balun

First offered as a “gimmick” in the late 80’s it was an
effective solution to high re-cabling costs and gradually
became an accepted option for some companies.

The balun allowed a premise to install inexpensive UTP
(telephone) cable and use appropriate baluns on each end to
emulate the system-specific cable required. Changing
systems no longer required a change of cable...only the
baluns needed to be swapped. Voice-grade paired cable was
also very small and inexpensive.
21
The Balun’s Impact

In the mid 1980’s Synoptics* was the first company to offer
an Ethernet** hub that allowed a direct connection for UTP
cable without external baluns using the RJ45 (8 position)
modular plug.

An additional benefit of hubs was a far more universal
structure to cabling. All cables were run from the
workstation/PC to a central closet area (“Star” structure).
* Synoptics became Bay Networks, purchased by Nortel Networks in 1998, purchase
by Avaya in 2009
** Originally called Lattisnet
22
The Balun’s Impact

The idea of using UTP for data communications caught on.

Companies began offering UTP Network Interface Cards
(NICs) and hubs, and expanded the idea of UTP hubs to other
data network types.

External baluns became internal, and structured cabling using
UTP became more universal.

Eventually standards were developed for Ethernet, Token
Ring and other communication protocols over UTP.
23
The Impact of the Balun

There was no standard for the signal-carrying quality of the
twisted pair cabling. For a time, the data rates were low (in
kbps), but data rates improved and increased.

Several cable manufacturers saw an opportunity and began
offering better quality UTP cable to customers for data
communications applications.

In the late 80’s a large cable distributor, Anixter, established
and promoted a “Levels” program to categorize the various
performance “Grades” of UTP. It was a successful marketing
tool but it was both proprietary and vendor-specific.

Other companies pressed for a non-vendor specific standard
for data-grade cabling that everyone could follow. Industry
24
turned to standards-setting bodies for help.
Standardization Bodies
The leaders in the development of structured cabling
standards include:

The Telecommunications Industry Association
(TIA)


North America’s standards body for structured cabling
The International Organization for Standardization
(ISO)


a collection of standards organizations that represent 130
countries.
Its goal is to establish international technological
standards that facilitate the global exchange of
information
Important Slide
25
Standardization Bodies

TIA and ISO committees work hand-in-hand to
ensure the new grades of cabling support the
latest innovations in signal transmission
technology


While the technical requirements of the TIA and ISO are
similar for various grades of cabling, the terminology for
the level of performance within each committee’s
Standards can be confusing
Both TIA and ISO state the cabling systems specified in
their Standards should have a useful life in excess of 10
years
26
Other Standardization Bodies
ANSI- American National Standards Institute
 CSA – Canadian Standards Association
 CENELEC – European Committee for Electro
technical Standardization.
ITU - International Telecommunications Union
 JSA/JSI- Japanese Standards Association

27
Other Standardization Bodies

IEEE - Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers


sets standards for the electronics and computer
industries
EIA – Electronics Industry Alliance


made up of electronics manufacturers
sets standards and helps write ANSI standards
28
Standardization


Computer communication standards were
nonexistent until 1985 when the CCIA
(Computer Communications Industry
Association) approached the EIA about
developing them, resulting in the formation of
the TR-41 committee
In 1991, TR-41 split in two:


TR-41 - responsible for User Premise Equipment
standards,
TR-42 - responsible for User Premise
Telecommunications Cabling Infrastructure standards

Ensuring that the standards remained an open system in
support of voice, data, video, building control and other
low level voltage, power limited applications
29
The Path to Standards

AT&T set the technical, administrative and
performance standards for its infrastructure.


With AT&T’s breakup, vast infrastructure and a
government that was unwilling to interfere with the
market, the industry fixed itself. AT&T set the path to
many of today’s communications standards.
Computer and data communications standards
were established by market forces, driven by:



customer want & needs
desire of manufactures to satisfy their customers
requirement that products can connect to existing
infrastructure and other equipment, including competitors
30
The Advantage of Standards

Standards are independent



The users will only accept standards-based products
Vendors compete on an even level
Standards advantages





Ease of design, installation and maintenance
Performance guidelines and baseline requirements
Easier to train staff and provide moves/add/changes
Increased lifespan of the installation
Universally accepted
Important Slide
31
Structured Cabling Standards

Standards are specifications that guarantee a
minimum level of performance and are used to
quantify and qualify materials and components

The assurance of the applications operation
Cable and connectivity are backwards compatible
Interoperable (vendor independent)
Design and topology that is universal
Managing of cable additions, upgrades, and changes
Defines a cabling system that supports current applications
and is a basis for future development





32
Advantages of a Structured Cabling System
Consistency
 Support for multivendor hardware
 Easier additions, moves and changes
 Simplified troubleshooting
 Support for current and future applications

Important Slide
33
ANSI/TIA/EIA Standards

ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C

Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard





=
=
=
=
Generic Telecommunications Cabling for Customer Premise
Commercial Building Standards
Balanced Twisted Pair Telecommunications Cabling and Component Standards
Optical Fiber Cabling Components
ANSI/TIA/EIA 569-C


C.0
C.1
C.2
C.3
Commercial Building Standard for Telecommunications Pathways and
Spaces
ANSI/TIA/EIA 570-B

Residential and Light Commercial Telecommunications Wiring
Standard
Important Slide
34
ANSI/TIA/EIA Standards

ANSI/TIA/EIA 606-B


ANSI/TIA/EIA 607-B


The Administration Standard for the
Telecommunications Infrastructure for Commercial
Buildings
Commercial Building Grounding and Bonding
Requirements for Telecommunications
ANSI/TIA/EIA 758

Customer-owned Outside Plant
Telecommunications Standard (OSP)
Important Slide
35
CSA Equivalent Standards
 CSA
 CSA
 CSA
 CSA
 CSA
 CSA
T529
T530
T525
T528
T527
T758
= ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-B
= ANSI/TIA/EIA 569
= ANSI/TIA/EIA 570
= ANSI/TIA/EIA 606
= ANSI/TIA/EIA 607
= ANSI/TIA/EIA 758
Note: The CSA has not published the latest standards. Several of
the standards indicated above have been updated.
36
ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C Commercial Building
Telecommunications Cabling Standard

Purpose



Establish a generic telecommunications cabling
standard that will support a multi-vendor
environment
Enable the planning and installation of a
structured cabling system for commercial
buildings
Establish performance and technical criteria for
various cabling system configurations
37
ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-C Standard


The primary structured cabling standard
Specifies





Minimum requirements for telecommunications
cable in an office environment
Connector, cable types and performance
requirements
Recommended topology and distances
Media parameters that determine performance
Connector and pin assignment to ensure
interconnectivity
Important Slide
38
OTHER TIA/EIA STANDARDS
39
ANSI/TIA/EIA 569-C

This standard defines design specifications and guidance for
all building facilities and spaces relating to
telecommunications cabling systems and components.

This standard identifies and addresses six prominent
components of the building infrastructure:
1.
Building entrance facility
2.
Equipment rooms
3.
Backbone pathways
4.
Telecommunications rooms
5.
Horizontal Pathways
6.
Work Areas
Important Slide
40
ANSI/TIA/EIA 570-B

Applies to telecommunications cabling systems
pathways and spaces for single and multitenant buildings. This standard is primarily
designed for residential applications of
communication cabling.

Applies to telecommunications cabling within and
between structures such as cabling within the
living space and backbone cabling
Important Slide
41
ANSI/TIA/EIA 570-B

Grades of Residential Cabling



Grade 1 – provides a generic cabling system
that meets the requirements for basic
telecommunications services.
Grade 2 - provides a generic cabling system
that meets the requirements for basic,
advanced, and multimedia telecommunications
services
Typical applications would consist of
telephone, satellite, fax, modem and CATV
services including cable modem and xDSL
services
42
ANSI/TIA/EIA 606

The ANSI/TIA/EIA 606-A Standard specifies
administration for a generic telecommunications
cabling system in a multi-product, multi-vendor
environment.

It provides a uniform administration approach that
is independent of applications, which may change
several times throughout the life of the
telecommunications infrastructure.

It establishes guidelines for labeling, documenting
and drawing of the structured cabling plant.
Important Slide
43
ANSI/TIA/EIA 607-B

Provides guidance around the issues of Bonding
and Grounding as it relates to the
telecommunications infrastructure

Specifies a uniform telecommunications
grounding and bonding infrastructure that shall
be followed within commercial buildings

Purpose is performance and safety
Important Slide
44
ANSI/TIA/EIA 758

Provides requirements used in the design of
telecommunication pathways and spaces, and the
cabling installed between buildings or points in a
customer owned campus environment.

Specifies the minimum requirements for
customer owned OSP (Outside Plant)
telecommunications facilities in a campus
environment

Specifies the cabling, pathways, and space
infrastructure.
Important Slide
45
Codes

In the US, the National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) maintains the National Electrical Code (NEC).


The NEC specifies where various types of cables can be used
within a building and the materials used in the cables.
The two important Canadian codes are:
 National Fire Code of Canada (NFCC)
 Canadian Electrical Code (CEC) CSA- C22.1-06
Important Slide
46
Standards vs Codes

The TIA/EIA standards are optional whereas the
Codes are legal requirements.

Certain aspects and areas of a data
communication installation must be carried out
by certified personnel such as an electrician. This
includes building grounds, electrical systems and
may include installation of conduit.

All fire regulations must be followed. For
instance, the cable must meet certain standards
for combustion.
Important Slide
47
Other Regulations

Additional regulations include those related to
workplace safety and training, security clearance
for access to sensitive areas of a building and
other municipal, provincial or federal government
regulations.

Some clients may have additional rules,
regulations or policies to follow.
48
Review Questions

What is the difference between a standard
and a code?

What are the main structured cabling
standards (number and title)?
49
This section is FYI
(For Your
Information) only,
but know the
terminology in the
text boxes.
ESTABLISHING STANDARDS
50
Interconnection and Standards

Everything in telecommunications may appear to be easy if
one thinks of only one dominant manufacturer or carrier
with proprietary systems.

However the essence of telecommunications is several
carriers or manufacturers working together to provide a set
of commonly understood products or services.


Internally the devices and systems may all behave differently
but externally, they must behave in the same “standard” way
They have to interact with related services or devices and
require common protocols
Proprietary = is owned, patented or copyrighted
by a company, only that company does it
51
A Standards-Compliant Device or System
Standard
Interface
Implementation
may be
proprietary
Interface
Interface
52
How Standard Bodies Work
(there are a variety of procedures)



Consensus process
Voluntary process, driven by government regulators and
industries
Typical operation (ISO, ITU):





Member bodies are countries, companies or standards councils
(example: Standards Council of Canada http://www.scc.ca/)
Participants are interested individuals (the experts), often
delegated by companies, companies or councils.
Member bodies propose Work Items (something that needs to
be standardized)
Work items are approved by international ballot
A committee is formed made of interested experts
53
Typical operation (ISO, ITU)
(Continued . . .)

The committee meets many times and works on
progressively more complete working drafts

Each draft is submitted for ballot to member bodies.
Each body decides on the vote (yes, no, abstain). Votes
include technical comments for enhancements, etc.

The final approved document is called a standard or
recommendation.

Standard and recommendations are then maintained
and periodically enhanced by appropriate committees,
again each change must be discussed and approved.
54
What standards are based on

Some standards simply document pre-existing
industrial practices, regulations, or ‘de facto’
standards however these are usually modified
during the standardization process to:






Make them more complete
Be more universal
Be flexible for future development
Be more consistent
Not give an advantage to any particular company or group
Provide options where different practices may exist
De facto: Latin term used to describe a fact or actual practice.
Example: a “de facto standard” is not a official standard, but a
standard practice that everyone adopts or traditionally does.
55
Who participates in the process



Participants vary according to the type of standard and of
standard organization.
In the past,
 ISO and ANSI standards were mostly driven by industrial
concerns
 CCITT/ITU standards were mostly driven by government
regulatory bodies in telecom
 in Europe, the PTTs (Post, Telephone, Telegraph ministries)
 in NA, large companies having monopoly on some areas
 In Canada, CRTC reporting to Parliament through the
Ministry of Canadian Heritage
Other standard bodies are organized by professional associations,
for example electrical engineers in the case of the IEEE.
De-regulation has allowed the users a greater voice in standards
implementation.
56
Current Situation






Companies work hard to provide increasingly complex
systems at lower costs.
Users shift allegiances quickly to find companies that offer
more for less.
There are lots of different standards, and variations of
standards.
High quality of telecom services was expected in the past
situation of strict government regulation and monopoly.
This quality may decline in the short run, to test how bad
(and inexpensive) it can get before customers stop buying
a product.
De facto standards may become dominant, and may
eventually become de jure standards.
De Jure: legally or law. A de jure standard is
one that is established and documented.
57
Evolution of Network Architectures



In widely distributed telecom systems, new standards may
be implemented only in certain parts of the system (for
instance, in new installations).
New standards have to be written in consideration of the
fact that they will have to interact with the old standard
(backward compatibility).
New standards have to include some support of the old,
grandfathered elements.
Backward compatibility: Allowance in a system for
operation with older equipment.
Grandfathered: Element of a standard that is no
longer supported for new installations but is still
acceptable for older installations.
58
The Structured Cabling Standards

Standards are written in a manner that satisfies
the requirements of all those involved including
the manufacturers, installers, support staff and
users.




Detailed technical specifications for manufacturers
General specifications and methodologies for installers and
support staff
Basic processes for the users
The standards themselves often contain technical
issues that are of little or no concern to the end
user.
59
Standards and Implementation

Standard are constantly changing to include new
technology. This means that end users, designers
and installers need to keep up with standards.

In the last 15 years, there have been at least 7
generations of UTP cabling, and many users are
used to upgrading cabling and network hardware
regularly.
60
Resources
ANSI/TIA/EIA Standards – available in the
classroom as well as on-line
 Anixter Standards Reference Guide
www.anixter.com
 ITU Standards
http://www.itu.int/en/Pages/default.aspx
 Most vendors in the industry offer
technical reference information

61
CERTIFICATION & INDUSTRY
62
I Can Install That

The communication cable installation industry is
not a “Trade” like electricians. It isn’t regulated
so anybody can install communication cabling
and claim expertise.

Industry has come up with training and
certification systems to demonstrate a level of
proficiency.

This course demonstrates knowledge and
experience (mention this course in your resume).
63
BICSI

Building Industry Consulting Services
International

Non-profit organization that provides
industry-recognized accreditation.

BICSI also organizes conferences and
forums, provides publications and
supports training.
https://www.bicsi.org/
64
BICSI Certification



RCDD: Registered Communications Distribution Designer
RCDD/LAN Specialist
Installer:



Level 1
Level 2
Technician

Exams and proof of industry participation required.

There are requirements for maintaining and for improving
certification status…it’s not a one-time effort. Expensive and
somewhat time-consuming, certification is for those that are
dedicated to the industry.
65
Manufacturer Certification Programs

Manufacturers of Structured Cabling offer
certification training for installers


The installation company needs to be certified to install
their products and offer warranties. Staff need
individual certification.
Certification is only valid while employed with a certified
installation company.
66
www.leviton.com
Manufacturer Certification Programs

There are benefits to manufacturer
certification programs:



The installers get client support from the
manufacturer (technical, training, marketing,
sales, etc).
The manufacturer has installers that provide
sound installations and sell their products.
The customers will receive a guarantee of
workmanship and performance directly from
the manufacturer.
67
Review Questions
What is the difference between a de jure
and a de facto standard?
 Is a grandfathered element of a standard
still supported? Explain.
 What is a balun?
 What is the difference between a code and
a standard in communication cabling?
Name an example of each.

End of Presentation
prgodin @ gmail.com
68