Cabling standards

OK, I know standards can be dull but adherence to them is crucial if your data cabling is going to support your applications.

Your cabling system should comply with British Standards. I recommend:
• BS EN 50173 series of standards for performance and components
• BS EN 50174 series of standards for design, installation, operation and maintenance
• BS 6701 for installation, operation and maintenance
• BS EN 50310 – grounding and bonding
• BS EN 50346 - testing

Alternative standards for the design and performance of cabling systems are acceptable where a specific need is identified. However care should be exercised since, whilst these standards are harmonised to a greater extent with equivalent British standards, compliance with these standards is dependent upon compliance to cross-referenced standards and this may not always be possible. Examples are:
• ISO/IEC 11801 (International)
• ANSI/TIA/EIA 568-B series of standards (USA)

Particular manufacturers may state compliance to one or more of these standards.

The standards specify a range of Classes or Categories of balanced cabling systems. Amongst these are:
• Class D (comparable with TIA Category 5e) - able to support Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T).
• Class E (comparable with TIA Category 6) - able to support Gigabit Ethernet (1000BASE-T), and able to support 10Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T) to a distance of at least 37m and up to 100m dependent upon the cabling type and the installation.
• Class EA (comparable with TIA Category 6A) and able to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T)
• Class F and able to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T).
• Class FA and able to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GBASE-T).

Choose the specification that meets the network bandwidth needs for the foreseeable future and fits within the budget. Bear in mind that higher Class / Category cabling usually requires larger containment and pathways as the cables are a larger diameter.

The choice of optical fibre to use will depend on the applications to be supported and the distances over which they are to be transmitted. Guidance is given in the BS EN 50173-1 standard. This refers to optical fibre cabling based upon five main types - OM1, OM2 & OM3 (multimode) and OS1 & OM2 (singlemode) - and the channels over which the applications can be supported as:
• Class OF-300 supporting various applications to ≥ 300m over multimode optical fibre.
• Class OF-500 supporting various applications to ≥ 500m over multimode optical fibre.
• Class OF-2000 supporting various applications to ≥ 2km over multimode optical fibre.
• Class OF-5000 supporting various applications to ≥ 5km over single mode optical fibre.
• Class OF-10000 supporting various applications to ≥ 10km over single mode optical fibre.

I hope this helps.

Alan Bullen
Lynx Networks plc