Making sure your installer does it right

INSTALLATION TECHNIQUES
Here's how to make sure you don't settle for sub-standard workmanship.

Suitably qualified installers, complying with relevant standards should be selected to undertake the data cabling work. Qualifications would include evidence of manufacturer’s training or training undertaken at a specialised training establishment and supported by recognised certification.

o Adherence to standards, including, where applicable:
o BS 6701
o BS EN 7671 (IEE) Wiring Regulations - 16th Edition
o BS EN 50174 series of standards
o BS EN 50310
o BS EN 50346

o A good installer will not:
o Exceed the minimum bend radii for cables
o Exceed the maximum pulling force for cables
o Crush cable (e.g. by over tightening cable ties)
o Strip too much cable sheath at termination points.
o Install cables where they could be damaged.
o Untwist too much of each cable pair.
o Use incorrect tools or fixing techniques

o A good installer will:
o Work safely
o Adhere to the necessary standards
o Always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines

Alan Bullen
Lynx Networks plc

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

Fibre optic Industry Association - Approved Installer Scheme

The Fibre optic Industry Association (FIA) has recently re-launched its approved installer scheme. This has two main purposes: firstly to ensure that customer using an approved installer get a risk-free, high quality installation and secondly, to make it easier for the installer to provide it.

The software supplied to approved installers as part of the scheme ensures that over three hundred potential risks to a project are addressed and alleviated. The FIA now has the task of getting as many installers and integrators as possible join the scheme to give it critical mass, and recognition amongst the users and consultants. The scheme is soundly based on the demands of the BS 6701 and BS EN 50174 Standards.

As believers that standards in IT infrastructure and data cabling need to be maintained, Lynx Networks were the first company to sign up to the scheme.

Don't buy Cat6 cabling

Most cabling companies and virtually all manufacturers of cabling systems would prefer you to buy Cat6 cabling rather than Cat5e. My belief, as Managing Director of an honest cabling company, is that it's unlikely you'll need Ethernet speeds of more than 1Gigabit to the desk for the next ten years unless you running very demanding applications. Therefore, save your money and opt for a Cat5e cabling system. No adopted standard runs on Cat6 that doesn't already run on a compliant Cat5e cabling system, so why buy Cat6?

Cat6a, when the standard is ratified, will support 10Gigabit Ethernet so there will be a case for it in backbones, data centres and for bandwidth-heavy applications. Any Cat6a cabling systems currently being installed are proprietary systems that should meet the draft standard for Cat6a channels. It will be a while before the standard is ratified for permanent link and for the individual components of the cabling system i.e. patch leads, cable, sockets etc. Until then, every component in your cabling system would have to be supplied by the same manufacturer.

www.lynxnetworks.co.uk/cabling.asp