Structured Cabling
What is Structured Cabling?
When someone refers to structured cabling they are referring to a system of cabling with all the associated hardware. When all combined it makes up a comprehensive tele-communications infrastructure. This infrastructure can be used for multiple things, such as your traditional telephone calls, VoIP calls, or transmitting data throughout a network. You never want this system to be dependent on one device. Which is why a properly engineered structured cabling system is essential.
In any business setup the structured cabling point starts at the demarc. The demarc is where the service provider ends their responsibility of your telecommunications service. This is also referred to in some circumstances as the Network Interface Device or NID.
Design
Every structured cabling setup is different. There are multiple variables that can affect how you should design your structured cabling system:
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What is the physical layout of the building in which the cable will be installed
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What technology will be chosen this dictates the cable, connections, and everything else included
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What is the function of your cabling install?
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Future growth plans dictate what type of equipment will need to be ordered
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If there is a current system in place can any of it be upgraded or retrofitted
Cable
Category Cable
This network cable type was defined by the Telecommunications Industry Association to define a specification for electrical and performance properties of data cables used in all types of networks. A staple in most networks today offering cheaper alternatives to fiber optics and better performance than wireless. We understand that you depend on your network to be performant and choosing the right cable is important to receiving the results you expect.
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Category 5 - 5e Cable
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Support up to 1000 Mbps (Gigabit Ethernet)
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Category 6 - 6a Cable
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Support up to 10 Gbps with improved network performance and additional sheathing
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Category 7 - 7a Cable
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Support up to 100 Gbps with improved network performance and additional layer of shielding over the entire cable.
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Fiber Optics
Fiber optic cable provides better network performance speeds up to 100 Gbps and beyond. Fiber optics has the characteristics of little to no outside interference with ranges up to 25 miles (40 km). This is a great solution if you need to interconnect buildings or create low latency up links to your core infrastructure. To ensure a successful fiber install our technicians have been certified in fiber optics and have the proper tools on hand to repair and certify every fiber optic strand.
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Single Mode
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OS1 - Single Mode - Typically used for indoor applications with distances up to 2 km with transfer speeds up to 10 Gbps.
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OS2 - Single Mode - Used in outdoor applications installed in a loose tube or blown fiber solution (where the cabling process applies no stress to the optical fiber) with distances up to 10 km at 10 Gbps and above.
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Multi mode
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OM1 - Usually comes in an orange jacket with a core size of 62.5 micrometers (Um). Supporting lengths up to 33 meters this cable can reach speeds up to 10 Gbps.
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OM2 - Also found with an orange jacket with a cores size of 50 um it supports 10 Gbps at lengths up to 82 meters.
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OM3 - Usually comes in an aqua jacket with a core size of 50 um, optimized for laser based equipment that uses fewer modes of light. With this optimization the cable is capable of running 10 Gbps at lengths of 300 meters.
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OM4 - Also found with an aqua jacket with a cores size of 50 um supporting speeds up to 10 Gbps over 500 meters and also supports 100 Gbps at lengths up to 150 meters.
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Coaxial Cable
Coaxial Cable is a cable used in distributed antenna systems, digital audio, cable television and transmissions lines for radio frequency signals. When properly loaded with a matched signal, coax is much quieter than twisted pair due to the inner conductor being in a Faraday shield creating low data loss and better performance.
Speaker Cable
A copper cable used in audio installations including speakers, amps, paging systems and overhead audio.
Security Cable
Copper cable used in security installations including surveillance cameras, door access control systems and burglar alarms.
Wireless
Wired networks are great for the best performance and reliability in data networks but are hindered by flexibility and high costs. Wireless can help to bring constant communications throughout your business through technologies like distributed antenna systems (DAS), point to point building communications, and guest Wi-Fi. Wireless has improved over the years with enhancements in interference alignment and spatial multiplexing which has increase speed and reliability of these networks. J2 Technology Solutions can work with you to deliver the correct wireless solutions for your business.
Certification
To ensure peak performance our technicians will test each connection and certify. A report is created showing the affective performance thresholds as well as pass or fail. If a cable fails the cable will be checked for breaks and re-terminate as required. Using high quality products are important, and we use manufactures we trust. This includes Leviton, Panduit and Berk-Tek.
PRODUCTS WE USE
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