Things to Consider During Data Cabling Installation
Data cabling is essential for your organization to function and operate in today’s environment. Here are some things that should be considered when installing data cables.
Plan for the Future
There are a lot of things that need to be taken into account during the installation of data cabling. These include the probability of the business shifting to a new office, the future needs of the business, and whether using yesterday’s best technology will suffice, or is there a need for something new. Consider installing high end cable so that it will be sufficient as the business grows. Labor is a large factor when running cable, so having to re-run cable again in the future will only create additional expenses.
Use Same Type of Cable for Data and Voice
In order to meet current business demands and demands of the future, consider using twisted data cabling (i.e. CAT5e). Traditionally CAT3 cable was primarily used for the telephones and voice traffic; whereas, CAT5e cables was used for data. Although, CAT5e cable is the more costly cable; it is advantageous to run all CAT5 data cables for both voice and data use. This superior quality cable will provide the most strategic and efficient option in the long run.
Use Cable Management
Some may consider cable management an unnecessary affair; however, adding an effective cable management is the most effective way to maintain your network cabling. Though there is an initial investment, an effective cable management always makes the maintenance of the cables much easier and faster in the long run.
Avoid Running Data Cables Parallel with Electrical Cables
Data cables use UTP or Unshielded Twisted Pairs to transmit data. The generation of magnetic fields created by low voltage that runs through the cables is an extremely critical component in the communication chain. Now, when this unshielded cabling runs parallel with cables meant for electricity, that magnetic field gets disrupted and interfered with. Naturally, the communication gets hampered and garbled. In some cases, transmission will simply stop, whereas, in other cases it may crawl at a snail’s pace, as the communication is constantly interrupted and retried.
Not Minding the Distance
This is another mistake that companies at times make. The standard distance that needs to be maintained in case of UTP cabling with usual Ethernet of up to 1 GBPS is generally 100 meters. If a cable is run at a distance greater than 100 meters, the quality of transmission may be affected.
