Elements of a Successful Cabling Installation

Written by Julianus Yu

Learning about the various components of a typical telecommunications installation and their functions is important, but it is more important to understand how to put the components together into a cohesive cabling-system design. We must design the cabling system so that each component of that system meets
or exceeds the goals of the cabling project.

Before designing your system, you should understand how the following elements contribute to a successful installation:

• Using proper design

• Using quality materials

• Practicing good workmanship

Each of these aspects can drastically affect network performance Proper Design
A proper cabling-system design is paramount to a well-functioning cabling infrastructure. A proper cabling-system design is simply a plan for installing the cable runs and their associated devices. So what is a proper design? A proper cabling-system design will take into account five primary criteria:

• Desired standards and performance characteristics

• Flexibility

• Longevity

• Ease of administration

• Economy

Failure to take these criteria into account can cause usability problems and poor network performance.

When you design your cabling layout, you should decide on standards for all aspects of your cabling installation so that the various products used will interconnect.
Additionally, you should choose products for your design that will meet desired performance characteristics.

When designing a cabling system, you should plan for MACs (moves, adds, and changes) so that if your network changes your cabling design will accommodate those
changes. It means that the design must be flexible for any new device or technology.

When designing a cabling system, you want to make sure that the design will stand the test of time and last for a number of years without having to be replaced. If you have to upgrade your cabling system or are currently designing your system, it is usually best to upgrade to the most current technology you can afford. But you should also keep in mind that budget is almost always the limiting factor.

Another element of a proper cabling design is ease of administration. This means that a network administrator (or subcontractor) should be able to access the cabling system and make additions and changes, if necessary. Some of these changes might include the following:

• Removing a station from the network

• Replacing hubs, routers, and other telecommunications equipment

• Installing new cables

• Repairing existing wires

Finally, how much money you have to spend will play a part in your cabling-system design. The reality is you probably don’t have an unlimited budget, so the best cabling system for you involves compromise—taking into account the four elements listed previously and deciding how to get the most for your investment.

Quality Materials
Another element of a successful cabling installation is the use of quality materials. The quality of the materials used in a cabling installation will directly affect the transmission efficiency of a network. All the components that make up a cabling plant can be purchased in both high- and lowquality product lines. That doesn’t always mean that low price means low quality. Some vendors make low-price, high-quality cabling supplies. In addition to price, you should check how the product is assembled. Quality materials are sturdy and well constructed. Low-quality materials will not be durable and may actually break while you are handling them.

Good Workmanship
There is a saying that any job worth doing is worth doing correctly. When installing cabling, this saying is especially true because shoddy workmanship can cause data-transmission problems and thus lower the network’s effective throughput. If you try to rush a cabling job to meet a deadline, you will usually end up doing some or the entire job over again. The same holds true for fiber-optic cable connections. If you rush any part of the connector installation, the effective optical transmission capacity of that connection will probably be reduced. A reduced capacity means that you may not be able to use that connection at all because the light will be refracted too far outside of the fiber and too much extraneous light will get into the connection, causing it to fail.