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What Is Structured Cabling?

The standardized wiring backbone of a building, explained piece by piece.

Structured cabling is the standardized, organized wiring system that carries data, voice and video through a building, designed to a published standard so it can be documented, expanded and supported for years. The opposite is what most offices actually have: a tangle of patch cords added one at a time by whoever was there.

The six components

  1. Entrance facility. Where the internet and phone carriers' lines enter the building.
  2. Equipment room. The main space housing servers, core switches and the primary patch panels.
  3. Backbone cabling. The high-capacity runs (often fiber) connecting the equipment room to telecom rooms on each floor or in each building.
  4. Telecommunications room. The closet on each floor with switches and patch panels serving that area.
  5. Horizontal cabling. The runs from the telecom room to each work area, typically Cat6 or Cat6a copper.
  6. Work area. The wall jack and patch cord that connect a desk, phone, printer or access point.

Why it matters

  • Reliability. Properly terminated, tested and labeled cable does not cause the intermittent problems that eat support hours.
  • Performance. The right cable grade supports today's speeds and the next generation of Wi-Fi access points.
  • Changes. Moving a desk or adding a printer becomes a patch-panel change instead of a new cable run.
  • Documentation. Every port is labeled and mapped, so troubleshooting takes minutes.
  • Code and safety. Plenum-rated cable where required, proper pathways and firestopping.

When to plan it

Before a build-out or an office move, ideally while walls are open. See what to plan for IT when moving offices. Choosing the cable grade is covered in Cat5e vs Cat6 vs Cat6a, and cost drivers in how much structured cabling costs.

Mentis Group designs and installs structured cabling across Dallas-Fort Worth, including data, voice and fiber, as part of network implementations and office moves.

Have a question about your own environment? Schedule a consultation with Mentis Group or call (866) 901-7808.