How Our Network Cabling Installers Can Help Your Business with Structured Installations

November 21, 2022

How Our Network Cabling Installers Can Help Your Business with Structured Installations

You could buy 50 different Ethernet cables, each 10m long, for the purpose of overhauling the communications infrastructure in your office yourself (instead of hiring professional network cabling installers). It might even be easy to get all those cables hooked up to the right devices and the right ports. What is not easy, however, is doing it in a way that will both look neat and work as efficiently as possible.

There are many different potential issues to take into account, such as cables overheating due to proximity with other cables (or due to being in poorly ventilated areas), unnecessary power usage due to cables being too long and using more power to do the same job a shorter cable could have done, and organising the cables to make them easy to repair or replace. This is part of the structured cabling process, which we will explain in more detail in the article below.

What Is Structured Cabling?

Structured cabling is the installation and organisation of networking cables in a way that is easy to manage and upgrade. There are six subsystems in total (which will be explored in the next section), each of which is designed to answer a specific installation need or issue. This approach is inherently beneficial, as it uses a standardised layout that both conforms to local cabling standards and makes it much less complicated to later make alterations or additions to the system. Some of the biggest benefits include user-friendliness, adaptability, reduced downtime, and safety. Using such a standardised system is also more cost-efficient, as it reduces the complexity and potential labour of future changes

What Are The 6 Subsystems of Structured Cabling?

Standardisation provides a framework from which professional network installers can work. The internationally used structured cabling framework was designed in a modular fashion to streamline the process and allow for non-sequential modifications. The nature of these subsystems allows them to be adapted to the unique parameters of every office and every building in which they are to be installed.

The 6 subsystems of structured cabling are as follows:

Entrance Facilities – Most network cabling will come from outside the building or office, which means it has to somehow enter the space to become usable. This subsystem suggests various methods of ingress, including aerial/overhead cabling and underground or buried cabling. These methods account for things like pedestrian traffic and potential security issues.
Equipment Room – This is where external and internal networking infrastructure is connected. This is usually where all the network switches and servers are located and serves as a central hub for the network.
Backbone Cabling – This subsystem handles connecting certain types of cables on various floors or levels of a building.
Telecommunications Area – These are smaller hubs where cables in a certain area are connected together and then connected through the telecommunications area to the larger network.
Horizontal Cabling – This is used to connect the infrastructure to the people who will be using it. It serves as a bridge between the telecommunications area and the work area, giving users access to the telecommunications capabilities.
Work Area – This is where all the user devices and communications outlets are located.

Do Our Network Cabling Installers Have Accreditation for Structured Installations?

Yes. We are accredited for installing a variety of different systems and protocols, including Panduit®, CommScope®, TE Connectivity, ADC/Krone, Molex®, and Corning. The system we install in your office or building will depend on the size of the office and the physical structure of the building itself (which will determine the entrance point of the cabling and may affect the overall layout).

Our installers are also accredited by the Electrical Contractors Association of South Africa (ECA) and the Electrical Contracting Board (ECB). This means that our clients can trust in our capability to perform top-tier electrical installations that are both safe and efficient.