Data Cabling
Data Cabling is a method of connecting multiple devices e.g PC’s, Printers, CCTV cameras, servers within an IT network. There are essentially two types of data cable, copper and fibre, within these two types of cable there are different grades which ultimately result in different standards.
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Cables are ran to a floor box or wall mounted point close to where the device will be situated, it will be ran from a central location where a communication rack will be installed, in most cases all cables go back to the same rack but for a large scale deployment you could have a rack per floor. Fibre cables can be ran much longer distances than copper, for this reason fibre normally connects multiple racks together while copper cables connect individual devices and will go back to the closest rack.
Copper Cable
Cat 5e/Cat6
CAT5e data cabling can run at the following speeds: 10/100/1000Mbps, typically these speeds can be achieved over a distance of 100 Meters, all pairs of the copper cable are used when a 1000Mbps connection is negotiated with a network switch.
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CAT6 data cabling can run at the following speeds 10/100/1000/10000, because CAT6 is still a copper cable and it should only be run up to 100 Meters in total length.
Fibre Optic
Fibre is a flexible glass tube like cable which allows light to travel through it along vast distances at high speed. Fibre cables (OM1-5) can work at speeds of: 10/100/1000/10000, they can be ran between 500 Meters and many kilometers depending on the speed required.
Termination
At Yellowhead IT Services we terminate copper to the T568B standard as it is the most commonly used. Wherever possible it is preferred to terminate to a keystone (Female) jack and to use patch cords between wall boxes and devices as well as in rack use.
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However, if we are brought in to troubleshoot, add or fix an existing installation we can utilize whatever format is already onsite.
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Terminating fibre optic can be overly complicated so the Yellowhead IT Services preference is to fuse to pigtails and do dual mode LC fibre terminations. This method allows each fibre to be used in a single direction for transmit/receive.