by Jeremy Miller, Technician
When you need to begin to cable a building for a business it is a good idea to plan ahead to prevent many issues that you can encounter.
Cabling can be different for every organization. Some organizations move into a new building and need to cable the entire building. Other business may only need to add to the existing cabling.
It would be best to look and see how the cables can all be run throughout the building. Most commercial buildings have drop ceilings that make it easier to run cable.
You will want to check which directions you can run cable. There may be walls or boundaries that are not able to have cable ran through them.
You will also want to develop a standard wiring scheme or convention. This will make everything easier in the long run.
Most organizations have adopted the wiring standard T-586B. If you continue to wire all cable with the same standard then it will make the job easier for you and anyone who needs to add an additional cable after your installation.
There are some things to keep in mind while running the cable. It is best to leave about a foot of extra cable in a single loop above your drop.
This will ensure you have enough cable if you make a punch down error, or want to upgrade in the future. Don’t create a coil of cables as this will cause a magnetic field that will disrupt the data.
With all of this in mind you will need to determine exactly how many data and voice drops you will need to install.
Make a document detailing which room needs what cables and where they need to be placed on the walls.
It is best to color coordinate the cable, for example you would use blue cable for data, white cable for voice, and another color if you need to run other cable such as Ethernet cable for a security system. This will let you easily detect which type of cable you are working with.
If you are installing phones you will want to punch down the same pairs of wires in the same order. This will allow you to terminate the phone systems in your telecomm room more efficiently. Efficiency is essential when undergoing a time-consuming project.
Cable management is important regardless of how many cables you have ran. Your telecomm room can easily start to get out of control with all of the different cables coming into a single location.
There are many ways of organizing your cable, but it is best to plan this before you begin to run any cable. This will also make sure that all of your cables will be long enough to reach the punch-down panel in your telecomm room.
If your business needs help with a cabling project or if you have any questions about cabling give us a call.