Administration Standards

After troubleshooting a network issue and figuring out that it's a problem with the physical layer, have you ever found complete spaghetti in a telecommunications room? In our consulting practices, we see this all too often. Our clients then pay two to three times the regular consulting fees because it takes so much time to sort through the mess.

Note

Network administrators should be judged by the neatness of their telecommunications rooms.

To provide a standard methodology for the labeling of cables, pathways, and spaces, the TIA published the ANSI/TIA/EIA-606-A Administration Standard for the Telecommunications Infrastructure of Commercial Buildings. In addition to guidelines for labeling, the standard recommends the color-coding scheme shown in Table 1. This scheme applies not only to labeling of cables and connections but also to the color of the cross-connect backboards in the telecommunication rooms. It does not necessarily apply to the colors of cable jackets, although some installations may attempt to apply it.

Table 1: Color-Coding Schemes 

Color Code	Usage
Black	No termination type assigned
White	First-level backbone (MC/IC or MC/TC terminations)
Red	Reserved for future use
Gray	Second-level backbone (IC/TC terminations)
Yellow	Miscellaneous (auxiliary, security alarms, etc.)
Blue	Horizontal-cable terminations
Green	Network connections
Purple	Common equipment (PBXs, host LANs, muxes)
Orange	Demarcation point (central office terminations)
Brown	Interbuilding backbone (campus cable terminations)

Besides labeling and color coding, you should consider bundling groups of related cables with plastic cable ties (tie-wraps). Plastic cable ties come in a variety of sizes for all kinds of applications. When bundling cables, however, be sure not to cinch them too tightly, as you could disturb the natural geometry of the cable. If you ever have to perform maintenance on a group of cables, all you have to do is cut the plastic ties and add new ones when you're finished. Many companies make hook-and-loop (Velcro) type tie-wraps, and these are recommended over tie-wraps for both copper and optical fiber cables as they typically prevent over-cinching.

Tip

While hook-and-loop cable wraps are more expensive than traditional thin plastic tie wraps, they more than pay for themselves by assuring that cables are not over-cinched; be sure to have plenty on hand.

Whether you implement the ANSI/TIA/EIA-606-A standard or come up with your own methodology, the most import aspect of cable administration is to have accurate documentation of your cable infrastructure.

Stocking Your Telecommunications Rooms

The wiring equipment discussed in this chapter is commonly found in many cabling installations; larger, more complex installations may have additional components that we did not mention here. The components mentioned in this chapter can be purchased from just about any cabling or telecommunications supplier. Some of the companies that were very helpful in the production of this chapter have much more information online. You can find more information about these companies and their products by visiting them on the Web:

ERICO	www.erico.com
Leviton	www.leviton.com
MilesTek	www.milestek.com
Ortronics	www.ortronics.com
The Siemon Company	www.siemon.com

Insulated Cable Engineers Association (ICEA) | Standards and Specification Organizations

The ICEA is a nonprofit professional organization sponsored by leading cable manufacturers in the United States. It was established in 1925 with the goal of producing cable specifications for telecommunication, electrical power, and control cables. The organization draws from the technical expertise of the representative engineer members to create documents that reflect the most current cable-design, material-content, and performance criteria. The group is organized in four sections: Power Cable, Control & Instrumentation Cable, Portable Cable, and Communications Cable.

The ICEA has an important role in relation to the ANSI/TIA/EIA standards for network cabling infrastructure. ICEA cable specifications for both indoor and outdoor cables, copper and fiber optic, are referenced by the TIA documents to specify the design, construction, and physical performance requirements for cables.

ICEA specifications are issued as national standards. In the Communications section, ANSI requirements for participation by an appropriate cross section of industry representatives in a document's development is accomplished through TWCSTAC (pronounced twix-tak), the Telecommunications Wire and Cable Standards Technical Advisory Committee. The TWCSTAC consists of ICEA members, along with other manufacturers, material suppliers, and end users. The ICEA maintains a website at www.icea.net.

Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) | Standards and Specification Organizations

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) is a trade organization that consists of a membership of over 1,100 telecommunications and electronics companies that provide services, materials, and products throughout the world. The TIA membership manufactures and distributes virtually all the telecommunication products used in the world today. TIA's mission is to represent its membership on issues relating to standards, public policy, and market development. The 1988 merger of the United States Telecommunications Suppliers Association (USTSA) and the EIA's Information and Telecommunications Technologies Group formed the TIA.

The TIA (along with the EIA) was instrumental in the development of the ANSI/TIA/EIA-568 Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard. TIA can be found on the Web at www.tiaonline.org.

TIA Committees

In the United States (and much of the world), the TIA is ultimately responsible for the standards related to structured cabling as well as many other technological devices used every day. If you visit the TIA website (www.tiaonline.org), you will find that committees develop the specifications. Often, a number of committees will contribute to a single specification. You may find a number of abbreviations that you are not familiar with. These include the following:

SFG Standards Formulation Group is a committee responsible for developing specifications.

FO Fiber Optics was a committee dedicated to fiber-optic technology. This has now been merged into the TR-42 engineering committee

TR Technical Review is an engineering committee.

WG Working Group is a general title for a subcommittee.

UPED The User Premises Equipment Division centers its activities on FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulatory changes.

Some of the TIA committees and their responsibilities are as follows:

TR-30 Develops standards related to the functional, electrical, and mechanical characteristics of interfaces between data circuit terminating equipment (DCE), data terminal equipment (DTE) and multimedia gateways, the telephone and voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) networks, and other DCE and facsimile systems.

TR-41 User Premises Telecommunications Requirements is responsible for the specifications relating to technologies such as IP (Internet Protocol), telephony (VoIP), wireless telephones, caller ID, multimedia building distribution, and wireless user premises equipment.

TR-42 User Premises Telecommunications Infrastructure is responsible for specifications such as the Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling (ANSI/TIA-568-C.1 or subcommittee TR-42.1), Residential Telecommunications Infrastructure (ANSI/TIA-570-B or subcommittee TR-42.2), Commercial Building Telecommunications Pathways and Spaces (TIA-569-B or subcommittee TR-42.3), Telecommunications Copper Cabling Systems (ANSI/TIA-568-C.2 or subcommittee TR-42.7), Telecommunications Optical Fiber Cabling Systems (ANSI/TIA-568-C.3 or subcommittee TR-42.8). The subcommittees of TR-42 formed the TIA/EIA-568-B specification ratified in 2001 and are presently updating this into the ANSI/TIA-568-C specification version. FO-4 was merged into TR-42 in 2008:

• Optical Systems (subcommittee TR-42.11)
• Optical Fibers and Cables (subcommittee TR-42.12)
• Passive Optical Devices and Components (subcommittee TR-42.13)
• Fiber Optic Metrology (subcommittee TR-42.15)
• Premises Telecommunications Bonding & Grounding (subcommittee TR-42.16).

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) | Standards and Specification Organizations

Five engineering societies and three U.S. government agencies founded the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1918 as a private, nonprofit membership organization sustained by its membership. ANSI's mission is to encourage voluntary compliance with standards and methods. ANSI's membership includes almost 1,400 private companies and government organizations in the United States as well as international members.

ANSI does not develop the American National Standards (ANS) documents, but it facilitates their development by establishing a consensus between the members interested in developing a particular standard.

To gain ANSI approval, a document must be developed by a representative cross section of interested industry participants. The cross section must include both manufacturers and end users. In addition, a rigorous balloting and revision process must be adhered to so that a single powerful member does not drive proprietary requirements through and establish a particular market advantage.

Through membership in various international organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), ANSI promotes standards developed in the United States. ANSI was a founding member of the ISO and is one of the five permanent members of the ISO governing council and one of four permanent members on the ISO's Technical Management Board.

ANSI standards include a wide range of information-technology specifications, such as SCSI interface specifications, programming language specifications, and specifications for character sets. ANSI helped to coordinate the efforts of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to develop ANSI/TIA/EIA-568, the cabling specification in the United States. ANSI/TIA-568-C is discussed in more detail later in this chapter. You can find information on it and links to purchase the documents on ANSI's website at www.ansi.org.

Standards and Specification Organizations | Cabling

If you pick up any document or catalog on data cabling, you will see acronyms and abbreviations for the names of specification organizations. If you want to know more about a particular specification, you should be familiar with the organization that publishes that particular document. These U.S.-based and international organizations publish hardware, software, and physical-infrastructure specifications to ensure interoperability between electrical, communications, and other technology systems. Your customers and coworkers may laugh at the elation you express when you get even simple networked devices to work, but you are not alone. In fact, the simple act of getting two stations communicating with one another on a 10Base-T network, for example, is a monumental achievement considering the number of components and vendors involved. Just think: Computers from two different vendors may use Ethernet adapters that also may be from different manufacturers. These Ethernet adapters may also be connected by cable and connectors provided by another manufacturer, which in turn may be connected to a hub built by still another manufacturer. Even the software that the two computers are running may come from different companies. Dozens of other components must work together.

That anything is interoperable at all is amazing. Thankfully, a number of organizations around the world are devoted to the development of specifications that encourage interoperability. These are often nonprofit organizations, and the people who devote much of their time to the development of these specifications are usually volunteers. These specifications include not only cabling specifications and performance and installation practices but also the development of networking equipment like Ethernet cards. As long as the manufacturer follows the appropriate specifications, their devices should be interoperable with other networking devices.

The number of organizations that provide specifications is still more amazing. It might be simpler if a single international organization were responsible for all standards. However, if that were the case, probably nothing would ever get accomplished—hence the number of specifications organizations. The following sections describe a number of these organizations, but the list is by no means exhaustive.